HOT NEWS - TKART - WACKERSDORF (GERMANY) – The “queen” class of international karting has decided one driver should play the role of the king on this Saturday of heats. Provisional championship leader Marco Ardigò (Tony Kart/Vortex) does a clean sweep and takes a double win.

From the sound of it, he was an uncontested ruler today; but, for those who saw the action with their own eyes, Ardigò had to work hard to beat an extremely balanced field of competitors. The first heat featured an especially intense shuffling of drivers in the lead. At one point it looked as if Bas Lammers (Formula K/Parilla) might take off and become uncatchable, but in the end Ardigò charged back up, took back the lead, and won. His Dutch rival got passed by Rick Dreezen (Zanardi/Parilla), who could’ve done an even more incisive sprint, if it hadn’t been for a contact with Felice Tiene (Crg/Maxter). The latter was sepecially surprising. As we mentioned above, the Italian is racing as a “wild card”, so there is nothing he can take from this European championship, in terms of position or points. And yet, he is going fast and “battling” as if he too could hope in the European title. Giving it all you’ve got in any competition is a noble attitude. For the record, even if it doesn’t “count”, Tiene is currently sixth best overall.

Going back to the top 3 of the first heat – how did they do in the second race? Same deal, they confirmed their position. Ardigò, Dreezen, and Lammers are thus the top 3 in the intermediate standings, followed by Jorrit Pex (Crg/TM), fifth in both heats, and, right behind him, by Anthony Abbasse (Sodi/TM), fourth and eighth.

Paolo De Conto (Birel/Tm) is missing from the top end. The glitch he experienced in the qualifyings forced him to start from the rear, he does impossible rebounds both times, but the way to the top is just too long, even for an ace of overtakes like him. In addition, a new technical problem comes in the way of his climb in the second heat. The end result? He will start the prefinal from 16th on grid. Jonathan Thonon (Praga/Parilla) and Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG/Maxter) are also a bit below expectations: the Belgian is eighth and the Brit is eleventh – although to be fair, both started the weekend with  tough qualifyings. On the other hand, top qualifier Thomas Laurent (Tony Kart/Vortex) today secured a start from ninth place in tomorrow’s prefianal. A closing note goes to teammates Mirko Torsellini and Ben Hanley (Art Gp/Tm). Both score lap times worthy of the top positions, but they fail to rise up the track: the Italian is 14th and the Brit is 17th.

Click here to see the complete results.

Here are the top spots in the KZ European title hunt after todays heats:

Ardigò 43 points

Dreezen 38 p.

Pex 25 p.

Lennox- Lamb 22 p.

Abbasse 18 p.

Lammers 16 p.

Hanley 15 p.

Kozlinski 14 p.