Great Potential Confirmed at Winter Cup

The Winter Cup remains the season debut most important meeting for international karting in Europe. A track with a very long tradition, intense competition, and nervous races: everything must be in perfect order to achieve good results at Lonato. Arnaud Kozlinski showed once again his excellence at this little game and was second in the Super KF final, while Armand Convers was struck by bad luck. In KF2, Loïc Réguillon greatly contributed to the development of his equipment, on his return to competition. Though he does not belong to the 2009 group of Equipe de France FFSA Karting, the indisputable domination showed Brandon Maïsano in this category cannot go unacknowledged.

Major teams have had the time to improve their equipment since last race, two weeks before La Conca meeting. The level was indeed higher, within a more homogeneous group. The great number of drivers, combined with the special regulations of the race and the layout of the track favoured hard-fought, even turbulent races. Under a clear sky, temperatures varied greatly between the coolness of the morning (0°) and the mildness of midday (15°) before rapidly going down in the afternoon. Not easy to find the best adjustment at the right time!

On the South Garda Karting track, Arnaud Kozlinski confirmed his good preparation level. With a very balanced mental state, he used his skills and the quality of his equipment to remain constantly in the lead positions. Slightly slowed down in one of the heats by an unsuitable gear reduction, Kozlinski never left the top 5. After a good start in timed qualifying (3rd), he won one of his 2 heats. A little mechanical problem in the following heat had heavy consequences. When he concluded the 28 laps of the final not far from the winner, Gary Catt, it became evident that the lost places moved the balance to the wrong side. But the important thing is that Arnaud did everything he could to gain this second place in a race full of coups de theatre, where many of the favourites were eliminated.

In any case, Armand Convers overcame his disappointed by showing an excellent level of performance, though in Lonato he was got a dose of trouble higher than the average. Harpooned by another driver in his first heat, when he was 4th, Armand sank in the ranking, despite his 3rd place later. He was determined to recover ground in the semi-final, but this time, a driver tried to pass flying over him (!!) and torn off his exhaust valve. Not discouraged, Convers waited until the long final to regain an honourable place. Driver Kosmic, who started 23rd, launched the main attack and brilliantly climbed to the 7th place at mid-race. Defective reed valves forced him to give up his podium hopes.

Loïc Réguillon represented Equipe de France FFSA Karting in KF2. It was his first competition of the season, with a reorganised team and a brand new chassis. Therefore, his top priority was finding the best set-up. He succeeded in that, since Loïc went from the 83rd place in timed qualifying, to the 24th place in the heats, and then to the 14th in his group in the semi-final. Unfortunately, only the first 11 drivers qualify for the final. Overall, it was a very promising experience for this young promise from Normandy, with a very important lesson to be learnt for the next meeting.