Rodriguez Unlucky, Boccolacci Leader

Held as a support to the CIK-FIA “U18” World Championship, the action-packed Academy Trophy had many emotions in store in Ortona’s heat wave. Leaders further to the qualifying heats, the Russian Vsevolod Gagen and the representative of the FIA Women in Motor Sport Commission, France’s Lucile Cypriano, were unable to confirm their form in the two races scheduled on Sunday afternoon. Both times it was Diego Rodriguez who first crossed the finish line. But the Spaniard could not make it to the highest step of the podium. A three-second penalty in the first race relegated him to the runner-up position and he was disqualified from the second race as he did not meet the regulatory minimum weight. And then we saw a historical event in the first race as it was won by Aleksander Ndrio, the first licence-holder from Albany to enter an international Karting competition. Aleksander thus proved the justification of this international competition created by the CIK-FIA with the support of Parolin (which supplies the chassis and engines free of charge), as in particular it enables Drivers from nations seldom represented in Karting to compete on equal terms with youngsters from countries where this form of sport is well developed.
 
On the podium of this first race, Ndrio was joined by the poor Diego Rodriguez and the Monaco competitor Charles Leclerc. France’s Esteban Ocon and Britain’s Benjamin Barnicoat confirmed their reputation as hopefuls in their countries by getting into the Top 5 ahead of the second Frenchman, Dorian Boccolacci, the Finn Aatu Moilanen, the Spaniard Mikel Azcona, the Greek Filippos Kalesis and the Swiss Randy Berglas. After a bad start and a spin, Lucile Cypriano could only manage to finish 13th despite achieving the fastest lap time in the race, slightly ahead of Vsevolod Gagen.
 
The second race was also full of action. After the disqualification of Rodriguez, victory went to the young Frenchman Boccolacci, who had successfully pulled away from a group where there was no lack of overtaking. He was joined on the podium by Filippos Kalesis and Charles Leclerc while Esteban Ocon and Benjamin Barnicoat confirmed the 4th and 5th places they had obtained in the first race. It was also worth noting the presence in the Top 10 of Finland’s Juho Valtanen and Aatu Moilanen, of the Norwegian Frederik Schandorff and of the Ukrainian Oleksander Tkachenko, author of the fastest lap time in the race. And what about the winner of the first race, Aleksander Ndrio? A collision at the start jeopardised all his chances right from beginning, and it was also the case of Lucile Cypriano, who was involved in heavy bumping in a closely-fought opening lap.
 
Thanks to the success he achieved in the second race, Dorian Boccolacci will arrive as provisional Championship leader at the next event, scheduled at the end of August at Essay. But he is closely followed by Charles Leclerc, Fillipos Kalesis, Esteban Ocon and Benjamin Barnicoat.