ROK Cup Italy, round 6 – Race Report

The ROK Cup Italia is back at the South Garda Karting of Lonato del Garda (BS) for the unmissable sixth round – night edition - of the 2024 championship. This time too, the number of drivers is very high (255 in total) with a lively paddock of the one-make championship by Vortex.  At the end of Sunday, the following championship leaders emerged: Alessandro Nanni (Mini ROK), Lyuboslav Ruykov (Junior ROK), Andrea Giudice (Senior ROK), Andrea Sorbello (Expert ROK), Brando Pozzi (Super ROK) and Samuele Leopardi (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK

Once again, the Mini ROK class is full of entries: in fact, there are 54 drivers - the maximum number allowed - at the starting grid of the weekend.

Second consecutive pole position for Achille Rea. The Italian driver sets the best time of 54.325 seconds in Group 2 and beats the competition of Giuseppe Noviello, first in Group 1 in 54.345 seconds. David Moscardi is at the top of the standings with the third position overall, along with Nicolas Orbezo, fourth, Lorenzo Zucchetto, fifth, and Dominik Wojcik, sixth. Huifei Xie, seventh, Victor Gorun, eighth, Kacper Kluk, ninth, and Blazej Kostrzewa, tenth, also enter the top ten. They are followed by Alessandro Nanni, Augustin Feligioni, Dawid Tyndel, Luca Muzzolon, Martin Bertolaccini, Andrea Carbone, Daniel Hakkinen, Odin Flora, Elias Boullier, Max Boshoff and Johannes Buchhammer, Benjamin Karajkovic, Radu Basescu Pricop, Alessandro Cereda, Ramiro Benjamin Carreira, Logan Billau, Francesco Lisignoli, Marco Pozzoni, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Vicenzo Salierno, Stanislaw Grabowski, Leo Kralev, Valentino Vivian, Alessandro Daniel Gonzales, Yusuf Ozbahadir Asil, Bryan Filippelli, Mattia Finadri, Nagura Aashay, Emma Boschetto, Tommaso Pomoni, Edoardo Traina, Leonardo Trombini, Stanislaw Ziarko, Jessica Calleja, Andrea Croce Screpis, Wojciech Kosikiewicz, Paul Plattner-Geramb, Alessio Ottaviani, Nicholas Bertolani, Anna Makolm, Aris Lutu, Villarreal Iker Castro, Martin Antonio and Ernest Molenda.

As usual, the following qualifying heats turn the situation around in the category of the youngest drivers. With a win and a second place, Kostrzewa moves up from tenth to first place and overtakes the pair Moscardi and Rea, second and third respectively despite both boast a win. Noviello drops from second to fourth place, but still remains ahead of Xie, fifth, and Orbezo, sixth. Tyndel, seventh, enters the top-10 in which we also find Wojcik, eighth, Kluk, ninth, and Carbone, tenth. A pity for Zucchetto, only 23^rd after collecting a retirement in the second heat.

Saturday's final offers a unique spectacle and a heart-stopping conclusion. Thanks to an excellent start from the pole position, Kostrzewa immediately tries to escape from Rea, Moscardi and Noviello. If the latter is soon unable to keep up with the Pole's pace, on the contrary, the other two Italian drivers join their forces and, within a few laps, close the gap to the race leader and overtake him. From this moment on, Moscardi, Rea and Kostrzewa start a strong battle made up of continuous counter-passes that, however, allows first Kluk and then Tyndel to catch them in the final stages of the race.

At the last corner of the last lap, Moscardi tries to overtake Rea, but at the same time Kostrzewa runs next to the two Italians at the finish line: the sprint ends with Rea first, Moscardi second with +0.013 seconds from his compatriot and Kostrzewa third, +0.062 seconds behind the winner. Tyndel and Kluk finish fourth and fifth respectively.

Junior ROK

Dizzying numbers for the Junior ROK at Lonato del Garda, where a record number of 62 drivers are competing.

On the strength of his victory in the last round at Cremona, Lyuboslav Ruykov starts the weekend in the best way: the Bulgarian, in fact, takes the pole position in 48.785 seconds in Group 1. Giulio Mazzolini, the fastest driver in Group 2, stops the chrono at 48.864 seconds and finishes second, thus preceding in the combined classification Riccardo Brangero, third, Federico Sbardellati, fourth, Ettore Sanesi, fifth and Julia Angelard, sixth. Osar Hildebranski secures his seventh place, followed by Guido Bruno Bidoli, eighth, Ilias Mitaki, ninth, and Amani Wairati Kinyua, tenth.  The ranking goes on with Emilio Tedesco, Marlon Di Salvo, Filippo Pola, Leonardo Lanza, Adrian Potepa, Francesco Koci, Sofia Povazhnaia, Milosz Smuk, Stefano Zamponi, Riccardo Repetto, Dmitrii Skorodelov, Thomas Pan, Olek Mrozik, Mateusz Wal, Alberto Masotto, Andrea Savoldelli, Anh Tu Ranghetti, Ella Hakkinen, Liam Secal, Zackarias Ringstrom, Borys Blaszczyk, Enrico Pietro Villa, Maxim Becker, Angelo Pecoraro, Vanessa Poeckh, Francesca Pietrini, Stefano Ferrari, Franciszek Bal, Plamen Teliyski, Onalt Hasan Halil, Ettore Di Domenico, Nicolò Carrara, Michal Czyzewicz, Carlo Pongratz, Irimia Benjamin Borg, Michal Zajac, Selina Baum, Kaio Issa Cera, Manuel Ranica, Andrea Dell’Edera, Antonio Campo, Lucas Pasquinetti, Kimi Karakilic, Pietro Chesini, Adam Ezra, Lena Pichler, Crivoiruc Sonia, Fausto Arnaudo, Leonardo Monzani, Ascano Sandrini, Rafael Papasavvas and Andrea Proverbio.

Thanks to a perfect run in the qualifying heats made up of three victories out of three races, Ruykov remains at the top of the intermediate ranking, with Mazzolini, Brangero and Sbardellati in the next three positions. Bidoli and Tedesco gain the fifth and sixth place respectively and find themselves ahead of Angelard, Mitaki, Di Salvo and Potepa. Sanesi, slips from fifth to 20th, and Hildebranski, from seventh to 21st, due to a stop in the heats, for both of them.

The night final also sees Ruykov as the absolute protagonist. Without making any mistakes, the Bulgarian jumps well and remains at the front, with Brangero, Bidoli and Mazzolini in the next positions. Initially, only Brangero remains in contact with his team-mate, while not far behind Bidoli and Mazzolini are fighting for the third place. In the middle stages of the race, the leading drivers regroup thus allowing Mazzolini to go on the attack: first he overtakes Bidoli, after which he also puts Brangero behind him. Ruykov takes advantage of the tussle to increase his advantage, just enough to manage the race in the final passages and take the victory. Mazzolini finishes second, reducing the gap to around seven tenths, while Brangero secures the lowest step on the podium. With two laps to go, Sbardellati steals the fourth place to Bidoli.

Senior ROK

There are 49 contenders vying for the final victory in the Senior ROK at the South Garda Karting.

The challenge already ignites in qualifying, where Riccardo Ferrari, author of the pole position in 48.016 seconds in Group 2, precedes Danny Carenini, first in Group 1, by just 0.005 seconds. Lorenzo Bedetti and Giuseppe Gaglianò also contended for the lead, but the two finished third and fourth respectively. Kaloyan Varbitzaliev was fifth, followed by Kacper Turoboyski, sixth, Mattia D'Erme, seventh, Simone Taccola, eighth, Paolo Dung Pastori, ninth, and Samuele Di Filippo, tenth. Also taking to the track were Riccardo Salemi, Andrea Giudice, Luca Perelli, Mattia Jentile, Franciszek Czapla, Alex Laghezza, Edoardo Prioglio, Nicola Marini, Alberto Bernardi, Piotr Orzechowski, Riccardo Chiodo, Federico Zanetti, Antoni Kosiba, Aleksander Ruta, Giovanni Polato, Ludovica Miceli, Ghazi Motlekar, Franciszek Lassota, Matteo Lazzarotto, Alessandro Arlati, Morgan Knudsen, Fabio Silvesttri, Piotr Protasiewicz, Alessandro Giarratano, Renzo Barbuy, Mattia Chiurato, Mikolaj Kania, Andrea Fiocco, Giuseppe Palladino, Nicolò Marsili, Pietro Camerlengo, Kiufung Kanjanapas, Emanuele Romanelli, Evis Louka, Dominiki Beller, Davide Petrosi, Matteo Bellandi, Rikardo Bakaj and Andrea Saporiti.

Even in the qualifying heats, Ferrari remains unbeaten: the Italian takes two wins out of two races in the programme and precedes Carenini, second in the intermediate classification, in a direct clash. Gaglianò, Turoboyski, Di Filippo and Giudice gain several positions and place behind the Ferrari-Carenini pair, unlike Bedetti who drops from third to seventh. The top ten also included Salemi, eighth, Varbitzaliev, ninth, and Perelli, tenth.

In the final, Ferrari and Gaglianò got off to a good start and immediately occupied the first two positions, with Bedetti third and Di Filippo, Turoboyski and Carenini following. In the early laps, Gaglianò tried to sustain the pace imposed by leader Ferrari, but was forced to give up the baton of first pursuer to team-mate Bedetti. The latter also tried, at least initially, to reduce the gap separating him from Ferrari, but from the middle of the race he was forced to concentrate more on defence, first against Carenini and then Turoboyski. Giudice, Gaglianò, Di Filippo and Salemi also joined the battle, but Bedetti held his nerve and, with Ferrari now launched towards victory, secured second place. In an agitated final, it was Salemi who took the last available place on the podium, finishing third ahead of Turoboyski, Giudice, Gaglianò Carenini and Di Filippo.

Expert ROK

At the start, in the sixth round of the ROK Cup Italy, there is also a crowded grid made up of the 'senators' of Expert ROK class.

After winning the ROK Cup Winter Trophy at the beginning of the year, Claudio Pagliarani is back in Lonato del Garda and soon gathers the pole position in the qualifyings. The Italian, with a time of 48.773 seconds, puts Nikolay Varbitzaliev, second, Andrea Moretti, third, and Paolo Baselli, fourth, behind him. Fifth and sixth place respectively went to Adrian Marcinkiewciz and Alessandro Viganò, while Filippo Repetto and Marco Massironi were seventh and eighth place. Michele Zampieri and Andrea Sorbello, on the other hand, close the top ten in that order. The general ranking goes on with Jorge Matos, Gianni Zani, Tino Donadei, Daniel Zajac, Roberto Nali, Fabio Cretti, Luke Joshua Armstrong, Riccardo Pedrola, Marco Nannavecchia, Marco Beretta, Pier Giuseppe Di Landro, Luca Molinari, Gianluca Rubiolini, Roberto Pelanconi, Luca Davì and Calogero Romano.

In Race 1, Varbitzaliev tries at the start to run next to Pagliarani, but the latter does not give way to the Bulgarian driver and keeps the lead. Moretti takes advantage of this to establish himself in second position, but at the start of the second lap he has to leave his position in the hands of Varbitzaliev. Behind them, Baselli remains in fourth place, with Viganò and Marcinkiewicz following. During the race, the leader Pagliarani manages to gain a reassuring lead over Varbitzaliev who, despite a series of fast laps, is unable to recover ground and is, instead, forced to watch out for Moretti. The chequered flag sanctions Pagliarani's victory and the podiums of Varbitzaliev and Moretti. With a more effective performance in the second half of the race, Marcinkiewicz finishes fourth, ahead of Baselli, Viganò, Zani and Repetto.

In Race 2, it is Repetto who takes the lead in the first few corners, but it is Varbitzaliev who emerges clearly from the back and takes the lead on lap 2. However, after a good start, the Bulgarian driver finds himself forced to defend himself from Pagliarani and Moretti. Despite trying hard to stay in the lead, Varbitzaliev is forced to give way to the two Italians who, in the middle stages, fight for the leading position. Between the two, Pagliarani is forced to stop due to a technical problem. Moretti then proceeds undisturbed to victory. Viganò and Sorbello occupies the remaining two steps of the podium and precede Zani, Marcinkiewicz, Pagliarani and Repetto at the finish line. Thanks to a spin, Varbitzaliev does not go beyond ninth position.

Super ROK

Great success in the Super ROK, protagonist at Lonato del Garda with two exciting and hard-fought races.

In the qualifyings, Alex Desario's incredible sequence of pole positions comes to an end. It is Brando Pozzi, in fact, who is the fastest thanks to a time of 47.250 seconds. Bartosz Grzywacz, last season's ROK Cup Italy champion, gains the second place, ahead of Luca Magnussen, third. Desario 'settles' for fourth place, ahead of Matteo Berruti, fifth, Christian Canonica, sixth, Gaia Cardinali, seventh, and Domenico Cicognini, eighth. Alessandro Cocozza and Sachel Rotgé finish ninth and tenth respectively. The ranking continues with Aleksandar Bogunovic, Lynn Neuhaus, Alessandro Zini, Vittorio Maria Russo, Nicolò Coppotelli, Simone Donchi, Manuel Gritti, Thomas Carnovali, Matilde Seregni, Riccardo Cocozza, Lorenzo Poletti, Renius Jejdling, Zachary Taylor, Matilde Itzcovich, Mattia Gafforelli, Faadil Imiaz Dali, Edoardo Braga and Gabriele Cucinotta.

In Race 1, at the start, a perfect jump is made by Pozzi, immediately followed by Magnussen, Berruti and Desario, the latter able to overtake Grzywacz after a few metres. Pozzi proves to have a better pace than his rivals and, lap after lap, begins to gain a considerable advantage. On the other hand, Magnussen raises the white flag on the fourth lap due to a technical problem. In the meantime, Grzywacz recovers the positions lost at the start and, having regained second place, tries in every way to reduce the gap from Pozzi, but there is nothing he can do: the Italian wins by 2.211 seconds over the Polish driver, who finishes second. Desario crosses the finish line in third place, but a three-second penalty for not respecting the starting procedure drops him behind Berruti. The ranking goes on with Cardinali, fifth, Bogunovic, sixth, Cocozza, sixth, and Neuhaus, eighth.

In Race 2, Neuhaus makes the most of his first grid position to lead the group in the first few corners. Behind him there are Bogunovic, Desario, Grzywacz and Pozzi. Among the five, Desario seems to be the one fitting at best and tries to overtake Bogunovic. The attack fails, and he is then overtaken by Grzywacz ending up in a fight with Pozzi. Before the end of the opening lap, an accident puts nine competitors out of action, including Desario himself. After two laps under 'slow' conditions, the race resumes with Neuhaus overtaken by Grzywacz, Pozzi, Bogunovic and Canonica. Soon, it is Pozzi and Grzywacz who are the protagonists in a fine duel, with the Italian author of a decisive overtaking move for victory over the Polish driver on lap six. The ranking therefore sees Pozzi first and Grzywacz second, while Bogunovic secures the lowest step on the podium, ahead of Canonica, Berruti, Cardinali, Cicognini (who climbs 17 places) and Neuhaus.

Shifter ROK

Hot weekend for the Shifter ROK, the shifter kart category of the ROK Cup Italy.

Samuele Leopardi hits his third consecutive pole position in the timed practices. The Italian records a time of 46.708 seconds, 14 thousandths better than the time set by his team-mate Federico Diana, second. Massimiliano Pezzucchi and Federico Mascialino occupy third and fourth position respectively, ahead of Roberto Manduchi and Edoardo Sabatino, fifth and sixth. Marco Chiarello follows in seventh, while Fabrizio Morardo, Luigi Del Vecchio and Federico Squaranti gains, in order, the last three places in the top-10. The qualifying ranking sees in the following positions: Riccardo Rigodanza, Gabriele Bensi, Philippe Ehrensberger, Andrea Zemin, Andrea Pirovano, Daniele De Martis, Davide Cordera, Marco Acquarella, Marcel Kasprzycki, Mattia Rossetti, Leonardo Saba, Lorenzo Ripamonti, Paolo Fracasso, Adrian Labuda, Andrea Aliberti, Pietro Fioravanti, Lorenzo Brunetti, Leonardo Boccardi, Filippo Parmeggiani, Alessandro Tagliacollo, Cristian Lovi, Ferrando Giacomo Pegazzano, Giacomo Pellegrino, Lorenzo Rubes, Riccardo Franciosi and Lorenzo Paganini.

In Race 1, Leopardi performs perfectly when the lights go off and firmly holds the lead after the first few corners, with Diana, Pezzucchi and Manduchi behind him. Mascialino moves out of his pit lane too early and ends up under the stewards' magnifying glass: the Italian then receives a three-second penalty after a few laps. By the end of the first lap, Leopardi has already built up a one-second lead over Diana and, through a masterful handling of the race, does not let his rival catch up with him: the poleman thus takes the win, while Diana finishes in second place. Pezzucchi gains the lowest step of the podium after defending himself against Squaranti, fourth, Mascialino, fifth but relegates to seventh, Sabatino and Rigodanza. Manduchi, who come into contact with Del Vecchio in the early stages, retired.

In Race 2, Chiarello has a great start from the first box and takes the lead in the race, unlike Mascialino who, from the front row, finds himself behind Rigodanza, Sabatino, Leopardi and Squaranti. Chiarello, however, lasts just two laps in the lead: Rigodanza overtakes him in the central 'S' of the circuit and, on the next lap, also passes Leopardi. It is the two main contenders for the title who fight it out for the rest of the race, but Rigodanza has an extra gear and passes first under the chequered flag ahead of Leopardi and Chiarello. Recovering six positions from the start and setting the fastest lap is Bensi who finishes fourth ahead of Squaranti, Mascialino and Sabatino. Unlucky Pezzucchi, KO on the first lap already.