ROK Cup Italy, round 7 – The race report

The ROK Cup Italy faces the penultimate round of the 2025 season at the Franciacorta Karting Track in Castrezzato, ahead of the grand final in Lonato del Garda scheduled on next September. 226 Rokkers enliven the races in the seven categories attending the championship, ensuring a unique spectacle at the track. At the end of Saturday, the following championship leaders emerged: Leo Kralev (Mini ROK U10), Niccolò Perico (Mini ROK), Matteo Melis (Junior ROK), Giuseppe Gaglianò (Senior ROK), Andrea Sorbello (Expert ROK), Nicolas Marchesi (Super ROK), and Karol Pasiewicz (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK U10

The young drivers of the Mini ROK U10 are running two heated and hard-fought races.

In Sunday morning's qualifying session, Max Zvarich leads the group with a best time of 57.399 seconds. Giovanni Ventorino follows in second place, with the two Ukrainians Platon Kovtunenko and Hryhorii Mazurko in third and fourth. Leon Giudicelli is fifth, ahead of Miguel Spina in sixth, Elias Boullier in seventh, and Leo Kralev in eighth. Antonio Martin and Tariq Soofi also finishes in the top ten. The standings continue with Matteo Meni, Patricio Fernandez De Cevallo, Filip Stec, Samuel Dal Pozzo, Pasquale Ferrara, Farel Beretta Dugat, John Farfus, Fynn Jack Wolff, Giorgio Sapignoli, Gabriel Mara Varon, Ghazi Almekdad, Andrea Baraggi, Oto Hroba, Edoardo Traina, Gilberto Reggiani, Alexander Cavaciuti, Michael Airoldi, Max Santana, Anna Makolm, Radoslaw Czernicki, Antonio Mastroianni, and Raphael Roche.

In Race 1, Zvarich does not make the most of his pole position: at the first hairpin, he loses two positions to Kovtunenko and Giudicelli, although he manages to move up to second place by the end of the lap. However, in the later stages of the race, the battle for first place also involves Kralev, who started eighth, and his teammate Ventorino, who started from second on the grid. After a series of overtakes and counter-overtakes, the final lap begins with Kovtunenko in the lead and able to gain meters on the chasing group of drivers. The Ukrainian driver crosses the finish line first, almost a second ahead of Zvarich, who beats Giudicelli and Ventorino in the sprint. However, the Thai driver is penalized three seconds for an accident with Kralev and slips to sixth place. Giudicelli is promoted to second, with Ventorino on the lowest step of the podium.

In Race 2, a few moments after the start, the red flag is immediately waved across the entire circuit due to an accident at the first corner. Once the race stop period is over, it restarts in “slow” mode, with the starting grid order. When the green flags are waved, Beretta Dugat initially leads the standings, but is overtaken by Stec, Zvarich, Traina, and Kovtunenko after a few corners. Zvarich takes the lead on the second lap, but the Thai driver subsequently has to leave it to Kovtunenko. On the last lap, Zvarich attempts again to overtake Kovtunenko, but Kralev joins the fight: the Ukrainian wins, ahead of the Bulgarian and the Thai driver. However, Kralev receives a three-second penalty for overtaking under slow conditions and slips to 11th, giving up his second place to Zvarich. Stec crosses the finish line behind the leaders and gains the last step on the podium, narrowly ahead of Giudicelli, Traina, Soofi, and Ventorino.

Mini ROK

It has been a heart-stopping finish for the Mini ROK category at Franciacorta.

With the best time of 57.024 seconds in group 2, Daniel Hakkinen gains the pole position in the category. Angelo Stuppia, first in group 1, takes the second place, ahead of the excellent Alessandro Nanni and Mattia Pellin, third and fourth respectively. Aleksander Czub, the first non-Italian driver, is fifth, ahead of Lucas Doillon in sixth, Dominik Wojcik in seventh, and Niccolò Perico in eighth. Giuseppe Noviello, ninth, precedes Ava Jean Lawrence, tenth. Also attending the chrono practices are Dilan Roman Fricker, Mathias Drexler, Sebastian Schirripa, Bryan Filippelli, Tommaso Pomoni, Mauro Nario, Patrick Bissa, Aleksander Pelikanski, Paul Plattner-Geramb, Nicolas Yerly, Nicholas Bertolani, Nicolo' Poli, Thomas Ometto, Melyann Bellini, Jan Gardzielik, Sasha Al Jbrail, Luigi D'Ascoli, Alex Dal Maso, Marco Verde, Johannes Buchhammer, Andrea Buffo, Nathan Lotrionte, Camilla Amarotti, Ayrton Jon Tonna, Lola Mukhammadiyev, Axel Gore, and Romain Lopez.

At the end of the subsequent qualifying heats, Perico leads the category with one victory and one second place. Pellin scores one victory and one third place, allowing him to move up to second place. Noviello also wins one heat and moves up to third place, ahead of Wojcik in fourth and Hakkinen, who drops to fifth place. Doillon is sixth, Lawrence seventh, Bissa moves up from 17th to eighth, Stuppia is ninth, and Verde, from 29th, recovers to tenth position. Nanni is 13th, thanks to a difficult result in the second heat.

In the final, Perico perfoms a flawless start from the pole position, followed by his teammate Noviello, who was ahead of Hakkinen, Lawrence, Pelikanski, and Pellin, who had little advantage from the outside line. In the following laps, however, the Perico-Noviello duo quickly runs away from the pack and, in a short time, gains a considerable advantage over the rest of the pursuers. On the last lap, the two Italians begin an intense battle for victory, which ends at the finish line with Noviello just 0.036 seconds ahead of Perico. Pelikanski secures the lowest step on the podium, ahead of Nanni, Nario (who sets the fastest lap), Lawrence, Lopez, and Pellin. Hakkinen, on the other hand, finishes 11th. Wojcik retires.

Junior ROK

The Junior ROK sees a huge attendance of 51 drivers in the seventh round of the championship.

After his podium finish in the previous round in Cremona, Faidon Papafilippou gets his weekend off to the best possible start with the pole position in qualifying. With a time of 49.930 seconds in Group 2, the Greek driver finishes ahead of Poland's Blazej Kostrzewa, the fastest in Group 1 with a time of 50.092 seconds. Aleksander Mrozik, also from Poland, finishes third, ahead of his compatriots Tomasz Cichoracki in fourth and Julia Angelard in fifth. Huifei Xie is sixth, Matteo Peruccio seventh, Enrico Pietro Villa eighth, Leonardo Lanza ninth, and Michal Zajac tenth. At the starting grid we also find Leonardo De Grandi, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Antonio Ianni, Victoria Farfus, Francesca Pietrini, Matteo Melis, Giada Vanigioli, Sebastian Riedel, Iven Ammann, Natan Rybczynski, Arkhip Mazepa, Borys Blaszczyk, Vasco De Vito, Aleksander Rogowski, Michal Czyzewicz, Mateusz Wal, Selina Baum, Emma Boschetto, Andrea Thej, Odin Flora, Mia Zanki, Enzo Stambaugh, Jessica Calleja, Carlo Pongratz, Samuel Del Gaudio, Ilias Mitaki, Alberto Masotto, Marat Zvarich, Francesco Iannuzzo, Tommaso Scarato, Sean Beck Davies, Pablo Fernandez De Cevallo, Alessandro Gonzalez, Bruno Bisceglia, Ismet Yilmaz, Pietro Chesini, Gael Padilla De Santiago, Fernando Eleazar Visuet Cruz, Giovanni Isaac Gonzales, Plamen Teliyski, and Lena Pichler.

With one victory and one fourth place in his record, Kostrzewa jumps to the top of the standings at the end of the qualifying heats. Cichoracki is second, with the same results as his compatriot, while Huifei is third with two second places. Papafilippou wins the first heat but finishes fifth in the second, dropping to fourth place overall. Perruccio, Mrozik, and Villa are fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. Farfus moves up from 14th to eighth, Melis from 16th to ninth, and Wal from 26th to tenth. Angelard, on the other hand, drops to 38th place.

At the start of the final, Kostrzewa keeps his first place, with Huifei, Papafilippou, and Peruccio close behind. During the third lap, these three manage to overtake the Polish driver and quickly run away from the rest of the group. The race continues with Papafilippou in the lead, with Huifei initially in second place and then overtaken by Peruccio. At the end of the 16 laps, the checkered flag confirms Papafilippou's victory, ahead of Peruccio by just 0.239 seconds, followed by Huifei with a gap of 0.060 seconds. Melis catches up with the leading trio in the final stages but finishes in fourth place. Farfus, on the other hand, gains a valuable fifth place, ahead of Mrozik, Kostrzewa, and Cichoracki.

Senior ROK

Good turnout in terms of participants for Senior ROK class, with a total of 39 entries.

After a disappointing round in Cremona, Riccardo Salemi kicks off the weekend in Franciacorta with a pole position. In the qualifyings, the Italian driver signs a time of 48.246 seconds in Group 2, beating Iwo Beszterda, the fastest in Group 1 with a time of 48.472 seconds. Giuseppe Gaglianò is third, followed by Emilio Tedesco in fourth, Giovanni Polato in fifth, and rookie Riccardo Brangero in sixth. Anh Tu Ranghetti and Guido Bruno Bidoli are seventh and eighth respectively, while Alexandre Lopez and Colin Wazny are ninth and tenth. The ranking continues with Davide Lombardo, Kaloyan Varbitzaliev, Samuele Di Filippo, Luca Perelli, Davide Morresi, Kaan Ballik, Andrea Barbieri, Ludovica Miceli, Marlon Di Salvo, Franciszek Czapla, Leonardo Monzani, Andrea Carbone, Alessandro Cocchi, Francesco Koci, Christian Romeo, Marcel Kasprzycki, Rikardo Bakaj, Antoni Makuch, Alberto Bernardi, Marcin Dokucki, Erika Lavazza, Tereza Pokorna, Arthur Mihnea Niculiu, Omar Locarini, Roberto Manduchi, Cristiano Gautier, Jakub Businsky, Jakub Kazana, and Veronika Pokorna.

The balance of the standings changes at the end of the qualifying heats. Gaglianò climbs to the top with one win and one second place, while Wazny moves up from tenth to second thanks to two top-3 finishes in the heats. Salemi wins the last heat, but his sixth place in the first heat forces him down to third position. Beszterda, Polato, and Brangero occupy fourth, fifth, and sixth places. Di Filippo moves up from 13th to seventh place, with Lopez, Ranghetti, and Tedesco completing the top 10.

The final starts with the four teammates Gaglianò, Salemi, Polato, and Di Filippo in the top four positions, with Beszterda in the role of closest pursuer. However, after a few laps, the leader Gaglianò begins to experience a technical problem that causes him to lose several positions during the race. Salemi takes over from his compatriot and, with a flawless performance, gains the victory. Di Filippo is second under the checkered flag, ahead of Polato in third. Brangero narrowly misses the podium, finishing ahead of Beszterda, Lombardo, Monzani, Tedesco, Barbieri, and Gaglianò. Due to an unbrilliant start to the race, Wazny finishes 15th.

Expert ROK

Two different winners in the two Expert ROK races, the ‘senators’ of the ROK Cup Italy.

After securing his pole position in the third round held at Franciacorta, Alessandro Viganò is once again ahead of the group in the qualifyings. The Italian driver, with a time of 49.282 seconds, leads Marco Massironi, who is second with a gap of 0.085 seconds. Paolo Baselli occupies the third position, ahead of Daniel Zajac in fourth, Michele Zampieri in fifth and Adrian Marcinkiewicz in sixth. Championship leader Andrea Sorbello is seventh, followed by Valerio Prandi, Marzio Cavini, Marco Beretta, Luca Davì and Gianluca Rubiolini.

In Race 1, Viganò jumps well from the pole position and immediately leads the group, with Baselli skilfully slipping into second place ahead of Zampieri, Sorbello and Massironi. The victory quickly becomes a two-horse race between Viganò and Baselli: the former is unable to run away from the latter, who, in turn, is unable to find the right moment to take the lead. Behind them, Zampieri tries to defend his third place from his rivals, but then gives way to Sorbello, Zajac, Marcinkiewicz and Massironi from the fourth lap onwards. With a perfect performance, Viganò wins with a 0.148-second lead over Baselli in second, while Zajac overtakes Sorbello gaining the lowest step on the podium. Marcinkiewicz, Massironi and Zampieri finish in the following positions.

In Race 2, Prandi makes the most of his pole position, inherited as a result of the reversal of the top eight in Race 1, taking the lead; behind him, Massironi, Sorbello and Zampieri immediately start to fight, with the former being overtaken by the two Italians as well as Zajac. After holding on to the lead for a long time, Prandi is forced to give way to Sorbello, Zampieri and Zajac. Zampieri then emerges clearly in first position and, thanks to a solid performance, wins the race. Zajac obtains the second place, Sorbello is on the lowest step of the podium and Prandi finishes fourth. Viganò, on the other hand, is forced to retire due to a collision with Marcinkiewicz.

Super ROK

There are many surprises in the Super ROK, the highest-performing single-gear category in the ROK Cup world.

Gaia Cardinali leads the way in qualifying. The Monegasque driver stops the clock at 48.087 seconds, beating Zach Taylor by 0.052 seconds. Less than a tenth of a second behind the leader are Bartosz Grzywacz and Alessandro Cocozza, in third and fourth place respectively. Nicholas Giuseppe Reino gains the fifth place, ahead of Alex Desario in sixth, Manuel Gritti in seventh and Federico Zanetti in eighth. Vittorio Maria Russo and Pietro Mondin complete the top ten. Behind them we find Mattia D'Abramo, Fabio Silvestri, Matteo Berruti, Alex Laghezza, Mark Zwarich, Chiara Bolognini, Tommaso Curione, Sarp Kayol, Alessandro Zini, Samuele Sottile, Pietro Camerlengo, Matteo Bellandi, Nicola Marini, Matteo Favero, Scott Reilly, Matilde Seregni, Matteo Lazzarotto, Lorenzo Poletti and Nicolas Marchesi.

In Race 1, Cardinali jumps with an excellent start from the pole position, while Grzywacz takes advantage of the inside line to move up to second place, ahead of Desario, Taylor and Cocozza. However, after the first lap, Desario is forced to retire due to a mechanical problem. Meanwhile, Cocozza skilfully overtakes the drivers ahead of him and, once in second place, launches an attack on Cardinali. However, the race leader does not succumb to the pressure from her pursuer and, on the contrary, remains firmly in the front. The chequered flag confirms Cardinali's victory, with Cocozza in second place and Grzywacz on the lowest step of the podium, followed by Taylor in fourth. Zanetti and Gritti are fifth and sixth. Marchesi, first in the championship, recovers 16 positions and finishes 13th.

In Race 2, D'Abramo does not waste the chance to start in front of everyone and is able to keep the lead after the first few corners, with Gritti in second place and the trio of Taylor, Grzywacz and Cocozza following. The positions remain virtually unchanged over the next few laps, until Taylor decides to successfully attack Gritti on lap 10, emulated shortly afterwards by Grzywacz. Meanwhile, D'Abramo gains a comfortable lead over his rivals thus winning the race. Taylor and Grzywacz complete the podium, while Gritti manages to finish ahead of Cocozza. Marchesi gains the sixth place overall, also setting the fastest lap. Cardinali finishes 15th, due to a five-second penalty for the front spoiler incorrectly positioned.

Shifter ROK

Intense competition in the Shifter ROK, the shifter category of the ROK Cup Italy, at Franciacorta.

Nicola Rossini leads the Saturday's qualifying session. The 2022 ROK Cup Italy’s champion secures his pole position with a time of 47.105 seconds, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Marco Chiarello in second and Karol Pasiewicz in third. Marco D'Elia, in fourth place, is the first of the chasing group behind the leading trio, followed by Boris Cutaia in fifth and Manuel Daziano in sixth. Massimiliano Pezzucchi, William Lanzeni, Davide Cordera and Santiago Aguilar complete the top 10. The standings continue with Mattia Rossetti, Davide Cominazzini, Matteo Moni, Leonardo Boccardi, Ilshat Ibragimov, Valentino Rossi, Gaetano Cioffi, Victor Jimenez, Alfio Messina, Tymoteusz Ksiadz, Riccardo Franciosi, Alessandro Risi, Shing Hon Walter Wong, Dominik Beller, “Giambo” and Brando Pozzi.

In Race 1, Chiarello performs a better start than Rossini and, after pulling alongside him, manages to overtake him in the metres following the start. Pasiewicz keeps the third place after the start, ahead of an excellent Daziano. In the following laps, Rossini tries several times to pass Chiarello but is forced to give up several positions to Pasiewicz, Daziano and Lanzeni, before finally throwing in the towel due to a technical problem. On the third lap, Pasiewicz takes the lead, but the Polish driver has to give way his position to Chiarello three laps later. With no further changes at the top of the standings, the race ends with Chiarello winning ahead of Pasiewicz, although the Polish driver is subsequently penalised five seconds for his front spoiler being in the wrong position. Daziano therefore inherits the second place, ahead of Lanzeni and Pasiewicz. Aguilar finishes in the top five.

In Race 2, Cutaia burns everyone at the start, especially D'Elia, who, on the contrary, remains stationary at the starting grid. Daziano moves up to second place, followed by Pezzucchi, Chiarello and Lanzeni. On the third lap, Daziano takes the lead, but soon has to fight with Pezzucchi, who stays glued for the rest of the scheduled laps. Despite being forced to defend himself in the final stages, Daziano crosses the finish line ahead of Pezzucchi, but in the following post-race checks, there is a twist: due to a technical irregularity, Daziano is disqualified and Pezzucchi wins the race. Lanzeni is promoted to second place, while Aguilar gains the lowest step on the podium. Cutaia ranks fourth. Chiarello drops back to 11th place and Pasiewicz is only 16th.