Although the weather is as clear as it was the day before, it’s very cold at Essay on Sunday morning, with a few raindrops at the drivers presentation, but the track remained dry for the Prefinals.
Paolo Besancenez (Tony Kart / Vortex) managed to fit two new tyres instead of a full set as most of the other participants of Prefinal 1 did. Stan Pex (CRG / Vortex) indeed logically won the race but Besancenez was able to follow closely in 2nd position, his rivals competing fiercely for 3rd position. Alessio Piccini (Tony Kart / Vortex) got the better of Alessandro Irlando (Energy / TM) for 3rd place, Dylan Davies (CRG / TM) finally secured 5th, followed by Benjamin Törnqvist (CRG / TM). As for the other French drivers, Hubert Petit (Sodi / TM) qualified in 8th position, Geoffrey Jamin (Tony Kart / Vortex) 10th, Paul Fontaine (Sodi / TM) 14th and Pierre Loubère (Sodi / Parilla) 17th.
No doubt inspired by Besancenez’s choice, there were many more in Prefinal 2 with just two new tyres. Luca Corberi (Tony Kart / Vortex) was not slow to take the advantage from the poleman Leonardo Lorandi (Tony Kart / Vortex), while Nicolas Gonzales (Sodi / TM) took 2nd place early in the race. Corberi then escaped while Fabian Federer (CRG / Modena) came back to 2nd position ahead of Lorandi, Gonzales and Alexander Dahlberg (Tony Kart / Vortex), closely followed by Alexander Schmitz (Tony Kart / Vortex).
The race was stopped with a red flag on lap 14 because of an accident where Matteo Vigano hit a marshals post at the top of the hill. Good news of the affected volunteer was communicated later. Corberi was then still in the lead despite pressure from Federer, with Lorandi 3rd, Schmitz, the fastest, had passed ahead of Gonzales 4th, John Norris (Tony Kart / Vortex) 6th and Dahlberg 7th. Nicolas Picot (Tony Kart / Vortex) qualified 8th, Tom Leuillet (Sodi / TM) 14th and Thomas Neubauer (Birel ART / Parilla) 15th.
Info Kartcom / © Photos KSP