CIK-FIA KZ European Championship, Sarno – Saturday report

Written by Alessandro Roca.
 
New team, new life for Kosmic Kart’s new entry Simo Puhakka (Kosmic-Vortex): as seen in the fourth and last round of the WSK Super Master Series the Finn took home the pole position in qualifying practice, stealing it from Paolo De Conto’s (CRG-TM) hands for only two tousandths of second. Third the other Kosmic driver Patrik Hajek (Kosmic-Vortex), who won here in Sarno the last WSK’s race.
 
The Czech driver took home the first heat winning over Sodikart’s Anthony Abbasse (Sodikart-TM) and his new teammate Puhakka. Unfortunatley in the second heat the Kosmic #5 finished his race parked outside the track, while Puhakka crossed the line in first position ahead Abbasse.
 
Marco Ardigò (Tony Kart-Vortex) didn’t dispute the heats because of an injury to his rib.
 
RESULTS
 


Simo Puhakka (Kosmic-Vortex)
 
“In CRG they said that my performance were too low compared to their expectations and I’m demonstrating the contrary. Here in Kosmic I found a great team, really competitive and everybody are willing to help you to improve the performance. They listen what I’ve to say to improve my pace. With Patrik I’ve a good relationship, we help each other to let the team grow.”


 
Patrik Hajek (Kosmic-Vortex)
 
“From the third round of the WSK in La Conca we finally changed our pace thanks to different climatic conditions beacuse our materials work better with warm temperatures. The wins in the last two rounds of the WSK are a proof of that. We tried a lot of different solutions and finally we found a good set-up with both engine and chassis. Unfortunately in the second heat I made a mistake and I finished my race before the chequered flag. Anyway last year it was harder because in KZ I was alone with Marco, but now with Simo we have the possibility to test more things simoultaneously and this is helping us to find a good set-up easier and faster. We’ve the same engine, but different tuner: I have my own Belgian tuner, Olivier, while he is using an official engine. Anyway, they’re helping them each other. An engine could be more responsive at mid/low revs and the other one at high revs, but the difference is really tight.”
 


Paolo De Conto (CRG-TM)
 
“My shoulder is finally ok and I feel great after the injury. We have a good speed, we just need to make a little step forward on everything, but we’re there. I’m happy, but we could do better.”