The first round of the European KZ Championship in Valencia was a success for Birelart Racing. Pedro Hiltbrand showed total mastery, winning the KZ Final by more than 3.2 seconds, confirming the effectiveness of the development work carried out by Birelart in the run-up to the season. Cristian Bertuca backed up this success by taking 3rd place on the podium and setting the fastest lap of the race. In KZ2, almost a third of the field chose the Birelart chassis, with four drivers in the top 10, including Corentin Rousseau, who finished 6th, among other outstanding results.

Home victory for Hiltbrand
Pedro Hiltbrand made his ambitions clear right from the start of Timed Practice with pole position, before winning two of his three Qualifying Heats and taking 2nd place in the last one, after some hard-fought battles in a hotly contested category. Perfect at the start of the Super Heat, he masterfully won to take pole position in the Final. In the Final, he had to fight hard in the opening laps before taking the lead on the third lap, extending his lead lap after lap to give Birelart a prestigious victory on home soil.

Cristian Bertuca, who was penalised in the Super Heat, came back strongly to take 3rd place in the Final. For his part, Daniel Vasile, in the colours of CL Racing, was delayed by an incident in the Super Heat but nevertheless gained five places in the Final.

A wealth of talent in KZ2
In KZ2, Corentin Rousseau (CL Racing) proved to be a consistent performer, moving up from 12th in Timed Qualifying to 9th after the Super Heats, and then to 6th in the Final after a solid race. New Zealander Jay Urwin, in his second international race, improved all weekend to finish 8th, just ahead of Samuel Luyet, who made a spectacular ten-place comeback. Noah Wolfe (VAR by Birel), who got off to a good start with 7th place in Qualifying, had a tough time in the heats but showed his determination by moving up 16 places in the Super Heat and 19 places in the Final to break into the top 10. Juho Valtanen, long one of the fastest drivers and winner of a heat, was delayed at the start of the Final and finished 11th, a result below his actual performance.

Jenson Graham (CL Racing), Jean Luyet and Josep Vea Terrado also made good progress in the Final, while Gerard Cebrian Ariza and Genis Civico Espona (CL Racing) were unable to fulfil their potential, despite good performances earlier in the weekend.

Riccardo Longhi's reaction
"The whole team is delighted with Pedro Hiltbrand's success in Valencia, reinforced by Cristian Bertuca's podium finish, proof of the team's development expertise. We also equipped 11 of the 36 finalists in KZ2, confirming the popularity of our chassis with professionals, young talents and enthusiasts. I would also like to highlight the performance of Juho Valtanen who, without any problems in the Final, could have been aiming for the podium.”

Next meeting: Viterbo
Birelart Racing is now preparing for the third round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series at Viterbo (Italy) from 28th to 31st May, before moving on to the OK and OK-Junior European Championships on the same circuit the following week.

 Press Release © Birelart