Ardigo on Pole - Six drivers within one tenth of a second

Timed qualifying practice, which is the first competitive track action at the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship at Muro Leccese in the south of Italy, saw the world champion Marco Ardigo secure pole position. But with 5 other drivers within the same tenth of a second, the Italian will not have an easy time.

This is of course the most important event of the whole season. The one which all drivers dream of adding to their CV. Likewise, the manufacturers also want the victory to boost their order books and sales. In short, the karting world championship is an event without parallel to any other.

The first key test is the timed practice which determines the starting grids for all of Saturday’s programmed qualifying races. It goes without saying that it is important to shine well in qualifying. The defending world champion Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart-Vortex) received the message: 5 out of 5. The Tony Kart team captain duly secured a superb pole position this Friday afternoon. But the difference between him and his rivals is tiny!

The young Dutch hope Jack Te Braak (Zanardi-Maxter) was only 41 thousandths of a second slower. Similarly with Ardigo’s two British team mates. The youngster Will Stevens (Tony Kart Vortex) is within 6 one hundredths of a second and last year’s world vice champion Gary Catt (Tony Kart-Vortex) within 64 one thousandths of a second.

Third in last year’s world championship, the Dane Nicolaj Bollingtoft (Kosmic-Vortex) recalled last year’s good efforts being within 87 one thousandths of a second of Pole, just in front of the young Belgian hope Yannick de Brabander (within 98 one thousandths of a second in his Intrepid-TM) which, like Te Braak, confirms that the younger generation of drivers have genuine ambitions.

In this world championship, surely more open and undecided than ever, no fewer than 6 drivers find themselves within a tenth of a second of each other. This demonstrates the promise of this year’s world championship!

Behind this top 6 there are some other serious contenders for the world crown. Frenchman Arnaud Kozlinski (CRG-Maxter) proved to be the fastest of the CRG drivers and he was just in front of quadruple world champion David Fore (Maranello- Maxter), always a force to be reckoned with on these major occasions. Armand Convers (PCR-TM) and Alessandro Bressan (Kosmic-Vortex) completed the top ten.

Some of the favourites on the other hand fared not as good as expected in timed qualifying, like CRG drivers Jonathan Thonon (13th), Alessandro Manetti (14th) and Jean-Philippe Guignet (15th), and also Birel drivers Libor Toman (26th) and Sauro Cesetti (37th). They will all be hoping to move up the classifications during Saturday’s quklaifying races.

KF2: Dale and Camponeschi in front: 81 drivers within a second

Supporting the KF1 world championship (the top category of international karting) the KF2 World Cup is also held in Muro Leccese. In this class, which holds the hopes and aspirations of many, the competition is almost as open and undecided as in KF1.

The Italian Andrea Dale (CRG-Maxter) posted the best time but only 55 one thousandths quicker than Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart-Vortex), the recently crowned European Champion and arriving here as the favourite to also win the World Cup. But karting is certainly not an exact science...

In the wake of Camponeschi, the Czech Zdenek Groman (Maranello-Parilla), the Frenchman Loic Reguillon (Sodi-Parilla) and the Dane Kevin Munkholm (Birel-Parilla) can be satisfied with their timed practice. But with 81 drivers (out of 90) covered by just one second, anything can happen in the qualifying races which are spread over Saturday and even some on Sunday morning. 

Information and live results on www.cikfia.com/News2008/Laconca.htm

- Vincent Caro - CIK FIA  also photo