Vigano wins the first KZ heat in Adria

The first Qualifying Heat of the European KZ Championship got underway at midday on Saturday in temperatures of 35° Celsius, according to the strange starting grid determined by the time trials. It was not so much the pole position of Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/Iame) that surprised the spectators as the underperformance of several favourites. Antonelli got off to a decent start, but Matteo Vigano (Birel ART/TM) took the lead. Paolo Ippolito (CRG/TM) was 3rd ahead of Viktor Gustafsson (Birel ART/TM) and Emilien Denner (Intrepid/TM). The Frenchman then dropped back to 8th after Pedro Hiltbrand (Birel ART/TM) and Jérémy Iglesias (CRG/TM) passed him. Riccardo Longhi (Birel ART/TM) had recovered six places to 15th after five laps. Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart/Vortex) was back in the top 10 behind Adrien Renaudin (Sodi/TM). Stan Pex (KR/TM) was 6th ahead of Denner. Vigano won against Ippolito while Antonelli secured 3rd position, but was under investigation for the start. Gustafsson finished 4th despite the impressive comeback of Stan Pex (+ 6 pl). Hiltbrand was 6th, Denner 7th, Iglesias 8th, then Renaudin and Puhakka. Longhi moved up to 13th (+8 pl) ahead of Alex Irlando (CRG/TM).

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