The most important event of the season for the Shifter categories, the FIA World Championship KZ-KZ2 and KZ2 Masters which took place in Portugal, confirmed the CRG colors among the most competitive in these categories, which have always been very relevant in terms of importance on the karting world market. The seal of prestige in a weekend heavily influenced by the weather came with the podium in KZ2 by Paavo Tonteri, P3 at the end of a journey always among the big names, starting from Qualifying Practice. In the Final the Finnish driver started from the 2nd row and at the end of a race in which he always had a high pace, he finished under the chequered flag just 8 tenths behind the winner. Also in KZ2 category, Tigran Bunatyan and Alvar Siimesvaara also had excellent performances, P15 and P17 respectively in the intermediate classification after the Heats and Super Heats, while Gabriel Gomez encountered more difficulties, P28 on the starting grid of the Final. In the Final, Alvar Siimesvaara did a solid race, finishing in 11th position, just as Bunatyan’s race was positive ahead of Gomez by a few tenths in P13, doing well in recovering 14 positions. Malo Bolliet also reached the finish line in P20, completing an overall team result that can only be considered positive in the KZ2 category.
Unfortunately, however, in the KZ top class the great expectations of the day before were disappointed by some key episodes. As regards Viktor Gustavsson‘s race, it can be said that it was in fact conditioned by an inexplicable 27th place in Qualifying on a wet track when, compared to his performances always on the track in the same wet conditions as in Free Practice, he lost over 1″. At this level of racing these episodes are not recoverable and, obviously, they should not happen. In the qualifying phases the Swedish driver then gained some positions until starting in the middle of the group in the Final, but a contact on the 1st lap ended his World Championship in the dirt. Expectations were therefore all directed towards Jeremy Iglesias and Arthur Carbonnel, both very fast, both on a wet track in Qualifying Practice and the first Heats and then on a dry track in the final Heats and Super Heat. In the Final, that took place on a dry track, Jeremy Iglesias, who started from P3 on the grid, did not have a perfect start and ended up in P5 in the 1st lap. Just when he was rebuilding his race with a very good pace, a contact caused by another driver (then penalized by Race Direction), effectively put an end to his hopes of finishing the event on the podium. Arthur Carbonnel, on the other hand, always fought in the group between the 4th and the 7th position, closing the race with an excellent P5 which, in part, saved the balance after the misfortunes suffered by his team mates. Among the big names in KZ, the performances of David Trefilov of the Maranello team, with which CRG has a technological partnership, as well as the excellent 6th place of Jorge Pescador with the Kalì Kart brand should also be highlighted.
Finally, as regards the KZ2 Masters, it must be said that also in this case a race contact deprived CRG and Vincent Cossard of an almost certain podium. Many unfortunate episodes, therefore, caused the FIA World Championship in Portimao to close with a sporting result below expectations and the real potential of the CRG drivers, but the performances achieved were of a high level once again and in line with when CRG he has been able to express himself in Shifter classes for years.
CRG drivers’ post-race reactions:
Jeremy Iglesias (KZ): “The weekend went in the right direction until the Final, when first a not exceptional start made me lose 2-3 positions and then the contact occurred which knocked me out of the game. We know that single-round races must have a perfect route, but above all the Final does not allow mistakes or problems. I’m obviously disappointed because we had the speed we always had, both in the wet and on the dry track. We had to work to find one last performance step for the Final, because we were missing something, but we should have seen what our pace over 20 laps would bring and instead after just 5 laps all our became useless”.
Viktor Gustavsson (KZ): “In Qualifying I didn’t have complete grip and at this level of racing when you start from behind, nobody has the “half seconds” in their pocket to move up. Everything became complicated then and personally I don’t have a logical explanation for what happened, because these problems didn’t emerge in Free Practice. It will be up to the team to try to understand, while as regards my Final, there is little to say because I was pushed from behind after a few hundred meters of the race and I was forced to retire”.
Arthur Carbonnel (KZ): “It was a positive weekend for me, in which I always had a good race pace in line with the top drivers and this P5 in the most important event of the season repays me for some disappointments I had in terms of results this year. The chassis and engine worked from day one and everything seemed relatively simple for us, finishing in the top ten at every stage of the event. There was a lot of battle on the track in the Final and I absolutely didn’t want to compromise my race taking excessive risks”.
Paavo Tonteri (KZ2): “The podium in the most important event of the year is an amazing result, also because it came with a solid weekend from the speed point of view in every phase of the event. I have always been among the first and there was very little left to aspire to victory. The chassis was perfect, as we have become accustomed to over the course of the season, with a very good balance on a dry track and also effective on the wet, especially in terms of traction and braking. I’m also happy for the team because we haven’t always managed to capitalize on our performances on the track and getting on the podium here repays us for all the somewhat unlucky days we’ve had this year”.
Gabriel Gomez (KZ2): “I am very disappointed because in one of the key moments of the event, Qualifying Practice, our chassis suddenly had no grip and I qualified in P92, while with the 2nd set I was able to use in the Heats, the performances were completely different and I recovered many positions, qualifying for the Final. We had done a good preparation job for this race and the speed I had in the Final on a dry track, when I recovered 14 positions with an equivalent pace and even better than the leaders, confirms this belief of mine. We weren’t lucky, that’s for sure.”
