Already the winner of the 2016 CIK-FIA World KZ Championship, Paolo De Conto has strengthened his level of domination by successively winning the European Championship and the 2017 CIK-FIA World KZ Championship. The historic double by the Italian CRG Driver has not been easy to achieve in the face of fierce competition.
Paolo, what exactly happened during the 2017 KZ season?
– The KZ remains reserved for ??factory teams and professional Drivers. The performances are closer and closer between the protagonists. It takes a lot of work to get a small decisive advantage and nothing is decided in advance. The fight is between both chassis and engines. I must say that TM Racing has been a partner of choice for us. With the CRG Racing Team, we were not necessarily favourites at the start of the season. Thanks to the efforts of the entire team, we finally managed to make the difference, despite valiant opponents.
Let’s start with the European Championship. Was a third title easy for you to win?
– Not at all! The equipment was not yet fully developed for the first Sarno (ITA) Competition and we did not know how it was going to go. We tested several configurations before finding the right balance. Performance came gradually and the Final allowed me to win my first victory. We were in a better position at Genk (BEL), but Marijn Kremers pushed me hard in the Final. It was in Oviedo (ESP), on the unique track of the Fernando Alonso circuit, that we reached our highest level. This third victory in a row allowed me to win the Championship and to show that we had returned to the highest level. At the last Competition at Kristiansad (SWE), I did not need to win and we took the opportunity to do development testing for the World Cup.
What exactly can you tell us about this World Championship?
– I did not have a great time in Qualifying Practice at Wackersdorf (DEU), but it was not too important as I came back to 4th place with a victory after the Qualifying Heats. The Final was quickly transformed into a duel with Anthony Abbasse. He made a slight mistake that allowed me to overtake him, but we were very close in pure performance. I could not distance him like last year and I had to stay on my guard until the finish. Although I tend to prefer the Championships raced over several Competitions because they often better reflect the real hierarchy between Drivers and Teams, the World Championship has no equivalent in terms of intensity. I am very happy to have completed the double.
Info CIK-FIA / © Photo KSP