ROK CUP ITALY, ROUND 3 – Race Report

The ROK Cup Italy is back at the Franciacorta Karting Track in Castrezzato (BS) for the third round of the season. Once again, numerous drivers went to the track to attend the six championship categories, ensuring a breathtaking show thanks also to the favourable weather conditions. At the end of Sunday, the following championship leaders emerged: Nanni Alessandro (Mini ROK), Sbardellati Federico (Junior ROK), Giudice Andrea (Senior ROK), Sorbello Andrea (Expert ROK), Pozzi Brando (Super ROK) and Rigodanza Riccardo (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK

The success of the Mini ROK category continues relentless, with a total of 47 young and challenging drivers at the start.

Sunday begins in the sign of Diar Islami. The Swiss driver sets the best time of 56.239 seconds in Group 1 and gains the pole position, beating the Frenchman Arthur Benoit, first in Group 2 with a time of 56.313 seconds. The two teammates Alessandro Nanni and Odin Flora take the third and fourth positions respectively, ahead of Giuseppe Noviello, fifth, Jean Poujol, sixth, Shae Shield, seventh, and Momcilo Davoust, eighth. Xie Huifei and Vincenzo Salierno complete the top ten. They are followed, in order, by Camilla Amarotti, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Marco Verde, Leonardo De Grandi, Arthur Wildanger, Alessio Ottaviani, Nicolas Yerly, Tommaso Pomoni, Andrea Carbone, Yubo Wen, Dominik Wojcik, Johannes Buchhammer, Giulio Manzoni, Leonardo Trombini, Giovanni Aringhieri, Leonardo Lanza, Bryan Filippelli, Daniel Hakkinen, Stanislaw Ziarko, Jamie Ehrat, Santino Sapia, Nicholas Bertolani, Nicolaj Pietras, Jessica Calleja, Rudy Koka, Nicolò Pacillo, Farel Dugat Beretta, Andrea Screpis Croce, Giorgio Sapignoli, Mattia Finadri, Emma Boschetto, Demir Halilovic, Ernest Molenda, Leo Kralev, Giovanni Pasini, Siavosh Derakhshan and Gianmaria Ferretti.

In the qualifying heats, Islami wins the first heat, but in the second he finishes 'only' ninth. With these two results, the poleman slips to fifth place, to the advantage of Nanni who, with a win and a third place, gains the top of the intermediate ranking. Flora takes the second position, while Davoust and Carbone move up to third and fourth respectively. Gawlikowski is sixth, Shield is seventh and Benoit is eighth. De Grandi and Wojcik, ninth and tenth, move into the top-10. Poujol drops from sixth to 12th and Noviello even finishes 20th, despite a first place in the heats.

The final sees Nanni keeping the first place at the start, ahead of Davoust, Islami, Shield and Flora. The five drivers soon become the main contenders for victory in the early stages, but from behind there is Poujol who, within five laps, takes the second place for a while. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the tussle behind him, Nanni builds up a lead of more than a second over his pursuers, but Poujol does not mind and quickly manages to close the gap on the race leader. On the last lap, Poujol finds the space he needs to overtake Nanni, thus running all to the finish line: the Frenchman triumphs ahead of the Italian by just 58 thousandths of a second. The third step on the podium ends up in the hands of Noviello, wild in the final laps and author of a comeback of 17 positions. Davoust, Islami, Shield and Flora arrived, in order, under the chequered flag just after the first three drivers.

Junior ROK

Dizzying numbers in the Junior ROK class: as many as 50 drivers are on the track, ready to compete for victory at Franciacorta.

The pole position goes into the hands of Federico Sbardellati, the fastest of the group 1 of the qualifying session with a time of 49.764 seconds. By just 32 thousandths of a second, Group 2 leader Mateusz Wal comes in behind his Italian rival. His three teammates Guido Bruno Bidoli, Filippo Pola and Riccardo Brangero occupy the third, fourth and fifth places, ahead of the pair formed by Giulio Mazzolini and Stefano Zamponi, sixth and seventh. The top-10 also includes Emilio Tedesco, Ilias Mitaki and Marlon Di Salvo. The ranking continues with Riccardo Repetto, Olek Mrozik, Franciszek Bal, Ioan Tudor Jercan, Tomasz Cichoracki, Luca Spagni, Oskar Hildebranski, Ettore Di Domenico, Julia Argelard, Leonardo Monzani, Natan Rybczynski, Davide Ruja, Liam Secall, Ettore Sanesi, Antoni Kosiba, Michal Czyzewicz, Francesca Pietrini, Andrea Savoldelli, Francesco Koci, Nicolò Carrara, Iven Ammann, Benjamin Borg Irimia, Ahn Tu Ranghetti, Matteo Lazzarotto, Andrea Thej, Andrea Proverbio, Christian Romeo, Benjamin Westwood, Aaron Trapletti, Angelina Proenca, Christos Fokas, Selina Baum, Gianluca Vizzoni, Carlo Pongratz, Valerio Santini, Pietro Chesini, Mattia Vigotti, Alberto Masotto, Lena Pichler and Samuel Gabriele Del Gaudio.

Sbardellati has to give up the lead to Brangero in the qualifying heat: in fact, the poleman scores a win and a third place, compared to his teammate's two wins. With Brangero first and Sbardellati second, Pola secures the third place in the intermediate standings, ahead of Mazzolini, fourth, Tedesco, fifth, and Wal, sixth. Di Salvo, Zamponi, Hildebranski and Jercan also find a place in the top ten.

Everything happens in the afternoon final. Brangero, Pola and Tedesco occupy the first three positions after the first few metres, with Sbardellati dropping back to fourth. In the following laps, however, Hildebranski and Di Salvo also join the fight for the top position. The ranking is soon in motion when, on lap five, Sbardellati takes the race leader's sceptre from the hands of Brangero. Shortly afterwards, however, Pola and Tedesco retire. In the middle stages it is Sbardellati and Hildebranski who put on a show, while Brangero spins in an attempt to move into second place. The tight duel between the Italian and the Polish man allow Mazzolini gain some gap and, on the last lap, to take both rivals, to go and raise his arms triumphantly over the finish line. Hildebranski and Sbardellati each receive a three-second penalty for a collision during the race and miss the podium, promoting Di Salvo and Mitaki to second and third respectively.

Senior ROK

Seasonal record number of participants for the Senior ROK, with 51 entries in the third round of the ROK Cup Italy.

Giuseppe Gaglianò wins over Andrea Giudice in the qualifyings. The Italian driver sets a time of 48.252 seconds in Group 2 and blows away the first position to the poleman of the two previous rounds, author of a time of 48.360 in Group 2. Franciszek Czapla, winner of the Jesolo final, settles in third place, just ahead of Mattia Jentile and Danny Carenini, fourth and fifth respectively. Sixth place for Riccardo Ferrari, seventh for Mattia D'Erme, eighth for Lorenzo Bedetti, ninth for Alex Laghezza and tenth for Luca Perelli. In the next positions we find Giovanni Polato, Simone Taccola, Paolo Dung Pastori, Edoardo Proglio, Samuele Di Filippo, Riccardo Chiodo, Kacper Turoboyski, Riccardo Salemi, Kaloyan Varbitzaliev, Daniele Galbiati, Nicola Marini, Colin Wazny, Tommaso Curione, Zachary Taylor, Andrea Moretti, Alessandro Cocchi, Alessandro Giarratano, Christopher Holst, Alberto Bernardi, Andrea Fiocco, Nicole Ameglio, Lorenzo Lenzi, Daniele Guenzi, Diego Bartolozzi, Federico Zanetti, Kiana Naudé, Davide Pretosi, Pietro Camerlengo, Matteo Bellandi, Ludovica Miceli, Rikardo Bakaj, Fabio Silvestri, Andrea Saporiti, Luis Moser, Alex Michelon, Giuseppe Palladino, Luca Davì, Alessandro Menegatti, Dominik Beller, Sven Lais and Emanuele Romanelli.

The ranking leader changes at the end of the qualifying heats. Andrea Giudice is unstoppable and, by collecting two victories and two fastest laps, secures the first position on the starting grid of the final. Two second places promote Jentile behind Giudice, while Bedetti, Ferrari and D'Erme are third, fourth and fifth positions respectively. Gaglianò wins the second heat, but in the first he finishes tenth and drops to sixth place. Czapla, Polato, Turoboyski and Perelli close the top-10.

Giudice performs an excellent jump at the start of the final, while Jentile slips to eighth place, to the advantage of Bedetti, D'Erme and Czapla who are able to place immediately behind the race leader. On the second lap, D'Erme leaves the scene for good, while Czapla and Jentile lose further positions in the standings, leaving the field open to Giudice, Bedetti and Turoboyski, the latter having climbed to third place. Among the three, Giudice shows a better pace and runs far from his direct rivals. Bedetti loses ground and started to give up several positions to Turoboyski, Gaglianò and Di Filippo. In the meantime, Jentile attempts a desperate comeback for the podium, but Gaglianò and Turoboyski, second and third, are uncatchable. The victory goes to Giudice, followed in the standings by Gaglianò, Turoboyski and Jentile. Ferrari and Taccola, fifth and sixth, preceded Bedetti and Di Filippo, seventh and eighth.

Expert ROK

Overtakings and twists and turns in Expert ROK category, with two different winners in the two races scheduled for the weekend.

Absent at the last round in Jesolo, Sona Ptackova returns in style to Franciacorta by taking the pole position in the qualifyings. The reigning champion of the ROK Cup Italy stops the clock at 49.572 seconds, just enough to precede Alessandro Viganò, second, and Filippo Repetto, third. Andrea Sorbello, current championship leader, is fourth, followed by Adrian Marcinkiewicz, fifth, Paolo Baselli, sixth, and Roberto Nali, seventh. Marzio Cavini, Riccardo Pini and Gianni Zani complete the top-10 of the time trials, which also sees Marco Beretta, Calogero Romano, Michele Zampieri, Gianluca Rubiolini, Tino Donadei, Marco Nannavecchia, Roberto Pelanconi, Lucio Fibbiani and Fabio Cretti in action.

In Race 1, Ptackova is perfect at the start and immediately takes the reins of the race, with Sorbello in the role of first pursuer and Viganò in third, ahead of Repetto, fourth. Sorbello immediately brakes the ranks and takes the lead from Ptackova during the first lap, even trying to increase her advantage over the Polish rival, who has to defend herself from Viganò. However, on the eighth lap, Ptackova cancels the gap from Sorbello and regains the lead of the race. Without making any mistakes, Ptackova crosses the finish line first, preceding Sorbello, second, and Viganò, third. Fourth place for Repetto, fifth for Marcinkiewicz.

In Race 2, Zampieri starts in pole position, but already in the first few metres the Marcinkiewicz-Viganò duo emerge in the lead. The two drivers are busy in a good duel during the opening two laps, until Viganò takes the lead and begins to stretch out on his Polish rival, who in the meantime has also been attacked by Zampieri. On lap six, race marshals force to 'slow' regime due to an incident at the back of the group, and then wave the green flag at the end of lap eight. Viganò immediately finds his rhythm and gains a considerable lead over Marcinkiewicz who, in turn, goes away from Baselli, moved up to third, Zampieri and Sorbello. The chequered flag sanctions Viganò's success and Marcinkiewicz's place of honour, while Baselli receives a three-second penalty post-race for an irregularity at the start leaving the last step of the podium to Zampieri. Fourth is Sorbello, fifth Ptackova, sixth Zani, seventh Repetto and eighth Baselli.

Super ROK

There is also a high number of drivers in Super ROK class, the best performing category of the ROK Cup Italy.

Alex Desario, winner in February of the ROK Cup Winter Trophy, signs his first pole position of the season at Franciacorta thanks to a best lap in 47.575 seconds. Domenico Cicognini stops at +0.106 seconds from his countryman and is immediately behind him, preceding Alessandro Cocozza, third, and Brando Pozzi, fourth. Lynn Neuhaus is fifth, followed by Matteo Berutti, sixth, Omar Matteo Mosca, seventh, and Vittorio Maria Russo, eighth. Luca Magnussen and Manuel Gritti, ninth and tenth respectively, also finds a place in the top-10. The qualifying ranking continues with Mattia Bernardi, Simone Donchi, Riccardo Martinello, Riccardo Cocozza, Alessandro Arrey Bernardini, Matteo Favero, Nicole Maffeis, Sergio Koch, Chiara Bolognini, Edoardo Iacobucci, Aleksandr Bogunovic, Sachel Rotgé, Samuele Sottile, Lorenzo Poletti, Edoardo Montoro, Davide Cominazzini, Davide Gafforelli and Gabriele Cucinotta.

In Race 1, Desario takes full advantage of his pole position to run in the lead, with Alessandro Cocozza good at overtaking Cicognini at the first corner and Pozzi able to overtake Neuhaus on the outside at the first bend. On the second lap, Pozzi gains the third place, while Neuhaus gives up two positions to Berutti and Russo. Meanwhile, Desario firmly holds the lead, despite the pressure and fast laps of Cocozza behind him. At the end of the scheduled 16 laps, Desario secures the win ahead of Cocozza and Pozzi, but the latter suffers a three-second penalty for his front spoiler in the wrong position and drops back to fifth. Berutti and Russo are promoted to third and fourth respectively. Neuhaus is sixth, Martinello seventh and Cicognini eighth.

In Race 2, Cicognini starts from pole position due to the inversion of the first eight drivers and holds the first position after the first few corners, with Neuhaus in the role of first pursuer and Pozzi leading a long 'little train' of drivers. After gaining an advantage of over half a second in the opening laps, Cicognini begins to give up metres to Neuhaus, who finds an opportunity to take the lead on lap six. The Swiss driver is clearly the fastest on the track and, at the end of the 13 scheduled laps, exults under the chequered flag. Cicognini takes the place of honour, and finally Pozzi does not give in to the pressure from Russo and Desario and takes the lowest step on the podium. Sixth is Martiniello, seventh Magnussen and eight position goes to Bogunovic.

Shifter ROK

As always, there is no shortage of intense challenges in the Shifter ROK, with a total of 41 drivers at Franciacorta.

In his first appearance of the season, Nicola Rossini is the leader over everybody in the qualifyings. The champion of the ROK Cup Italy 2022 takes the pole position in 46.923 seconds in Group 1, just 21 thousandths of a second better than Samuele Leopardi, the fastest in Group 2 and second in the combined standings. Massimiliano Pezzucchi shines with a solid third place, while Fabrizio Morardo takes the fourth. Fifth place for Davide Cordera, with behind him Marco Chiarello, sixth, Andrea Zemin, seventh, and Gabriele Bensi, eighth. Marcel Kasprzycki and Marco Vannini are ninth and tenth respectively. Also taking part in the weekend are Adrian Labuda, Riccardo Rigodanza, Daniele Federici, Lorenzo Ripamonti, Victor Martin Odin, Boris Cutaia, Edoardo Sabatino, Mattia Limena, Paolo Fracasso, Andrea Pasquinelli, Ferruccio Alacqua, Daniele Demartis, Pietro Fioravanti, Patrick Di Giuseppe, Leonardo Boccardi, Federico Mascialino, Marco Acquarella, Pietro Gobbi, Cristian Lovi, Mattia Rossetti, Edoardo Villa, Giacomo Pegazzano, Giacomo Pellegrino, Luigi Del Vecchio, Manuel Daziano, Leonardo Saba, Riccardo Franciosi, Philippe Ehrensberger, Stefano Bonara, Ivan Siletskiy and Andrea Aliberti. During the qualifying heats, Leopardi scores two victories and, in the intermediate ranking, overtakes Rossini who, with a win and a second place on his roster, finishes second. Pezzucchi retains the third position, but this time behind him we find Zemin, Chiarello and Rigodanza. Cordera goes from fifth to seventh position, and finally Vannini, Labuda and Limena occupy the last positions of the top-10. Due to a stop, Morardo goes from fourth to 18th.

The final is already on fire in the first few corners. When the traffic lights go off, Leopardi and Rossini fight for the lead, but a collision between the two drivers benefit Zemin, who is able to slip into second place. With the pair Leopardi-Zemin already in flight, Rigodanza tries the attack, valid for third place, on Rossini, but the outcome is not the best: Limena passes in front, Rigodanza remains fourth and Rossini even slips eighth. Only after a long and careful study phase, Rigodanza manages to overtake Limena on lap 14. In the meantime, after a series of many fast laps, Leopardi goes straight to a well-deserved success, with Zemin author of a brilliant second place. Rigodanza gains the lowest step of the podium, preceding Limena, Chiarello, Pezzucchi, Morardo and Rossini, the latter penalised by three seconds for having gained positions with a collision.