SKM 2018: Already the first surprises
KART SEASON START IN ITALY At the start of the autobau Swiss Kart Championship in Italy, there were already the first surprises. In the top class KZ2, favorite Reinhard did not win a race, but newcomer Arnaud Nussbaum won all three. In the smallest category, a girl dominated. More than a hundred drivers, including guests from Italy, took part in the first event of the autobau Schweizer [...]
More than a hundred drivers, including guests from Italy, took part in the first event of the autobau Swiss Kart Championship 2018 at the international track 7Laghi in Castelletto di Branduzzo near Pavia. Beautiful spring weather ensured the best external conditions for all 18 races.
In the KZ2 class, the season already started with a surprise. Since Nicolas Rohrbasser will not defend his title and will only participate in a few races, runner-up André Reinhard was the logical favorite. However, the latter was eliminated in both heats and only finished 6th in the final.
Arnaud Nussbaum on Intrepid/TM was the winner of all three races. Last year he was runner-up in the Vega Trofeo in the switch karts. In the final, Nussnaum fended off all attacks from Italian Matteo Mazzucchelli and Hicham Mazou. For Mazou, who is now SM runner-up, also a top result.
Arnaud Nussbaum: "I wouldn't have even dared to dream that. I trained very little and really reached my physical limit at the end of the final. But my team prepared a top kart for me. It's clear that I'll now drive all the races and want to fight for the title."
Fagone wins the premiere of the class OK Junior
In the OK Senior class, runner-up Pascal Von Allmen and class newcomer Patrick Näscher shared the preliminary race victories. Näscher had to pit in the second heat due to a loose exhaust (12th), but won clearly in the final.
Here, Von Allmen lurked close behind the Liechtensteiner until the middle of the race, but then retired with a defective chain. Kevin Wälti, who initially led, finished third and takes over second place at the start of the SKM.
Alessio Fagone emerged as the first final winner in the new OK Junior class. He had to put in a lot of driving and physical effort to keep the almost equally fast Tony Kayla Naude behind him. Third place went to Florent Panès.
In the Iame X30 Challenge, Danny Buntschu took the maximum points with the best time in practice and three race wins. Savio Mocchia, X30 Junior Champion of 2016, was breathing down his neck the whole time in the final and took second place ahead of Elias Wigger.
A girl in front of all the boys
Elia Sperandio and Michael Sauter each grabbed a heat win in the X30 Juniors. In a thrilling four-way battle in the final, Hugo Giraud struck mid-race to win ahead of Samir Ben and last year's Super Mini champion Sperandio. Sauter dropped back to 7th place due to a 10-second penalty.
In the Super Mini field, Ekatarina Lüscher beat all the boys. At the start of what is already her sixth karting season, the 11-year-old won both heats and also the final by three seconds in each case. Shannon Lugassy and Loris Achermann took the other podium places.
Autobau SKM 2018 continues on April 28-29 in Vesoul (F).
Information: Markus Lehner, atelier ml
