Sarno, Day 2: Advantage Graham; Advantage Leclerc

Matthew Graham of Great Britain (Zanardi) took the Saturday morning honours in Qualifying Practice for the 3rd and final Event in the 2011 CIK-FIA “U18” World Karting Championship here at Sarno near Naples in Italy. His time of 1.07.660 was over two-tenths of a second quicker than anybody else. Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (PCR) was 2nd and Frenchman Leo Roussel (Sodi) was 3rd fastest. But better still for the Englishman, championship leader Pyry Ovaska (FIN) was 0.6 seconds slower and classified a lowly 15th place.

It was looking very good for Graham when he won Heat One, but then his luck changed! He was assessed a 7 seconds penalty for speeding at the start, and subsequently classified 6th. To add to his problem, he was requested under the Rules of the Event to change his WKE motor for the engine of the last placed driver who had endured problems in the race. Just 40 minutes later he had to face arch-rival, Pyry Ovaska (Maranello). But frantic work in the paddock had the 2nd engine mounted and ready and Graham went on to win his second heat beating Ovaska into 4th place. However, the Finn collected a 10 seconds penalty and was relegated to 16th place. Graham added to a good afternoon’s racing with victory in his third Heat, whilst Pyry Ovaska could only manage 5th place in his next race.

But this is not just a 2 Man competition. Third and fourth placed Championship Contenders Anthoine Hubert (FRA) (Sodi) and Dave Blom (NLD) (Intrepid) also had good results. Hubert opened with a disappointing 10th place but followed with two second places. Blom was even more consistent with a win and two 3rd places in his Heats.

The Qualifying Races continue tomorrow, Sunday, morning to determine starting positions for the Pre-Finale scheduled to be raced at 13.15hrs.

In the Academy Trophy, Finland’s Aatu Moilanen was fastest in the Qualifying competition , just 0.04 of a second quicker than Championship Leader Charles Leclerc, with the Monaco driver’s closest rival, Ben Barnicoat of Great Britain in 3rd place. When the racing commenced, Barnicoat opened with a win and Leclerc was narrowly beaten into 2nd place in his first race. But when they met, Leclerc won with Barnicoat 4th.

Leclerc completed an excellent day with another easy victory in the last race of the afternoon whilst Barnicoat closed with a disappointing 6th place. Spain’s Mikel Azcona is third in the championship standings and opened with a 5th , was then 2nd to Leclerc and finished with a win. But 4th placed Greek driver Fillipos Kalesis had a disappointing day with a non-finish following 10th and 9th places. Brazilian driver Thiago Vivacqua had an excellent day with a win, a 2nd and a 4th place.

All of the Qualifying Races in this category were completed on Saturday afternoon so we now know the line-up for Sunday’s Race One scheduled to start at 13.35. Charles Leclerc will be on Pole Position and will be joined on the front row by Thiago Vivacqua. Behind them, Mikel Azcona and Ben Barnicoat will start on row two. A last race penalty spoiled Holland’s Marijn Kremers’s day, but he will start on row 3 with Norwegian Martin Ellegard.

Info CIK / © Photo KSP