Great debut for Crg and the new Maxter engines

15th Winter Cup Lonato (Italy)

Kozlinski steps on the podium in Super KF after winning the pre-final. Great qualifying practice for Forè who got a terrific pole position. In KF3 a new star was born: Max Verstappen. In KF2 the Danish driver Michelle Gatting showed her great competitiveness qualities.

LONATO  (Brescia  – Italy),  21st February  2010.  Great performances  at  2010  season start  for  CRG  Official  Team. The  new  Maxter  engines showed great competitiveness and  reliability  in  the  first official  event  of  the  season: the  Winter  Cup  at  Lonato. Before  the  official  events  of  the  WSK,  the  Company  of  Desenzano  del  Garda  has  confirmed to  play  a  leading role, beginning from  the  top category. 

In  fact,  in  Super  KF the  quick  Arnaud  ‘Koko’ Kozlinski, reigning  world champion,  performed  at  top level with big chances for the final victory. Also David Foré, already winner of several  titles, got  excellent  results: he  gained  the  pole  position and was  always  right  in  the  middle  of the fight for the first places. Koko’s  overall  performance was spoilt  by  the  consequences  of  a rough  collision  against  one  of  the competitors  in  the final,  after  his smooth  win  of  the  pre-final.  The CRG driver,  with  seven  laps  to  go, had taken  the  lead  for  the  second time  in  the  final  thanks  to  an enthralling  duel  with  his  rivals: then  a  sudden  and  unpredictable collision pushed him back to a final fifth place. Anyway, the aggregated results  of  the  pre-final  and  final allowed  him  to  gain  the  third  step of the podium. Forè finished  seventh,  but  despite this  he  was  very  satisfied  of  his performance,  as  well  as Thonon who, after a gripping fight to get to the  first  positions,  was  content with  the  final  tenth place.  Young driver  Felice  Tiene’s  performance was  excellent  too:  despite  he caught  an intestinal virus  during the  weekend  he  was  strong enough  to  make  his  way  through from the 23th  place,  after  the heats,  up  to  the  12th place  in  the final.  Eddy  Tinini was  stopped  by technical troubles. The  final  results  of  Super  KF  show how the 2010 season is going to be a tough one on a technical level too: for  example,  about  the  recently homologated  motorizations, in  the first  five  positions  there  are  four different engines!

In KF3, the young Dutch driver Max Verstappen is the new star of the  category.  The  son  of  the former  F1  driver  Jos  Verstappen, arrived for second in the final after winning his qualifying heats. It was his debut in this category, but he was immediately one of the protagonists,  fighting every  inch  for  the  final  win  and  leading  the race  for  many  laps.  Great  satisfactions  are expected  from  this young  talent.  Benjamin  Gerard is  another  young  talent  full  of expectations.  He  was  rather  unlucky  on  this  occasion:  he  missed the  final  but  was  very  competitive indeed. Whereas Mario  Ziletti from Brescia was at his debut in an international competition and still needs some training.

In KF2, Michelle Gatting of CRG Junior Team got excellent results. The sixteen-year-old Danish driver was very quick since the beginning. She was so quick that she managed to win one of the heats, even though she met some troubles and was eventually obliged to take part in the second chance heat, where she managed to  arrive 8th from the 23th place. Giovanni Martinez, always in
KF2, did not manage to qualify, while the Argentinean Franco Ruberto Curia did not take part in this event; he will start his season with the next event: the WSK Euro Series at Muro Leccese on 7th March.

Giancarlo Tinini (C.R.G. S.p.A. Chairman): ‘My comment on this first event of the season is absolutely positive. We did well in all the categories, in KF2 too with Michelle Gatting, who drove really fast! In KF3 max Verstappen was quick from the very beginning: he played a leading role throughout the whole event. And the same can be said for Gerard, who showed his excellent qualities. It’s a pity for “Koko” in Super KF; he was unlucky in the final. He started from the back rows and he didn’t have the chance to recover. Instead, for Thonon this was a preparatory race: a good training session before the beginning of WSK, where he will participate in KZ. Tiene had several physical problems because of that intestinal virus, but despite this he managed to perform well in the final. Eddy too was going well, then troubles with the engine stopped him. It was a good rehearsal to test our potentialities: I’m sure we’ll get a kick out of WSK.’

Arnaud  Kozlinski‘I  was  purposely hindered  during  the  race  by  one  of  my rivals,  otherwise  I’d  have  won  the  final. Technically  speaking,  we  had  a  great chassis  and  the  engine  was absolutely performing.  The  delay  of  three  hours, which  obliged  us  to  race  in  the  cold
evening,  may  have  limited  the  overall performance  of  my  engine.  In  the  prefinal,  with  a  warmer  temperature,  I  won with  a  terrific  race  recovering  from  8th place.’

Davide  Foré‘During  the  first  race  I  had some  grip  problems  while  braking;  my kart wasn’t well balanced. For the final we made  some  adjustments  on  the  chassis  and  things  started  to  get  better.  The  engine’s  got  great potentialities, we will play an important role in the season.’

Jonathan Thonon: ‘After marking the third time during the practice, I started really behind in the pre-final, then  I  did  better  in  the  final  managing  to  gain  the  10th place.  I’m  glad,  anyway:  for  me  it was  a  great training session before the KZ season. I must thank Giancarlo Tinini heartedly for giving me this opportunity. From the next race, on 7th March, with the WSK opening event, my season will be essentially focused on the category with gear-shift.’

Felice Tiene: ‘I hadn’t feel well for a week, and this morning I had to go to the hospital, because I needed some  treatment  (they  gave  me  a  couple  of  drip-feeds).  I  felt  better,  then;  the  race  went  well.  I  had  a problem  in  one  of  the  heats,  which  obliged  me  to  start  from  the  back  rows,  even  though  eventually  I managed to recover and to finish 12th. I’m really glad, after all. It was my first race in Super KF and I was at the same level of the greatest champion of the category.’


Press Office
C.R.G. S.p.A.
www.kartcrg.com


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE

Newsletter

Stay tuned!
Sign up for our mailing list
Follow Us on Facebook