Sodi drivers impress

At the European Junior championships and 125/Super ICC world cup meetings Sodi provided another demonstration of how competitive its chassis models are. Norman Nato, Jim Pla and Thomas Letailleur were both hoping for good results until a few grains of sand in the works went and spoilt their ambitions…

Only having just joined the official Sodi works team in time for the European Junior race at Mariembourg in Belgium, speedy driver Norman Nato soon found his feet in the French team’s paddock, along with the very promising Jim Pla. After moving up the field in each of his heats, he got off to a flying start in the pre-final race. “I managed to get off to a good start and soon found myself lying in 8th position”, commented Nato. “But just when I thought I was about to make up a few more places my carburettor started playing up, so I lost a few places instead”. Fortunately, Nato’s weekend concluded on a high note with excellent lap times and an impressive climb through the field from 18th to 9th place. “Norman’s climb through the field was superb”, was what his Sodi team-mates had to say. “He clearly demonstrated his potential and that of his machine. He ended up the top Frenchman of the weekend and might have been on the podium had he started from a better place on the grid.”
Jim Pla was not so lucky after getting caught up in a collision at the start of the race. This was such a great pity because the young French hopeful had been driving impeccably until then despite experiencing a mechanical problem during the time trials. “He’s only very young and still has plenty of margin for improvement, but Jim drove very intelligently at Mariembourg”, confirmed Franck Le Beller, the team’s technical manager. “Booking a place in the final coming from 68th position during the time trials is quite an achievement. As the race progressed he managed to coax more out of his machine. He even went from 29th to 12th place in the pre-final race. It would have been interesting to see how he would have got on in the final but that collision spoilt everything by putting him out of the race”.

Letailleur knocks on the door of the top-10
This early September meeting’s showcase event, the 125/Super ICC World Cup race, was spiced up by the presence of all the leading factory teams. Comeback boy Thomas Letailleur, absent from the track for several months following an accident, took up the challenge. Never far away the top ten all weekend, he finally came home 11th, within 2 seconds of the 7th placed driver. “Once again we were able to demonstrate that the Sodi SR5-BV is up there with the leading names in the 125cc class”, was Thomas’s verdict. “I finished the final race just ahead of favourites such as Cozzaglio, Sferrella and Piccini, and I was able to lap faster than some of the drivers in front of me. Unfortunately I often lost time off the grid because the engine was a bit slow to respond. I always had to fight to catch up the places I lost at the start. Since we were managing to preserve our tyres better than some of our rivals I honestly think I could have finished in the top six or seven”.

Minime/Cadet: all eyes on Sodi !
At Soucy the week before the Mariembourg meeting, the France Minime championship race ended in victory for youngster Nelson De Carvalho, handing the Sodi MC5 chassis its second consecutive title in the junior categories, following Norman Nato’s Cadet class success in 2005. Mathieu Jaminet, the start of the season’s hero, made it a 1-2 for Sodi in the final standings. Sodi drivers made it virtually a clean sweep for the make in the Cadet class, with eight out of the top ten places in the championship going to the chassis from Nantes. Our congratulations go to Clément Chillet, winner at Soucy and runner up in the 2006 French championships, and also to Joffrey Dorchy (3rd), Vitto Lorenzo (4th), Charles Magnin (5th), Sylver Barbe (6th), Pascal Belmaaziz (7th), John Barbe (9th) and Tanguy Carel (10th).