Euro KZ – Irlando wins at Adria

The Adria meeting ended in hot sunshine with the Final of the first round of the European KZ Championship. The starting grid looked set for an exciting race with Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Alessandro Irlando (Birel ART/TM) on the front row ahead of Marijn Kremers (Ricciardo/TM) and Matteo Vigano (Birel ART/TM), then Lorenzo Camplese (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Riccardo Longhi (Birel ART/TM).

When the lights went out, Irlando overtook Puhakka and Vigano followed in 2nd place. Kremers also tried to attack the Finn, but to no avail. Longhi made up for a hesitant start by coming back to 5th quickly ahead of Camplese and two well-started drivers, Fabian Federer (Maranello/TM) and Mirko Torsellini (KR/Iame). Longhi’s hesitation on the grid had delayed some of the drivers following him. Adrien Renaudin (Sodi/TM) kept his 10th place, but Jeremy Iglesias (Formula K/TM) found himself in a battle for 15th place. After a third of the race, the gaps between the top seven drivers remained small.

At the mid-point of the race, Irlando had slightly increased his lead, Vigano was controlling Puhakka and Longhi had overtaken his team-mate Kremers for 4th place. Federer was back in the leading group and passed Camplese who was suffering from a drop in performance. Distances were narrowing between the top three for the finish, but Vigano retired a lap and a half from the goal after a seize. Puhakka hit him, but stayed on track to take 2nd place behind Irlando. Longhi was 3rd, Kremers 4th and Federer 5th. Renaudin finally reached the 7th spot while Iglesias was 13th.

Info Kartcom / Photos © KSP