World Karting Championship KF1 & World Cup KF2 La Conca (I) - 18-21.09.2008
The major world event of 2008 season was held in Muro Leccese (Italy), on the wonderful racetrack of La Conca. The World KF1 Championship, together with the World Cup for KF2 gathered the elite of karting as well a group of promising talents for motor sports. The intensity of such an event is always particularly fascinating for karting fans.
Although only the one winner of each category can write his name in the history of this sport, there are many individual stories that would deserve to be written in a great book, full of challenges and humanity. The «Fondation Julie Tonelli pour l’Enfance» was there to save a few of these pages, which often go unnoticed.
The KF1 category attracts all the attention and enchants for the top level of performances it represents. The list of qualified pilots was already full of quite a few nice surprises as well as disappointments. After starting again a positive trend with his victory at the European Championship at Braga, Jean-Philippe Guignet had to come to terms with another negative series of events in Italy.
Three withdrawals in three heats due to mechanical problems (chain and engine) spoiled his hopes even before the final phases. However, his overall assessment of the weekend is worth mentioning: «We should work more, we were not ready enough for the race. We must do better», this is what he said without a hint of bitterness.
Pierre-Henri Nanot did not go through the qualifying phase either. Getting back to the top after a four-year stop is not easy. However, this was not enough to discourage this atypical driver. Loyal to his former team, Braun Racing, Pierre-Henri wanted to make a try with them in KF1 in a small private structure. In this case too, no regrets, just a great passion for challenges.
On the contrary, a driver who came home with an excellent world championship was Manuel Renaudie. This young dad of 27 years continued to show excellent performances, always with the same determination. After climbing from 16th place in timed qualifying to 7th place in the pre-final, he faced the final with a knife in his teeth. He had to recover twice his lost positions, especially when he was literally pushed out of the track by a recalcitrant opponent, and then finished 6th, the best French result of the day.
His team mate Florian Alfano was not equally successful and was forced to abandon very early during the race. As already happened too often this year, the British driver from GKS, Michael Ryall, had a series of hitches. Armand Convers, though always very fast, was equally unfortunate. Sodikart drivers Alban Varutti and Anthony Abbasse made a promising comeback and ranked 12th and 9th respectively, with a 19-place recovery by Alban in the final.
The younger drivers raced in the World Cup for KF2. Qualifying in the group of the 34 finalists could already be considered an excellent result, given the intense competition. Despite their talent and fighting spirit, Austrian René Binder, Belgian Sébastien Bailly, Frenchmen Clément Bluy and Paul-Loup Chatin, Swiss Alex Fontana, Italian Marco Moretti, Finnish Miki Weckström and Czech Tereza Gromanova were not that lucky.
Karol Basz (PL) and Giaguaro Nero (I) had to fight hard to reach the place they are used to in the final and are already planning their future revenge.
As for Loïc Réguillon, he had a wonderful weekend: he was always well placed, fought without any inferiority complex against the best drivers in the world and finished with an extraordinary 4th place. This result did not come by accident and Loïc is definitely one of the most promising drivers in international karting.
- KARTcom -
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