Marco Ardigò

The karting World Champs where the young driver faced Michael Schumacher

Kerpen. 28 October 2001. Marco Ardigò was 18 years old, raced for Birel Motorsport (3 years later he would join Kosmic, followed by Tony Kart, of which he is now a recognised symbol) and was a young rookie in Formula Super A, the top class in karting at the time.

His career was in the ascendancy, but he was yet to win that which, over the next 15 years and more, would result in him developing into one of the best kart drivers of all time. In short, he was a young karting talent who, one day, in one of the most important events in the calendar year, found himself sharing a track with Michael Schumacher, who was 32, had won four Formula 1 World Championships and, in his Ferrari, was on his way to becoming the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1.