A total of 214 verified drivers, out of the 224 entered, made it to the track at the South Garda Karting of Lonato for the 24th Andrea Margutti Trophy, the event that is underway this coming weekend of 25-26 March 2017 as part of the international CIK-FIA calendar.
This event organized by Parma Motorsport in the memory of the young talent Andrea Margutti exhibits once again important figures that are growing compared to the past few editions and the 214 drivers present this year make the race to the second most crowded edition ever, following the record scored back in 2012 when 246 drivers made it to the track.
The drivers challenging each other in all categories present at this edition – i.e. KZ2, OK, OK-Junior, 60 Mini and X30 Senior, the latter competing for the X30 Trophy – got on track on Friday for free practice.
Category KZ2 had 53 drivers at the start. European Champion Fabian Federer was the quickest on CRG-Tm, completing his best loop in 45.712s. He has been chased by several strong rivals that like the recent winner of the Spring Trophy Nicolas Gonzales (Maranello-Tm), Italian Champion Francesco Celenta (Praga-Tm), Mirko Torsellini (CRG-Tm) and Riccardo Longhi (BirelArt-Tm). Several other drivers ended within a handful of thousands of a second, which envisages for a great duel when it counts on Saturday morning’s qualifying and in the heats ahead of the final stages on Sunday March 26th.
The professional category OK is also expected to produce a great challenge involving the 32 drivers at the start, that include a lot of champions. This category will use LeCont tyres similarly to what will happen in the next races of the European Championship and CIK-FIA World Championship. Lorenzo Travisanutto has been shining so far on Zanardi Parilla. He put in a fastest lap of 46.827s, but the British CIK-FIA Academy Champion Callum Bradshaw has been leading three sessions. Good performances have been put in by Abdul Gafar Muidduzzin (DR-Parilla), by former World Champion Tom Joyner (Zanardi-Parilla), International Rotax 2015 Champion Alex Irlando on Sodikart-Tm and Felice Tiene (BirelArt-Tm).
A lot of young drivers are displaying a great speed in OK-Junior, category that has 44 drivers at the start. Mattia Michelotto has been excellent in free practice, as the French David Hadrien and Leonardo Marseglia, all on Zanardi-Parilla run by team Chiesa Corse. They were followed by Baby Race’s pairing made by Andrea Rosso and Luca Bosco on Tony Kart-Vortex, by the German Hugo Sasse of CRG TB Racing Team and the Russian Tikhon Kharitonov of Ward Racing on Tony Kart-Vortex.
Category 60 Mini has 59 drivers at the start. An early duel has been involving Italian Champion Gabriele Minì (Parolin-Tm) and the Russian Nikita Bedrin (Tony Kart-Tm) so far, but a lot of very young underdogs are all set to come to the fore.
Among the 26 drivers present in X30, Vittorio Maria Russo completed a best lap in 49.599s on Tony Kart-Iame. Davide De Marco (TB Kart-Iame) was also very quick in 49.607s.
The programme of the 28th Andrea Margutti Trophy follows (local time):
Saturday 25 March: Free practice from 8:00; Qualifying from 10:15; Heats from 13:00.
Sunday 26 March: Warm-up from 8:30; Second chance races from 11:00; Prefinals from 13:20; Finals from 15:20. Prize ceremonies from 18:00.
Live TV, Live Timing and all results will be available at www.trofeomargutti.com and www.southgardakarting.it
Parma Motorsport Ssd
Press Office
24.03.2017