The CRG Racing Team’s first official race of the 2022 season, which took place from 27th to 30th January on the Lonato track, has ended with a positive balance. The target was to have the first results in racing conditions for the newly approved 2022 chassis and the feedback received in all categories has satisfied the technical staff of the CRG racing department.
10 drivers took part in the race with the CRG colors and a particular focus was on the KZ category, where 6 of them were racing: Jeremy Iglesias, Alex Irlando, Paavo Tonteri, Brandon Nilsson, Natalia Balbo and new signing Viktor Gustavsson. The best results came right from the queen category of International karting, with P4 in the Final for Iglesias and P6 for Tonteri. The competitiveness of the CRG chassis equipped with the TM engines managed by Gianfranco Galiffa was clear right from the qualifying tests, with an overall P4 for Iglesias and the excellent performances of all the other drivers, also confirmed in the preliminary heats.
A good job was also done by Gabriel Gomez in the OK category, who carried out various comparative tests between two different chassis with excellent indications, but unfortunately the Brazilian driver had a technical problem in the Final that slowed him down from the first laps, having to close the race out of the top ten.
In OK Junior the Brazilian Filippo Fiorentino is gaining experience among the big names in this category and missed the qualification for the Final, like the two Mini drivers, Emilio Bernd and Nikita Gerasimets, who were penalized above all by some race contacts during the heats.
The overall balance from the technical point of view is however positive and the 2nd Round of the WSK Master is scheduled in 15 days. During such weekend the team will continue the preparation work for the 2022 International season.
The drivers’ feedback:
Jeremy Iglesias (KZ): “It has been a positive weekend above all because we gathered a lot of information on the set up and behavior of the new chassis, making the most of the climate, which was good for all the days of the race. Obviously it is also very positive to have immediately shown that I am competitive and if I had started better, I would have certainly finished the race on the podium. The important thing for the team was to show our technical potential, rather than the final result and from this point of view we are very happy. The whole team worked well and with the other teammates we shared part of the scheduled tests, so as to have maximum feedback from a technical point of view “.
Gabriel Gomez (OK): “During the first few days I struggled a bit to find the feeling with these tires, while the track was rubberized and this factor affected my qualifying above all, but from the first heat onwards I found a good race pace again and we went in the right direction also for what concerns the set up. Unfortunately, in the Final I had a technical problem that affected my race and during the first lap I also did an off-track excursion, so the final result does not reflect our real potential. We had a completely new package including the chassis and engine and it is normal to need some races to optimize the performance of each component, but I think the basis of the 2022 chassis is really good ”.
