For the second time this season, the ROK Cup Italia returns to the Franciacorta Karting Track in Castrezzato (BS) for the seventh round of the championship. Numerous drivers battled it out for the top spot across the seven categories competing on the track. At the end of the weekend, the following championship leaders emerged: Milan Romano De Ruit (Mini ROK U10), Ghazi Almekdad (Mini ROK), Blazej Kostrzewa (Junior ROK), Riccardo Salemi (Senior ROK), Andrea Sorbello (Expert ROK), Giuseppe Gaglianò (Super ROK) and Marco Chiarello (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK U10

One name in particular stands out in the MINI ROK U10.

Zev Godschalk got off to a flying start in qualifying, securing pole position with a time of 57.192 seconds. Miguel Spina took second place, ahead of Leon Giudicelli in third and Ryszard Kocik in fourth. Alessandro Puppo and Christian Harron occupy fifth and sixth places respectively, with Aiden Moreira seventh, Gaspard Fauchet eighth, championship leader Milan De Ruit ninth and Max Santana tenth. The line-up continues with Enrico Ticianelli, Nicolò Zagatti, Yanchen Yuan, Jakub Mizera, Ludovico Maietti, Antonio Salerno, Ianis Shabani, Nelson Luis Cabrera Mondello, Konstantin Kaczmarczyk, Gabriel Mara Varon, Iurii Danyliak, Nao Bendjedia, Pietro Zera, Anna Makolm, Giacomo Pozzoni, Pietro Cimieri, Franciszek Kijak, Mikhail Zanochkin, David Domanov, Andrea Baraggi, Eitan David Yudelson, Romeo Ferrante, Elias Kaya and Maksym Oleshchuk.

In the pre-final, Godschalk led the race from the very start, with Giudicelli and Kocik settling into second and third place respectively, ahead of Spina, who had dropped back to fourth. The four soon formed a tight leading group but were caught a few laps later by De Ruit and, in the closing stages, by Santana and Maietti. Thanks to excellent race management, Godschalk crossed the finish line first, whilst Giudicelli claimed second place in a sprint finish ahead of Kocik in third, De Ruit in fourth, Santana in fifth and Spina in sixth. Maietti is seventh, ahead of Ferrante, Zagatti and Makolm.

In the final, Godschalk once again got off to an excellent start, in contrast to Giudicelli, who was forced to complete the opening lap behind Kocik, De Ruit and Santana. The lead soon became a two-horse race between Godschalk and Kocik, whilst Giudicelli moved up to third place and attempted to close the gap on the top two. Demonstrating once again his composure when leading the race, Godschalk won ahead of Kocik by just 0.084 seconds. Giudicelli took the lowest step on the podium, whilst De Ruit, in fourth, beat Ferrante, Santana, Maietti and Spina in the sprint. The top ten was rounded off by Makolm and Zagatti.

Mini ROK

The Mini ROK race was decided by a breathtaking final sprint.

Qualifying proved fiercely contested from the outset, with Mateo Gomez taking pole position with a time of 56.338 seconds, edging out Aleksander Pelikanski, in second, by just 0.037 seconds, and Mathias Drexler, in third, by 0.053 seconds. Ryan Di Munno and Ghazi Almekdad, separated by just 0.002 seconds, took fourth and fifth place respectively, ahead of Sofia Rudenko in sixth, Mattia Pellin in seventh and Pawel Markowski in eighth. Filippo Frigerio and Leo Kralev are ninth and tenth, followed by Johannes Buchhammer, Thomas Ometto, Emma Gatto, Sebastian Schirripa, Nathan Lotrionte, Michal Lepczynski, Lola Mukhammadiyev, Iker Castro, Murilo Dominguez, Aleksander Nowakowski, Dorian Bazzoli, William Morta, Matteo Meni, Samuel Dal Pozzo, Raphael Sighel, Dominic Vera, Antonio Martin, Antoni Brokos, Ruben Sagoo, Massimo Barlocco, Massimo Cammunci, Stanislav Slivinskyi, Andrea Chardonnet, Francesco Sarzina and Edouard Ruget.

In the pre-final, Gomez took the lead in the early stages but was immediately forced to fend off attacks from a determined group of pursuers, mainly comprising Almekdad, Drexler and Pelikanski. Of these, it was Pelikanski who led for much of the race, until, in the final laps, a fierce battle for the lead ensued.

The race was decided in a sprint finish, with Almekdad edging out Drexler by 0.043 seconds and Pelikanski by 0.058 seconds, whilst Di Munno and Gomez followed immediately behind them. Rudenko finished sixth, ahead of Pellin, Kralev and Frigerio, with Ometto in tenth.

In the final, Almekdad took the outside line at the start and immediately took the lead, with Pelikanski and Drexler behind him. Over the following laps, the battle centred on Almekdad and Pelikanski, with the Pole always close by, waiting for the right moment to attack. The overtaking manoeuvre came with two laps to go, but it allowed Drexler to close the gap again. At the final corner, Drexler overtook both Pelikanski and Almekdad and crossed the finish line first, ahead of his team-mate and the Austrian. Behind them, Frigerio and Pellin took fourth and fifth place, ahead of Rudenko and Meni, whilst Di Munno, Kralev and Ometto followed in the subsequent positions.

Junior ROK

The Junior ROK series welcomes a new winner this season.

Following his successes in the last two rounds, Adrian Potepa has secured pole position for the first time in the championship, with a time of 50.409 seconds set in Group 1 of qualifying. Tommaso D’Ambrosio, the fastest in Group 2 with a time of 50.522 seconds, takes second place, whilst David Moscardi, 0.011 seconds behind Potepa’s time, is third in the combined standings. Leonard Wcislo is fourth, ahead of championship leader Blazej Kostrzewa in fifth, Elias Boullier in sixth, Mia Zanki in seventh, Marco Pozzoni in eighth, Simone Seveso in ninth, and Borys Blaszczyk in tenth. Next come Leonardo De Grandi, Karol Kostur, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Nicolò Poli, Eryk Marona, Iven Ammann, Patrick Bissa, Valerio Santini, Alessandro Gorini, Daniel Ivanov, Platon Kovtunenko, Axel Gore, Gabriele Giribaldi, Giada Vanigioli, Alex Volkmer, Matias Dominguez, Jessica Calleja, Wolf Peer, Romeo Epifanio, Kayo Cera, Michal Zajac, Simone Mercati, Vasco De Vito, Nicholas Bertolani, Carlo Pongratz, Tommaso Pomoni, Antoni Kijak, Kira Maistrenko, Fabio Pappalardo, Rudy Koka, Louis Pachleitner, Gabriele Castelmani, Filipp Zhurbenko and Ilias Mitaki.

At the end of the qualifying heats, Moscardi emerged at the top of the standings, having secured two victories. Potepa finished the first heat in second place and won the second, securing second place in the standings. With two third-place finishes, Pozzoni took third place, followed by D’Ambrosio, Wcislo and Kostrzewa. Kovtunenko climbed 17 places to finish seventh. Gawlikowski, Bissa and De Vito also made it into the top 10, with the latter climbing a remarkable 23 places, whilst Boullier dropped back to 27th place.

In the final, Moscardi made the most of his pole position to stay in the lead, with Pozzoni and D’Ambrosio managing to secure second and third places. The three Italian drivers remained close together in the early stages, until Moscardi increased his pace. Meanwhile, Potepa closed in on the group. It was the Polish driver who took centre stage in the middle stages, overtaking first D’Ambrosio and then Pozzoni as well, moving into second place and attempting to close the gap on Moscardi. The race leader kept Potepa at bay, crossing the finish line ahead of him. Behind them, Pozzoni battled with Kostrzewa, Kovtunenko and Zanki, securing the final step on the podium. Gawlikowski finished seventh, whilst D’Ambrosio came eighth, partly as a result of an earlier collision with Pozzoni. Wcislo and Bissa followed.

Senior ROK

The Senior ROK class maintains the same benchmark throughout the weekend.

As was the case at the previous round of the championship, Riccardo Salemi secured pole position in qualifying. The Italian, with a time of 48.734 seconds, finished ahead of Poland’s Colin Wazny in second and Slovenia’s Nik Sculac in third. Valerio De Gaetano took fourth place, ahead of Simone Taccola in fifth and Oskar Hildebranski in sixth. Riccardo Brangero and Cristian Romeo are seventh and eighth respectively, whilst Iwo Beszterda and Giovanni Polato round off the top 10. Behind them are Samuele Di Filippo, Stefano Zamponi, Aleksander Rogowski, Luca Perelli, Selina Baum, Andrea Thej, Luca Baggioli, Christos Chatzis, Ludovica Miceli, Elia Galvanin, Francesca Pietrini, Noemi Pradier, Michal Czyzewicz, Piotr Protasiewicz, Denis Todorov, Zhivko Bostandzhiev, Rikardo Bakaj, Alessandro Cocchi, Ewa Banach, Nikodem Osiecki, Plamen Teliyski, Matteo Marchioni, Sebastiano Cecchini and Jakub Kazana.

In the pre-final, Salemi took the lead after the first few corners, followed by Taccola, Sculac and Brangero, although the latter was subsequently forced to give way to Wazny, Beszterda and De Gaetano. Salemi maintained a comfortable lead over his pursuers until Wazny moved up to second place: the Italian took advantage of the scramble to start extending his lead. Without any major problems, Salemi took the win, with Wazny second and Sculac third. Taccola finished fourth, just ahead of Brangero in fifth, whilst Romeo finished sixth, ahead of Rogowski, De Gaetano, Polato and Beszterda.

In the final, Salemi got off to another good start, followed by Sculac, Wazny and Brangero. Compared to the pre-final, Brangero had better pace and, on the second lap, moved up to second place, though he was unable to close the gap on leader Salemi in the subsequent laps. Romeo and Wazny made contact, with the Italian managing to get back on track and the Pole forced to retire. Shortly afterwards, Taccola and De Gaetano were also involved in a collision that took both of them out of the race. The chequered flag confirmed Salemi’s victory, ahead of Brangero in second place, whilst behind them the battle for third place was won by Rogowski, who managed to beat Beszterda and Sculac. Hildebranski, Perelli, Protasiewicz, Baggioli and Di Filippo rounded out the top ten.

Expert ROK

The Expert ROK class has a clear frontrunner at Franciacorta.

For the fourth time this season, pole position in qualifying goes to Marco Massironi, who clocked a time of 49.512 seconds. Alessandro Viganò follows in second place, with Daniel Zajac and Andrea Sorbello behind him in third and fourth respectively. Paolo Baselli takes fifth place, ahead of Michele Zampieri in sixth, Adrian Marcinkiewicz in seventh, Gianluca Todeschini in eighth, Marco Nannavecchia in ninth and Marzio Cavini in tenth. Rounding out the grid are Cristian Gautier, Marco Beretta and Gianluca Rubiolini.

In the pre-final, Massironi got off to a good start and remained in the lead, with Zajac managing to slip into second place ahead of Viganò and Baselli. On the second lap, Viganò reclaimed second place by overtaking Zajac, but in the following laps he was unable to close the gap on Massironi; on the contrary, the gap between them widened. At the end of the scheduled 12 laps, Massironi took the win, with Viganò second and Sorbello third, having managed to overtake Zajac and Baselli. Marcinkiewicz, Zampieri, Gautier, Todeschini and Rubiolini followed in the standings.

In the final, Massironi immediately took the lead, with Sorbello and Viganò in second and third place respectively. Initially, Sorbello tried to challenge the leader, but he was then forced to concede his position to Viganò and fend off attacks from Zajac. Massironi capitalised on this, significantly extending his lead and cruising unchallenged to victory. Viganò and Sorbello took their places on the podium, ahead of Zajac, Marcinkiewicz, Todeschini, Gautier, Zampieri, Baselli and Nannavecchia.

Super ROK

No foregone conclusions in the Super ROK.

Manuel Gritti surprised everyone in qualifying. The Italian driver secured pole position with a time of 48.286 seconds, just 0.018 seconds faster than that set by Giuseppe Gaglianò, who finished second. Nikola Nikolic took third place, ahead of Nicholas Reino in fourth, Matteo Peruccio in fifth and Zachary Taylor in sixth. Giulio Mazzolini, Michael Müller, Rayan Carré and Francesco Koci also secured places in the top 10, ahead of Luca Luongo, Alessandro Zini, Vittorio Maria Russo, Mattia D’Abramo, Matteo Lazzarotto, Nicolò Coppotelli, Mariachiara Nardelli, Alberto Masotto, Riccardo Cirelli, Matteo Infantino, Fabio Silvestri, Chiara Bolognini, Matteo Bellandi, Andrea Saporiti, Federico Zanetti, Shai Derungs and Mirko Graziani.

In the pre-final, Gritti took the lead from the start, followed by Peruccio, Nikolic, Gaglianò and Mazzolini. Over the following laps, it was Gaglianò who changed pace: he quickly moved into second place, put pressure on Gritti during the middle stages and took the lead with four laps to go. Gaglianò thus secured victory ahead of Gritti, whilst Peruccio completed the top three. Behind them came Carré, Nikolic and Müller, followed by Koci, Mazzolini, Taylor and Russo.

In the final, Gaglianò got off to an excellent start, in contrast to Gritti, who lost several places. Peruccio therefore moved into second place, ahead of Nikolic and Carré. Gaglianò simply managed his lead, whilst behind him the battle remained very close. Carré managed to climb to third place in the final laps and, following a collision, also overtook Peruccio for second place. The race ended with Gaglianò taking the win, whilst Carré received a three-second penalty for the contact with Peruccio and dropped to sixth place. Nikolic thus took second place, with Peruccio third, Gritti fourth and Mazzolini fifth. Müller finished seventh, ahead of Zanetti, Zini and Cirelli.

Shifter ROK

The Shifter ROK delivers a thrilling weekend packed with battles.

In qualifying, Marco Chiarello tops the standings, having set the fastest time of 47.495 seconds. Riccardo Rigodanza takes second place, followed by Nicola Rossini in third and Mateo Moni in fourth. Pietro Camerlengo is fifth, ahead of Mattia Rossetti in sixth, Cristian Curti in seventh, Alessandro Merigo in eighth, Tymoteusz Ksiadz in ninth and Alessandro Risi in tenth.

In the pre-final, as the lights went out, Rigodanza pipped Chiarello to the start and took the lead, whilst Rossini remained ahead of Moni. On the fourth lap, Chiarello attempted to overtake Rigodanza, but the latter held his ground and managed to close any gaps. On the final lap, Chiarello regained the lead, but the ensuing battle between the two played into Moni’s hands; he seized the opportunity to take the lead, overtaking Rossini as well, and went on to win the race. Rigodanza finished second, ahead of Chiarello in third and Rossini in fourth. Behind them came Camerlengo, Rossetti, Curti, Ksiadz, Merigo and Risi.

In the final stages, Rigodanza once again got off to a better start and took the lead, with Moni, Rossini and Chiarello in hot pursuit. Shortly afterwards, Rossini overtook Moni, whilst the latter was forced to defend against Chiarello: the two made contact, allowing Camerlengo to capitalise. Despite the collision on the track, Chiarello remained in the race and, over the following laps, overtook first Camerlengo and then Rossini, eventually closing in on Rigodanza. After an initial attempt on the penultimate lap, Chiarello completed the decisive overtaking manoeuvre on the final lap, taking the lead and closing the gap. Immediately afterwards, Rigodanza made contact with Moni, allowing Rossini to move up into second place. The race ended with Chiarello taking the win, ahead of Rossini in second and Rigodanza in third, whilst Moni finished fourth. They were followed by Camerlengo, Rossetti, Ksiadz, Merigo, Curti and Risi.