PRESS RELEASE - TKART - Dante has been among the quickest since the beginning, as did Federer completing a great comeback in the heats. Positive debut for the young Giannoni in KZ2.
Great performance for the newly homologated Maranello MK4 chassis.

The 20th Winter Cup held at the South Garda Karting of Lonato del Garda turned out to be particularly positive for Maranello Kart providing a series of very useful indications and a confirmation of the quality of the new material of the Italian outfit for a promising season start.

Former F1 driver Tonio Liuzzi was also present in Lonato as new testimonial of Maranello Kart in a project of karting development in Asia with the new Asian importer Zen Motorsport.

KZ2 had 68 racers at the start, among which the strongest in the world. Among Maranello Kart drivers, particularly shining has been Massimo Dante's star, as he put in a spectacular qualifying session posting the 5th quickest time just two tenths shy of the poleman Flavio Camponeschi, who ended up winning the race. The 2011 European Champion Fabian Federer, in force in this occasion at Maranello Kart, has made his debut with the 22nd time, proceeding the young 16 years old Lorenzo Giannoni, who managed to get the 28th time, despite this being his debut in KZ2, ending 5 tenths shy of the pole position.

Dante continued his run securing the seventh absolute time being constantly among the front runners. Federer also put in a great comeback all the way to P10, while Giannoni paid a bit the fee of his apprenticeship in the shifter category on the wet tarmac as he was handed two 30 seconds time penalties in the three heats due to the new and quite strict rule regarding the detachment of the front spoiler after racing contacts. Giannoni had to start from the back and could not make it through the second chance race but the Tuscany driver showed a great competitiveness anyway.

Massimo Dante and Fabian Federer unfortunately did not keep their momentum in the final stages due also to a series of inconveniences in the Prefinal. Dante was also handed a 30 seconds penalty as the nose of his kart was pulled off in a contact, while Federer lost some ground being pushed 19 positions down the list. Both drivers were eventually forced to the retirement in the final due to some problems with the spoiler and to some other contacts that did not allow the two Maranello Kart racers to continue and emerge as they would have wanted.

Maranello Kart just missed out on a strong result due to a series of inconveniences at the 20th Winter Cup, but the performance shown by team's drivers in this first exit of the season has been really interesting, as the speed of the newly homologated MK4 chassis given to Federer and that of the RS10 chassis employed by Dante.

The Spanish Gerard Cebrian Ariza also took part in KZ2 with Maranello's importer for Spain, Faluga Racing, but he had to retire early in the second chance race and could not gain access to the final stages.

In KF Junior, Maranello Kart was also represented by the Norwegian driver Truls Larsen of Team KCL Racing, who was at his first International race. He also had to retire at lap two of the second chance race, after scoring good results in the very tight heats.

Luca Iannaccone, Maranello Kart's manager, commented the race in this way: “The weekend has been fairly positive on some aspects as we have seen Dante being quick up to the heats on Saturday keeping the pace of very strong drivers on the international scene. On Sunday, due also to some bad luck, Dante lost several positions and then had to retire. Similarly, Federer pushed hard on Saturday but then on Sunday a bumping and a problem to the spoiler relegated him to the back. The material gave very good indications: Federer always employed the newly homologated MK4 chassis, on which we count a lot for this season, while Massimo Dante kept developing last year's RS10 model that is still a good reference product for the category. Lorenzo Giannoni has been the real novelty of this race. Being at the debut on KZ2, he had face the best of the category on wet tarmac. He needs a bit of experience, but he defended himself really well. He also had a positive weekend.”

Maranello Kart
Press Office
www.maranellokart.com

In the pictures: 1) Massimo Dante, KZ2; 2) Fabian Federer, KZ2; 3) Lorenzo Giannoni, KZ2; 4) Fabian Federer, KZ2. (Ph. Maranello Press).