For the final grid for the U18 World Championship at Sarno, the front row was Henry Easthope (Sodi) and Pyry Ovaska (Maranello) ahead of Anthoine Hubert (Sodi) and Antonio Giovinazzi (PCR). Matthew Graham (Zanardi) started from fifth position. All competitors were on rain tires except Blom, Von Aesch, Maxa, Ruud, Mäntylä and Kolarov.
Easthope made the best start but was overtaken on the first lap by Giovinazzi. Ovaska tried to get in between them but lost places, he was eighth. Hubert was in third place ahead of Graham, Martin Mortensen (Mach 1) and Leo Roussel (Sodi) who were ready to attack. Hubert took Easthope on lap 2, Roussel was fifth from Niclas Nylund (Maranello), Mortensen and Ovaska. Giovinazzi was steadily improving his times. Meanwhile, Ovaska spun and lost a few places, he was now 12th.
Giovinazzi escaped, and Easthope retook Graham, but Roussel was close to the Zanardi. Graham and Roussel were close to Easthope. Now it was clear that Hubert felt threatened and reacted to Graham. Roussel followed suit in fourth position, Easthope fell in the standings. Behind him, Niclas Nylund recovered very quickly, the fastest on the track. On lap 8, Hubert took Graham for second. Ovaska found it hard to gain ground, he was still 13th. Giovinazzi showed how strong he was with a fantastic lap time despite his 4” lead. Faster than his teammate Hubert, Roussel took third position.
After defending for a long time, Roussel had to yield to Mortensen, really fast, so he was now threatening Graham. Roussel gave everything to hold off Nylund and Forman. Mortensen attacked Graham on the penultimate lap as night fell on Sarno and the floodlights were turned on.
Giovinazzi won great victory from the amazing Mortensen and Graham. Roussel was 4th, but under investigation for the start, Nylund was fifth, Forman sixth. Ovaska finished a modest 20th place, which could cost him the title. The best time on slicks was 1’21”046 for Blom, two seconds faster than the leaders, but only in 14th place.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / © Photo KSP