Compétition

Fantastic Race 4, fantastic win for Fore

It has been a long time since we saw such intensity in a final. Who would have bet on a win for Fore before the start? Even before the dramatic denouement, the surprises didn’t stop, starting with Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart / Vortex) going wide on the first lap when he was ahead. Felice Tiene and Davide Fore (CRG / BMB) took control of the race, but Max Verstappen (Intrepid / TM) joined them on the next lap. The trio would do most of the race at the same speed, until two laps to go.

In the pack, there was electricity in the air between Joyner, Pedro Hiltbrand (FA Kart / Vortex), Carlos Gil (Tony Kart / Vortex) and Matthew Graham (Zanardi / Parilla). Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG / BMB) lost eight places on the second lap was mingled in the fray as well as Anthoine Hubert (Formula K / TM).

Fourth at the start, Daiki Sasaki (Kosmic / Vortex) lost time in fifth position behind Tom Joyner (LH / BMB) and did a dozen laps behind Fore. We also watched Camponeschi’s comeback, from 14th position, but also that of Karol Basz (Birel / BMB) starting 28th after retiring in race 3.

Tiene moved in front of a determined Verstappen who stuck to his bumper, and Fore 2 or 3 lengths back, no more. Max took the lead on lap 15, Camponeschi came into contact with the top four with Basz not far behind. Everything was accelerating on the penultimate lap. Verstappen attacked Tiene and returned to the lead, and Sasaki and Fore were trying to take advantage of the Dutch driver’s defending. The end was near, and would come on the first corner of the last lap.

Felice attacked Max on the inside. One of them defended and the other pushed, normal a a few hundred meters from the end of a final. Tiene passed in the dust, got back on to the track, smashed against Sasaki and Verstappen who had been leading the race, Fore seized his chance, and controlled the Japanese driver to cross the line as the winner, four years after his victory here at Suzuka in the World Cup. Sasaki, who has been unlucky, had to settle for the second step of the podium where the Camponeschi scored a lot of points in the Championship. Basz, a little put out, finished fourth ahead of the Indonesian Armand Philo (Tony Kart / TM) who made a superb comeback from 29th place on the starting grid. Joyner took 7th behind Tiene, Verstappen was 27th.