From one success to another

After their numerous victories obtained at season debut, Maranello pilots are showing no signs of giving in. The opening of International Open Masters in Lonato and the second round of WSK in Angerville have offered two new opportunities to enlarge the list of awards conquered by the Italian brand.

On 29 and 30 March in Lonato, Maranello won it all in the three categories. Seven out of the nine pilots who won a podium drove on excellent Maranello RS7 chassis! In KZ2, two Maranello pilots, Alessandro Piccini and Davide Fore, competed for victory. Forè conquered the pole, his three heats, the pre-final and the lap record in the final, but the winner was Piccini, even though his advantage of just seven tenths!

In KF2, the podium was dominated by the men in red: British Luke Wright (pilot from JRP Team), Italian “Nero Giaguaro” (i.e. “black jaguar”) and James Thorp, another British pilot, concluded the final in this order, all together in less than a second. The only thing that opponents behind them could see was the colour red, everywhere! Thorp also scored the best lap, during an exciting recovery that took him from 12th to 3rd position. Luis-Miguel Villalba Ponton also took advantage of the competitiveness of his Maranello chassis to conquer the head of the race. After being forth in the final starting grid, the Spanish pilot from Ennio Gandolfi Racing Team was unfortunately forced to quit.

Kevin Ceccon completed Maranello triumph at the first meeting of Open Masters 2008. In KF3, the Italian pilot took a dominant win in Lonato: pole position, victory in his four qualifying heats, dominance in the pre-final with best lap, then solitary winner in the final, six seconds ahead of his pursuers! His performance became a demonstration. Always in the top 10 during the heats and in the pre-final, British Mitchell Hale and Swiss Jeffrey Schmidt had the skills and the material to reach a podium, but they failed to do so. Italian Kevin Giovesi, instead, brilliantly climbed to third position.

“Seeing all those pilots on the podium in Lonato was very gratifying for us” said Armando Filini, in charge of Maranello. “These new successes are a proof of our chassis efficiency in all categories, on every track and with all types of tyre”.

A week later, in France, on the circuit of Angerville, weather conditions rendered very hard both the work of mechanics and the role of pilots, as Armando Filini explained. “As during 2006 World Championship, races became a lottery due to Sunday’s heavy rain, which arrived at the worst time. It’s a pity, because we were having excellent performances, but the rain prevented us from scoring better results”. With his Maranello-Maxter, Davide Fore showed all his talent in KF1, scoring points thanks to his 4th position in the pre-final; however, despite the best lap in the final, he had to content himself with 11th position, after an aquaplaning session, when victory was still possible. One month away from the European Championship debut, on this same circuit of Angerville, Fore confirmed that he is indeed in very good shape.

Equally competitive in KF3, Maranello chassis showed all their potential thanks to Finnish pilots Aaro Vainio and Henri Rajala, as well as Italian Kevin Ceccon, who fought at the head of the race to the very last second. Rajala scored a good result by finishing 3rd in the pre-final and then 8th in the final, just behind Ceccon. Vainio did even better, with a nice 5th position, which enabled him to stay in competition for the title.