Viktor Gustafsson (CRG/TM) shared the front row of the grid with Senna van Walstijn (Sodi/TM) ahead of Tom Leuillet (OTK/Vortex) and Danilo Albanese (KR/Iame) for the start of the Final of the first round of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship in the KZ category. The weather was perfectly sunny with a temperature of 26° at MotorLand Aragón.
Gustafsson started in the lead, but van Walstijn overtook him before the end of lap 1. Albanese was 2nd, while David Trefilov (Maranello/TM) was 4th, Stan Pex (KR/Iame) 5th and Lorenzo Travisanutto (Parolin/TM) 5th ahead of Leuillet. Pedro Hiltbrand (Birel ART/TM) made a good start to the race, in 12th after gaining 10 places. Albanese set the fastest time in his pursuit of leader van Walstijn even though the equipment had not yet reached its full potential. Gustafsson was in no position to join the battle for the time being. The battle was intense in the pack, around the top 10. Meanwhile, Travisanutto moved up to 4th place ahead of Pex. After the halfway point, Albanese was closing to within 3 tenths of leader van Walstijn. While Hiltbrand was 8th, Paolo De Conto (Parolin/TM) followed in 9th. Leuillet was forced to retire due to a technical problem. Van Walstijn maintained a hellish pace, while Albanese seemed to be marking time. Travisanutto continued to make progress and attacked Gustafsson to take P3 from him. Van Walstijn made a spectacular return to form with this indisputable victory 1.5″ ahead of Albanese. Travisnautto savoured his 3rd place ahead of Gustafsson. Pex secured 5th place by several lengths, while Hiltbrand completed his 16-place climb to 6th ahead of Giuseppe Palomba (Sodi/TM) and Emilien Denner (Sodi/TM). Jorge Pescador (KaliKart/TM) and Jérémy Iglesias (CRG/TM) completed the top 10.
Provisional results pending publication of the final rankings.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP – Arthur Saulnier-Bruneau