It was a moment full of emotion this Saturday night at Lonato for the presentation of the JB #17 chassis, a tribute to Jules Bianchi by his father Philip and his brother Tom. These are the Mad Croc machines with special graphics used at the Winter Cup with four drivers running in the JB #17 colours: the young Italian Antonino Guerrera in Mini Rok, the Spaniard Genis Civico in OK-Junior, the Briton Ben Hanley in OK and the Russian Ivan Chubarov in KZ2.
“It was important for us to present the JB #17 chassis now, as the Jules Bianchi Foundation is being created,” said Philippe Bianchi. “JB #17 is the opposite of a publicity stunt. It is a way for us to stay close to Jules and embark on an adventure that he would have loved. Everyone knows that he was always a great karting enthusiast, even when he started to race in Formula One. Under the auspices of the Foundation, we will develop initiatives to help young drivers and facilitate access to competition. It was obvious to us that this should be done with “Bianchi” karts. In presenting the JB #17 brand today, we have given ourselves the time to put in place the necessary structure and prepare the chassis for homologation for the year 2017. We naturally turned to Armando Filini, because of the bond that united Jules from the Maranello era. It’s hard for us to dive back into the world of competition karting, but we are doing it for Jules and that’s what drives us.“
Info Kartcom / © Photos KSP