2008 CIK -FIA EUROPEAN KF1 & KF2 CHAMPIONSHIP BRAGA (PORTUGAL), AUGUST 1 -3, 2008

ROBIN FRIJNS ON THE PODIUM IN THE KF2

THE GKS (BIREL-TM) TEAM DRIVER IS THE ONLY ONE TO ENTER AMONG THE KF2 DRIVERS WITH VORTEX ENGINES IN THE RACE THAT AWARDED THE TITLE AT CAMPONESCHI. IN THE KF1, WHERE THE CONTINENTAL CHAMPION, ARDIGÒ WAS CONFIRMED, CESETTI ALSO MADE HIMSELF KNOWN.

BRAGA – The Birel colors proved to be competitive in the trial in Braga that awarded the continental title in the KF1 and KF2 categories.  In the top class, Cesetti won 4th place in Race-1, while a contact eliminated both Ryall and the Japanese, Ishii, both of whom showed excellent potential during the course of the round.  A partial delusion however for Libor Toman who blamed some technical problems for not being able to get past 10th place in the first trial, ending behind his teammate, Kunranta.  Parrott (13th) also closed in the point zone, while success went to Kozlinski who preceded Forè and Giacomello. The leader of the championship, Catt was in difficulty, only 6th, while Ardigò finished in 5th place after a contact with Guignet (forced to withdraw).  In Race-2, therefore, the title seemed to be within Kozlinski’s grasp who, instead, during the 13th lap had an engine failure giving the continental win to Ardigò who finished the 2nd race in 4th place.  It was a surprise win by Guignet (who took good advantage of his new tires) ahead of Forè, while Cesetti left the track during his competition for the podium due to a contact with Giacomello during the last lap. Ryall’s climb was great in Race-2, who ended in 5th place ahead of Kunranta, who was very competitive again.  Parrott came in 8th place while Toman ended in 9th.  In the championship, Ardigò was named champion with 78 points while Toman ended in 6th place with 46 lengths and Cesetti in 8th with 40. In the KF2 the Vortex engines appeared in top form which allowed Camponeschi an easy victory both in the Pre-Final and the Final.  In the Pre-Final the Vortex engines monopolized the podium putting Foster-Jones and Rowland behind the Italian. The first Birel driver, instead, was Patrono (Tm engines) who won 5th place behind Luciani, gaining an excellent internal position for the start of the continental Final.  Frijns was also excellent, having won 6th place, while Harvey suffered various problems, not ever succeeding in entering into the high classifying zones.  In the Final, the Vortex engines proved themselves to be winners, placing 5 drivers among the first 6 at the finish line.  Camponeschi copied his success in the Pre-Final, winning the title ahead of Foster-Jones, while the only one able to get in among the Vortex drivers was Robin Frijns from the GKS-Birel team who reached the podium with a Tm engine.  Patrono, on the other hand, after having been penalized by the dispute that made him lose the trail of the leaders, left the track definitively due to an involuntary contact with Harvey.  The Englishman succeeding in ending the race in 13th place, immediately behind De Conto (Birel-KSB). It should be said that even this weekend at Braga was characterized by various controversies linked to clutch controls.  For Birel, Basz (Birel-Iame) was highly penalized and excluded from the event after having obtained 3rd place in the Pre-Final, while the performance of the top drivers, which generated some perplexity, stipulated operations by the Commissary on the race track who called for the withdrawal of the clutches in the first class for later analysis after the race.  With this provision, in fact, the classification of the KF2 was placed under discussion.