ROK Cup Festival – Race Report
The third edition of the ROK Cup Festival closes the 2024 season of the Vortex single-brand in the best possible way. Numerous drivers competed at the Franciacorta Karting Track in Castrezzato (Italy) for the conquer of the titles awarded in the two race days, with typical winter weather conditions.
At the end of the day on Sunday, the last champions of the year have been crowned: Alessandro Nanni (Mini ROK), Kian Burnard (Junior ROK), Giuseppe Gaglianò (Senior ROK), Paolo Baselli (Expert ROK), Alessandro Cocozza (Super ROK) and Massimiliano Pezzucchi (Shifter ROK).
Mini ROK
The Mini ROK title is defined in the last meters of the final.
The weekend begins with Alessandro Nanni. The ROK Cup Italy’s champion takes the pole position in the qualifyings, thanks to a chrono time of 56.128 seconds in Group 2, winning over Radu Barescu Pricop, first in Group 1 in 56.519 seconds. The combined standings see Filippo Frigerio in third place, ahead of Nathan Lotrionte, fourth, Leo Kralev, fifth, and Gergo Buzas, sixth. Josh Bergman, seventh, Victor-Thomas Gorun, eighth, Aleksander Pelikanski, ninth, and Efrain Campos, tenth, also find a place in the top 10. Other drivers attending the chrono practices are Blazej Kostrzewa, Yerly Nicolas, Platon Kovtunenko, Dominik Wojcik, Patrick Bissa, Daniel Hakkinen, Odin Flora, Johannes Buchhammer, Tommaso Pomoni, Giovanni Ventorino, Nicolò Poli, Farel Dugat Beretta, Bryan Filippelli, Natan Lukas, Mattia Pellin, Sebastian Schirripa, Serban Vizitiu, Camilla Amarotti, Filip Stec, Radoslaw Czernicki, Anna Makolm, Antonio Martin, Blotny Piotr, Luca Paraschiv Marginean, Andrea Croce Screpis, Samuel Dal Pozzo, Ilia Cotorobai, and Ghazi Almekdad.
Even in the qualifying heats, Nanni proves to be unbeatable and with two victories remains at the top of the category. Author of a second and a third place, Pelikanski climbs from ninth to second place and overtakes Basescu and Frigerio, third and fourth respectively. Bergman, fifth, precedes Bissa, who climbed from 15th to sixth place, and Gorun, seventh. Kovtunenko, Kostrzewa and Campos occupy the last available top-10 places. A disqualification for a technical irregularity in heat C-D sends Lotrionte to 28th.
Sunday afternoon's final sees Nanni jumping perfectly from the pole position, while Pelikanski is forced to leave his second place to Basescu Pricop. Bergman momentarily takes the third position after the start, but spins out at the bend and restarts from the back of the group. After two laps, Nanni can boast more than a one-second lead over his pursuers, but the Gorun-Kovtunenko pair gradually reduces the gap in the following laps and the Italian has to keep them away in the second half of the race. Thanks to an excellent driving, Nanni precedes Gorun at the finishline by just 34 thousandths of a second, while Kostrzewa and Frigerio finish ahead of Kovtunenko, with the Pole on the lowest step of the podium and with the Italian driver author of the fastest lap of the race. Basescu Pricop finishes eighth and Pelikanski ranks 15th .
Junior ROK
Incredible epilogue for the Junior ROK, after a final marked by continuous overtaking until the checkered flag.
Qualifyings see the supremacy of the two German drivers. Sebastian Riedel takes the pole position with the best time of 49.208 seconds, ahead of his compatriot Marlon Di Salvo, second. In the role of pursuers we find two Italian drivers: Ilias Mitaki, third, and Francesco Koci, fourth. The next positions are occupied by the Polish drivers Milosz Smuk, fifth, Blaszczyk Borys, sixth, and Olek Mrozik, seventh. Riccardo Repetto, Kian Burnard and Liam Aarsbek Secall complete the top-10. The ranking continues with Mateusz Wal, Riccardo Brangero, Anh Tu Ranghetti, Leonardo Monzani, Iven Ammann, Julia Angelard, Ludovico Mazzola, Leonardo Lanza, Shae Shield, Natan Rybczynski, Andrea Dell'Edera, Andrea Proverbio, Carlo Pongratz, Francesca Pietrini, Michal Zajac, Michal Czywewicz, Andrian Potepa, Andrea Savoldelli, Lena Pichler, Emma Boschetto, Mariachiara Nardelli, Maxim Becker, Stanislaw Grabowski, Dario El Malki, Mattia Bianchi, and Tommaso Scarato.
The standings change considerably at the end of the qualifying heats. With a win on his own roster, Mrozik goes straight to the top of the category, with Di Salvo still in second place. Mazzola and Potepa recover several positions and secure the third and fourth place, respectively. Burnard and Brangero, fifth and sixth, also improve their ranking, while Riedel drops to seventh. Proverbius, Secall and Angelard enter the top-10, while Smuk, Mitaki and Koci, relegate to 15th, 20th and 22nd places, respectively.
In the final, a lot happens. In the first start attempt, the poleman Mrozik is hit and spinned out: also thanks to the cancelled second start, the Polish driver manages to recover his pole position and starts ahead of everyone at the third and final start. After the first few corners, the race sees Mrozik in the lead, followed by Mazzola and Burnard, who, on the third lap, get into a tussle and give way to the Brangero-Di Salvo pair to take the lead. The Italian and the German drivers first battle for the lead and get into collision with eachothers at the last bend, allowing Riedel, Burnard, Potepa and Mazzola to go back to the top of the standings. Among these four drivers, Mazzola seems to be the fastest and momentarily runs first place, but soon falls back to fourth again. The race ends with Potepa, Riedel, Burnard, Mazzola, Koci, and Brangero in the top positions, but the standings are upset after a series of penalties: victory is awarded to Burnard, Brangero gains second place, and Mitaki, initially 11th, is third.
Senior ROK
Senior ROK drivers put on a breathtaking show at Franciacorta.
With a time of 47.642 seconds, Alex Laghezza beats Gabriel Moretto in the qualifying by just 8 thousandths of a second and secures the pole position. At +0.069 seconds behind the polesitter, Giuseppe Gaglianò ranks third overall, ahead of Christian Romeo, fourth, Samuele Di Filippo, fifth, and Oscar Repetto, sixth. Federico Zanetti occupies seventh place, followed by Ayse Cebi, eighth, Giovanni Polato, ninth, and Piotr Protasiewicz, tenth. Next we find Lukas Horcicka, Davide Lombardo, Antoni Kosiba, Piotr Orzechowski, Luca Perelli, Pietro Camerlengo, Nicole Ameglio, Alberto Bernardi, Pietro Mondin, Emanuele Romanelli, Lucas Pasquinetti, Daniel Pokorni, Dominik Beller, Tereza Pokorna, Giuseppe Palladino, Erik Baracco, Antonin Zak and Marcin Dokucki.
The leader changes at the end of the qualifying heats. Gaglianò wins all three heats scheduled and jumps to the top of the intermediate standings. Three second places allow Moretto to keep the second position, while Laghezza, closing three times in third place, drops from first to third position. Romeo retains the fourth place, while Protasiewicz climbs from tenth to fifth position. Sixth place for Repetto, finally Ameglio, Lombardo, Perelli and Bernardi enter the top-10.
In the final, Gaglianò performs an excellent start from the first box and holds firmly the lead in the very early stages of the race. Laghezza takes advantage of the inside line to move into second place, but Moretto quickly recovers his position after a few corners. The leader Gaglianò has a good gap over his pursuers already at the end of the third lap, when Laghezza manages to overtake Moretto again for the second place. The two Italian drivers and Romeo, the latter in fourth position, remain glued to eachother throughout the race, until Moretto returns to second place during lap 16. Meanwhile, Gaglianò manages the situation perfectly and flies straight to victory, preceding Moretto and Laghezza on the podium. Romeo finishes fourth, while Samuele Di Filippo recovers eight positions from the start and finishes fifth.
Expert ROK
The Expert ROK category cannot miss the ROK Cup Festival, reserved for the most experienced ROK Cup drivers.
Saturday's qualifying is the scene of a tight duel between Paolo Baselli and Alessandro Viganò. Baselli manages to record a time of 49.622 seconds and, by just 98 thousandths of a second, beats Viganò. Daniel Zajac, also as fast as the two Italians, secures the third position, while Marco Nannavecchia takes the fourth place. Fifth is Marcin Wnuk.
Even at the end of the qualifying heats, Baselli is the category leader. The Italian gains two victories in the first two heats, after which he finishes fourth in the third heat. With a win and two top-3s, Zajac goes from third to second, overtaking Viganò. Nannavecchia gets a third place in the last heat, however he remains steadily in fourth place. Wnuk chases his rivals in fifth position.
Before the lights go out, the final sees a coup-de-theatre: in fact, Viganò is forced to park his kart at the side of the track and has to say goodbye to his dreams of glory. The race then begins with Baselli in the lead, closely marked by Zajac and with the Nanni-Wnuk pair closing the group. The early stages of the final help Baselli to keep a strong Zajac away, until the Italian increases his pace and, with a series of fast laps, distances his Polish rival. The checkered flag sanctions Baselli's victory and gives Zajac the place of honor, while Nannavecchia secures the bottom step of the podium, relegating Wnuk to fourth place.
Super ROK
Super ROK, the ROK Cup's highest-performance single-gear category, is among the stars of the Franciacorta weekend.
The fastest driver of the qualifying session is Alessandro Cocozza, author of the pole position in 47.110 seconds. Alex Desario hits the second place and runs ahead of Simone Donchi, third, and Elia Galvanin, fourth. Vittorio Maria Russo is fifth at the end of chrono practices, with Tommaso Curione sixth, Daniele Guenzi seventh and Edoardo Prioglio eighth. Nicholas Giuseppe and Lynn Neuhaus are ninth and 10th, respectively. They are followed by Riccardo Cocozza, Samuele Sottile, Lorenzo Poletti, Sergio Koch, Luca Fiorenti, Mattia Bernardi, Matilde Seregni, Mattia Cocchi and Filippo Repetto. It is a virtually perfect run for Cocozza in the qualifying heats. The Italian driver wins all three heats scheduled and remains the key driver in the intermediate standings. Donchi finishes three times in the top-3 and becomes Cocozza's main pursuer, overtaking Desario, third, in the rankings. Curione, Galvanin and Russo occupy the positions immediately following, while Koch moves from 14th to seventh. Guenzi, Prioglio and Neuhaus complete the top-10.
Even in the final, Cocozza proves to be unbeatable. The poleman immediately takes the reins of the race after a few meters and precedes the Desario-Curione pair at the first bend. Without any particular problems, Cocozza stretches out over the rest of the group in the following laps and for the rest of the race he manages his gap. Desario, having settled permanently in second place, also increases his gap over Curione, however, he is unable to get closer to the leader Cocozza, who, at the end of the scheduled 18 laps, passes triumphantly over the finish line. Nevertheless, Desario records the fastest lap preceding Curione, third, and Galvanin, fourth. Forced to start from the back of the group due to a technical problem, Donchi recovers until the fifth place.
Shifter ROK
Obviously at the Franciacorta track there is also the Shifter ROK class, with a final full of emotions.
No one is able to beat Marco Chiarello in the qualifyings. With a time of 46.348 seconds, the pole position goes in the hands of the Italian driver, able to precede in the standings Massimiliano Pezzucchi, second, Albero Fulgori Junior, third, and Matteo Mazzucchelli, fourth. The new champion of the ROK Cup Italy and ROK Cup Superfinal in the Super ROK category, is Brando Pozzi who gains the fifth place in the shifter category, ahead of Pietro Fioravanti, sixth, Marco Bernardi, seventh, and Francesco Maria Leone, eighth. Adrian Labuda and Valentino Rossi occupy the ninth and 10th positions, respectively. They are followed by Philippe Ehrensberger, Lorenzo Paganini, Manuel Daziano, Paolo Fracasso, Alfio Messina, Davide Cominazzini, Marcin Wojcik, Leonardo Saba, Alessandro Risi, Davide Cordera and Jakub Wojcik. Chiarello's lead continues in the next qualifying heats, in which he scores three wins out of three heats. Pezzucchi is still the first chaser of the qualifying poleman, while Daziano, Cordera and Saba show off with remarkable comebacks, 10, 16 and 13 positions respectively. Behind the three Italians we find Ehrensberger, sixth, Mazzucchelli, seventh, Paganini, eighth, and Fracasso, ninth. Bernardi completes the top 10. However, Fulgori goes back to 20th place.
The first meters of the final immediately give a twist. After a not easy start, Chiarello, soon put under pressure by Pezzucchi, spins out just before the first corner and retires from the race. Pezzucchi then has the road cleared in front of him, but has to deal with Cordera, Daziano and Mazzucchelli, who are very close to the race leader. Without giving in to the pressure of his rivals, Pezzucchi stays in front and, in the second half of the final, steadily increases his lead. This way, the Italian driver is able to win the ROK Cup Festival title, ahead of Cordera, second, and Daziano, who is forced to defend himself from Pozzi at the finish line. Fourth is Mazzucchelli, fifth is Fulgori after a fine comeback of 15 positions while sixth is Pozzi, penalized in the post-race by three seconds.
