New “Raid” by Sodi at French Championships 2010!

With six podiums, including four victories by four different drivers (!), Sodi was the highest profile brand seen in Lyon, at the third GPO meeting. In blazing hot temperatures, the French chassis reached a very high level of effectiveness, both in KF and in KZ. Now that the season has passed the halfway mark, Anthony Abbasse (KZ2) and Pierre Gasly (KF3) are riding high at the top of their respective French Championships, with Pierre Ragues and Charles Leclerc (also on Sodi), chasing after them. The same holds true for the Constructors’ Championship, dominated by Sodi in these two categories.

By combining high performances on short runs, to conquer a pole position, and reliability during the full length of a final, ST30 and ST32 Sodi chassis allowed their drivers to achieve excellent results on the Lyon track, which offered ideal grip conditions, especially in this summer period. “I have not been racing for Sodi for long but I am already benefiting of the advantages”, Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, who won Saturday’s KF3 final, pointed out. “I like how the chassis behaves, it really makes the driver feel confident. In two GPOs with Sodi, I have already made the top step of the podium twice and I am back to second place in the Championship standings. It is a great satisfaction, especially because it is my team mate Pierre Gasly, more experienced than I am, who precedes me”.

Indeed, Gasly is still the master of this category in the GPOs. After conquering the title of Vice European Champion in KF3, he secured a double success Sodi-Parilla on the first day, and then he shifted to higher gear on Sunday, when he won the final with a comfortable advantage of almost three seconds…

The Sodi brand also achieved an extraordinary collective success in KZ2, with three chassis in the first four places on Saturday, then three chassis in the first five the following day. The names of the drivers who crafted the two victories are Anthony Abbasse and Pierre Ragues, who now shares his time between karts and cars. “If I continue with karting, it is because it gives me huge pleasure. And this is more so with my Sodi chassis, which is incredibly effective. I am very happy it enabled me to find my way to victory again in such a competitive series as karting GPOs”, Pierre stressed.

On Sunday, Anthony Abbasse never left the first place, during warm-up, timed qualifying, pre-final and final, each time with best lap time in race. Anthony was over the moon: “I was already satisfied I had found my way up from 23rd to 4th place on the first day after a collision during the pre-final. The following day, my Sodi-TM was constantly just as fast. The chassis kept high performances from the first to the last lap, while preserving tyres in very good state”.

The last comment comes from Nicola De Cola, the team manager of Sodi Racing Team: “I hope I can have more weekends like this in the future! July was overall an excellent month. The Sodi brand was not only successful at international level with the European vice champion title and Alex Baron’s performances in the U18 World Championship, but also in all the regions and at national level with, for example, the title of French Champion “Minime” conquered by Jérémy Demarque with a MCS 5 Sodi, exactly one week before Lyon”.