Monaco: Princely Victory and Three Podiums for Sodi

After Anthony Abbasse’s victory in KZ2 last year, this time Sodi conquered the CIK-FIA Monaco Kart Cup 2010 in KF3 thanks to the local kid, talented Charles Leclerc! In this same category, Pierre Gasly climbed on the third step of the podium after a staggering recovery in the final, while Abbasse, after fighting for leadership in KZ2, concluded in 3rd a race disrupted by rain. It was therefore an extraordinary overall performance that the Sodi Racing Team staged on the demanding track of the Principality, at this very challenging meeting.

Just like in F1, you don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched in Monaco. First of all, the level of drivers gets higher year after year, and in addition to that, the layout of this circuit inside the city – so narrow – causes quite a few collisions. This year, the rain made its appearance during the final phases, thereby making the job of drivers and teams even more complicated. Despite these difficult conditions, the Sodi team showed some excellent performances throughout the weekend, with all its three drivers in the lead in all races…

Once again, Anthony Abbasse monopolised the leadership in KZ2, with performances that grew more and more effective during the meeting. 3rd in timed qualifying, he was second in each of the qualifying heats and then first in the pre-final, when the race was interrupted due to heavy showers. During the final race, drivers had to play heads or tails with their rain tyres on a drying track. Anthony was third, but soon climbed to second. However, he lost ground in the final phases because his setup proved to be the least suitable during the final part of the race. He concluded with a third place he was very happy with, given the difficulty of the race. «It was like being in a Casino here in Monaco, this year», the driver explained. «On the dry track, we had no rivals, but on track conditions like the ones we found in the final – they kept changing – the grip was too precarious to find the right setup before the start. In addition to that, there was no room for mistakes and the imperative was to avoid collisions. This third place is another great reward for Sodi!»

Battle was even more intense in KF3, where drivers discovering the track for the first time and coming to contact with Tec-Pro were more numerous than usual. The three talented boys of the Sodi team (Gasly, Leclerc and Roussel) started the race at best, with an extraordinary hat trick during timed qualifying! After some turbulent heats, especially for Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, the Sodi boys got ready for the real battle in the final phases … in a spectacular manner.

The two leading drivers of SRT went back on their feet in the pre-final thanks to their extraordinarily effective Sodi chassis, with a fantastic recovery from 28th to 7th staged by the Monegasque driver Leclerc. A taste of some excellent results to come…! Charles kept his momentum in the final, on a track with precarious grip, and there he was, in the lead, just when he reached the first third of the race. Instead of securing his place, he continued to attack until he saw the chequered flag and won with almost 8 seconds of advantage, to show that he is the dominator in his homeland. Fantastic! Meanwhile, Pierre staged a spectacular recovery from his 11th place and little by little he reached all his rivals with some textbook passes, something not seen very often in Monaco. This «pro» strategy led him up to the third place, just to find his team mate on the podium and to reaffirm again the increasingly evident superiority of French chassis…

«It was not an all rest weekend», confessed Nicola de Cola, the team principal. «The team had not really the time to look around, but drivers now have so much confidence in their karts that they can do their best on track and achieve remarkable results. The overall result is extremely satisfactory and very encouraging for the future, too…»