Winning a 24 Hours Karting race is a very difficult sport challenge, reserved for a small number of teams in the international Endurance karting panorama, but winning it for two consecutive years places the team in question as the protagonist of an almost historic one. We are talking about the Pomposa Dream Team, a crew made up of Giampaolo Quaquarelli, Michele Biffi, Gioele Bondi, Massimiliano Marchesini Massimiliano, Dino Masina and Krzysztof Arkadiusz Severi that, after the victory in the 24 Hours Karting of Italy on the Castelletto track in 2022, this year has repeated its success by writing its name for the 2nd time in the hall of fame of the event (which took place again on the Lombard track).
It was not an easy or obvious success, as the SMO Racing Team made up of Michele Ottini, Wesley Bettinelli, Davide Balbo, Diego Colella, Dino Gallo and Matteo Roncaglio finished the race with only 8” of gap from the winners, outstanding in terms of pace and intensity. The last hour of the race was simply exciting, with the two leading teams that, once the 30 mandatory driver changes had been made, found themselves separated by a few seconds in the last driving stint, reaching the finish line one in the slipstream of the other. To understand how close the battle was at the top of the race, just think that the Pomposa Dream Team won it by covering 1303 laps of the Castelletto circuit, while in the last edition, success had come by covering 7 laps less.
The balance at the top of the race between the PRO teams was incredible, also considering the race of the GAS RT team (Alessandro Cavallè, Cesare Cattaneo, Jeffrey Macrì, Federico Bosio, Marco Ferazzini and Alessandro Fumagalli), who finished in P3, coming out of the fight for victory only in the final stages, like the BAC-PKI team of Marco Bortuluzzi, Fabiano Bottosso, Andrea Riva, Edgard Kanah, Federico and Giulia Buttò and Riccardo Melas, led by the two Team Managers Denis Furlan and Thomas Bruseghin) which finished in P4, very close to the podium. Also very positive was the Formula 7 Racing performance of Lorenzo Esposito (crew made up of Sandro Anfuso, Luca Campanini, Manai Tony, Gianluca Molina, Mauro Castellani and Marco Cremona), 5th classified ahead of Next Gen team of Michele Bartyan, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Vicky Piria , Alberto Cola, Alan Simoni, Alberto Cerqui and Sergio Campana, good in the last driving stint with Liuzzi overtaking Tutela Legale for P6. The French NTKart crew closed in P8, penalized by an engine problem during the night; they preceded the winners of the SILVER classification, the Tec-Tav team, P9 overall. The crew made up of Patrik Fraboni, Enrico Manzoni, Giovanni Antonio Sturniolo, Andrea Tonoli and Vercelloni Luigi (led by the Team Manager Nicola Dragonetti), was the protagonist of a capital performance entering the top ten, despite the five more driver changes than the PRO teams, but above all by inflicting an important gap on the 2nd classified in the Silver classification, the team of the Czech Republic Chovtrans Frenkart (P12 overall at the finish line). Returning to the top ten, the Lhasa-Maglieria Sala team also closed an excellent race, P10 overall ahead of Onekart China, the best of the teams from China. Said of the Chovtrans Frenkart team in P12 and P2 in the SILVER ranking, the Volmar team finished the race in P13, also conquering the 3rd position and the podium in the SILVER category. In 14th place was the 2nd team from China, Run China Run, which compromised its race by going haywire with the strategies after the technical stop of the night, while in the first 6 hours of the race it had also taken the lead. P15 overall went to the MGS Racing Team A, of the Maserati Group, which also obtained P4 in the SILVER classification, close to the podium, while the Carloni Racing Team finished P16 overall, ahead of Zena Panther, Thunderbolt, Full Gaz by BKRT and Red Jaguar Oversonic.
The 2023 edition of the 24 Hours Karting of Italy therefore ends with a great sporting and organizational success, which confirms this event promoted by CRG as one of the most appreciated and prestigious meetings in Endurance karting. It should be said that the race was broadcast in live streaming for over 16 hours, in which the images from the track were interspersed with interviews with the protagonists and the teams challenged each other using a fleet of 40 brand-new CRG Centurion karts, made available by the organizer, who also took care of a centralized technical assistance and refuellings.
With the 2023 edition archived, the organizational machine is already thinking about next season, discussing some sporting and technical innovations with the team managers.
For all the classifications and for further information on the event, it is possible to visit the 24 Hours Karting of Italy section on the CRG website (www.kartcrg.com) and follow the official social pages of the event.
