The 2026 ROK Cup Italia season draws to a close with the eighth and final round at Lonato del Garda (BS). On the South Garda Karting circuit, the seven main categories put on an intense weekend of action, featuring closely fought battles and thrilling races. At the end of the day, the following category champions were honoured: Milan Romano De Ruit (Mini ROK U10), Ghazi Almekdad (Mini ROK), Blazej Kostrzewa (Junior ROK), Riccardo Salemi (Senior ROK), Alessandro Viganò (Expert ROK), Giuseppe Gaglianò (Super ROK) and Marco Chiarello (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK U10

It was a great show, as always, in the Mini ROK U10 class.

Leon Giudicelli secured his second pole position of the season, topping the qualifying session with a time of 55.677 seconds. Aiden Moreira was second, just 0.083 seconds behind, ahead of Gabriel Mara Varon in third and Giovanni Ventorino in fourth. Championship leader Milan Romano De Ruit qualified fifth, followed by Antonio Mastroianni in sixth, Raman Murachou in seventh, Nicolò Zagatti in eighth, Miguel Spina in ninth, and Enrico Ticianelli in tenth. Behind them were Brody Brown, Mikhail Zanochkin, Andrea Baraggi, Jakub Mizera, Nelson Luis Cabrera Mondello, Anna Makolm, Mathias Riccardo Bartyan, Elias Kaya, Pietro Zera, Ianis Shabani, Arda Bilyanov, Wiley Lee, Antonio Salerno, Pietro Cimieri, Leone Mingari, Giacomo Pozzoni, Zev Godschalk – all in contention for the title – and Ludovico Maietti.

hairpin bend, taking a wide line and leaving second place to De Ruit. As the laps went by, however, it was Spina who came to the fore: having started ninth, he quickly fought his way up to second place and seemed to have the pace to challenge Giudicelli for the lead. An intense battle for second place between Spina, Mara Varon, Ventorino, Moreira and De Ruit, however, allowed Giudicelli to pull away and claim victory. Ventorino finished second, with Moreira third, De Ruit fourth and Mara Varon fifth. Mastroianni, Bartyan, Baraggi, Brown and Murachou finished in the top 10, whilst Spina was forced to retire on the final lap following a collision. Godschalk fought his way back up to 11th place.

In the final, Giudicelli once again capitalised on his pole position and led the early stages, with Moreira and Ventorino immediately behind him. The three remained bunched within a few metres for a long time, battling for the lead, with Ventorino managing to take the lead halfway through the race. However, the battle amongst the frontrunners allowed Godschalk to gradually close the gap and join the fight for the top positions in the final laps. At the chequered flag, Giudicelli came out on top, ahead of Moreira in second and Godschalk in third. De Ruit snatched fourth place from Ventorino at the very last moment, leaving Ventorino in fifth. Zanochkin, Murachou, Mara Varon, Spina – who started from the back of the grid – and Mastroianni rounded out the top ten.

De Ruit clinched the championship title with 409 points, beating Godschalk, who finished second with 400 points. Giudicelli came third with 379 points.

Mini ROK

The Mini ROK series crowns a new champion in the final round of the year.

For the first time this season, Edoardo Traina secures pole position in qualifying. The Italian, with a time of 54.867 seconds, finishes ahead of his team-mate Ghazi Almekdad, who is second, 0.069 seconds behind. Mathias Drexler takes third place, ahead of Mateo Gomez in fourth, Aleksander Pelikanski in fifth and Mattia Pellin in sixth. In seventh place is Francesco Petta, with Filippo Frigerio eighth, Dorian Bazzoli ninth and Thomas Ometto tenth. The standings continue with Lola Mukhammadiyev, Emma Gatto, Michal Lepczynski, Sebastian Schirripa, Vincent Oliver Rieso, Bryan Distaso, Lorenzo Cooper Lopez, Matteo Meni, Iker Castro, Pawel Markowski, Johannes Buchhammer, Murilo Pinheiro Dominguez, Ghjulian Letailleur, Antonio Martin, Piotr Mikolajczyk, Stefano Sapuppo, Stefano Fenu and Samuel Dal Pozzo.

In the pre-final, Traina got off to a good start and held onto the lead ahead of Drexler, Pelikanski, Almekdad, Gomez and Petta. Throughout the race, the Italian managed the pressure from his pursuers well, right up until the final lap: Pelikanski launched an attack on Traina in the final corners, but the battle between the two played into Almekdad’s hands, who took the opportunity to overtake them both and cross the finish line first. Traina finished second, ahead of Pelikanski in third, and Drexler, who had meanwhile managed to close the gap on the leaders, in fourth. Pellin finished fifth, followed by Gomez, Frigerio, Ometto, Schirripa and Markowski.

In the final, Almekdad made the most of his pole position and held the lead through the opening corners but was attacked as early as the first lap by Pelikanski, Pellin, Frigerio and the other challengers, dropping back to tenth place. On the third lap, Pellin took the lead, whilst his team-mate Frigerio moved up to second place: the pair thus managed to pull away from Pelikanski and Drexler. In the final laps, however, Frigerio was caught and found himself battling for second place with Pelikanski, Traina and Drexler. Pellin took advantage of the battle behind him to pull away and secure victory. Frigerio came out on top in the battle for second place, with Pelikanski third, Traina fourth and Drexler fifth. Almekdad fought his way back up to sixth place, ahead of Ometto, Petta, Gomez and Pinheiro.

Almekdad ended the season as champion with 415 points, ahead of Pelikanski, second on 362, and Frigerio, third on 359.

Junior ROK

A thrilling final marked the Junior ROK weekend.

David Moscardi secured his fourth pole position of the season. The Italian, with a time of 49.255 seconds in Group 2, finished ahead of Tommaso D’Ambrosio, who topped Group 1 in 49.431 seconds. Mia Zanki is third in the combined standings, ahead of Jessica Calleja in fourth, Nino Moulin in fifth and Nicolò Poli in sixth. Marco Pozzoni is seventh, followed by Adrian Potepa in eighth, Elias Boullier in ninth and Iven Ammann in tenth. Behind them are Simone Seveso, Karol Kostur, Platon Kovtunenko, Alessandro Gorini, Gianmaria Ferretti, Leonard Wcislo, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Michal Staszak, Matias Pinheiro Dominguez, Gabriele Giribaldi, Vasco De Vito, Stanislaw Grabowski, Colton Schniegenberg, Domenico Coco, Emilio Bolanos, Lena Pichler, Edouard Ruget, Daniel Ivanov, Alessandro Coppe, Jean Poujol, Tommaso Pomoni, Kayo Cera, Aleardo Lambo, Sebastian Serenelli Trebucq, Nicholas Bertolani, Demian Kravchenko, Jan Perel, Valerio Santini, Fabio Pappalardo, Gabriele Castelmani, Simone Mercati and Rudy Koka.

With two wins from two races, Moscardi retains top spot in the provisional standings at the end of the qualifying heats. D’Ambrosio remains in second place, thanks to a win and a second-place finish. Potepa and Ammann move up to third and fourth place respectively, with Pozzoni fifth and Moulin sixth.

Seveso breaks into the top 10 and is seventh, whilst Zanki and Poli drop back to eighth and ninth respectively. Kostur moves up to tenth place, whilst Calleja slips back to sixteenth.

In the final, Moscardi capitalised on his pole position and led the field through the opening corners, but was soon overtaken by Potepa, who took the lead. On the second lap, the pole-sitter also succumbed to attacks from Pozzoni and D’Ambrosio, only to fight back over the following laps, regaining second place and closing in on Potepa. On the tenth lap, however, the battle between the two resulted in contact that sent both off the track, with Moscardi forced to retire. Shortly afterwards, Pozzoni and Seveso also made contact, and the numerous incidents shuffled the leading positions, benefiting Poujol – who had staged a superb comeback from the back of the field – Ammann, D’Ambrosio and Schniegenberg. Poujol was the first to cross the chequered flag, but a three-second penalty cost him the victory: Ammann thus claimed the win, whilst the Frenchman finished second ahead of Schniegenberg in third. Poli, D’Ambrosio, Pinheiro, Potepa, Kovtunenko, Kayo and Zanki rounded out the top ten.

Although absent from Lonato del Garda, Kostrzewa clinched the title with 426 points. Potepa finished second with 384 points, whilst Moscardi came third with 378 points.

Senior ROK

The Senior ROK class delivered a weekend of suspense right up to the very end.

Once again, Riccardo Salemi was the fastest in qualifying. The Italian clocked the fastest time of 47.611 seconds, beating the competition from Andrea Barbieri, who finished second, and Riccardo Brangero, who finished third. Simone Taccola takes fourth place, ahead of Leonardo Monzani in fifth and Mattia D’Erme in sixth. Also making the top 10 are Nik Sculac in seventh, Enrico Pietro Villa in eighth, Borys Blaszczyk in ninth and Colin Wazny in tenth. The rankings continue with Christian Romeo, Luca Perelli, Ludovica Miceli, Stefano Zamponi, Ilias Mitaki, Piotr Protasiewicz, Michal Zajac, Aleksander Rogowski, Nicolò Coppotelli, Samuele Di Filippo, Francesca Pietrini, Luca Baggioli, Dante Rodriguez, Nicole Ameglio, Ewa Banach, Zhivko Bostandzhiev, Noemi Pradier, Jakub Kazana, Andrea Thej, Matteo Bruschi, Selina Baum and Denis Todorov.

In the pre-final, Salemi maintained the lead at the start, ahead of Brangero, Monzani and Sculac, whilst Barbieri dropped to fifth place. In the following stages, Salemi tried to pull away from his pursuers, but Brangero remained glued to his rival, with Monzani and Barbieri slightly further back. At the end of the ninth lap, however, the race took a different turn: Salemi was forced to stop his kart at the side of the track. Brangero took the lead and cruised unchallenged to victory, pulling away from Monzani in second and Barbieri in third. Wazny finished fourth, ahead of D’Erme, Sculac, Romeo, Blaszczyk, Rogowski and Protasiewicz.

In the final, Brangero made the most of his pole position to stay in the lead, but Barbieri, D’Erme, Monzani and Romeo remained hot on his heels. On the fifth lap, Barbieri found a gap past Brangero and took the lead, with Sculac and D’Erme taking advantage of the situation to overtake him in turn. Brangero immediately tried to fight back and attacked D’Erme, but the latter forced him onto the grass in an attempt to defend his position: the tussle ended up penalising both drivers, who lost several places. Barbieri was thus able to continue in the lead, with Romeo and Wazny following, whilst Sculac was subsequently forced to return to the pits and retire. The chequered flag marks Barbieri’s victory, with Romeo finishing second. Taccola stages a remarkable comeback, climbing 16 places to finish third, ahead of Rogowski, Brangero, Monzani and Blaszczyk. Di Filippo and Zajac finish eighth and ninth respectively, whilst Salemi, who started from the back of the grid, comes tenth.

The championship concludes with Salemi dominating the standings, finishing top with 485 points. Brangero, making his debut in the category, is second with 365 points, whilst his team-mate Romeo finishes third on 296 points.

Expert ROK

The Expert ROK title will only be decided in the final round.

As has been the case in recent rounds, Marco Massironi secured pole position in qualifying. With a time of 48.704 seconds, the Italian finished ahead of Andrea Sorbello in second and Alessandro Viganò in third. Adrian Marcinkiewicz took fourth place, ahead of Michele Zampieri in fifth and Paolo Baselli in sixth. Daniel Zajac, Gianni Zani, Gianluca Todeschini and Luca Molinari complete the top 10, whilst behind them are Marco Nannavecchia, Marco Beretta, Christian Dischner, Cristiano Gautier, Paolo Zotta, Marzio Cavini, Gianluca Rubiolini, Riccardo Pedrola, Tino Donadei and Filippo Mosca.

In the pre-final, Massironi held the lead at the start, but at the first hairpin he made contact with Alessandro Viganò, ran wide and spun. The lead then passed to Viganò himself, followed by Zampieri, Sorbello and Zajac. After a brief slow-speed neutralisation, the race resumed with Viganò firmly in the lead, whilst Sorbello was forced to concede third place to Zajac. The race concluded with Viganò in first, Zampieri second, Zajac third and Sorbello fourth. Marcinkiewicz, Baselli, Zani, Dischner, Molinari and Massironi rounded out the top ten.

In the final, Viganò made the most of his pole position start and held onto the lead, with Zajac, Marcinkiewicz, Zani, Zampieri, Baselli and Sorbello hot on his heels. The positions remained virtually unchanged until the ninth lap, when an incident further back on the track necessitated a slow-speed regime across the entire circuit. At the restart, Viganò handled the situation perfectly and held on to the lead until the chequered flag, whilst Marcinkiewicz got the better of Zajac at the final corner to take second place. Zani finished fourth, ahead of Zampieri, Sorbello, Massironi, Baselli, Mosca and Zotta.

Thanks to an excellent weekend at Lonato del Garda, Viganò turned the tables and clinched the title with 417 points, ahead of Sorbello, who finished on 395. Massironi ended the championship in third place with 376 points.

Super ROK

The Super ROK series concludes the season with thrilling races and constant changes at the top.

For the first time this season, Federico Zanetti secures pole position. The Italian was the fastest in qualifying with a time of 47.281 seconds, just 0.018 seconds ahead of Giuseppe Gaglianò in second place. Matteo Melis follows in third place, 0.090 seconds off the top, followed by Riccardo Ferrari in fourth, Giulio Mazzolini in fifth and Nicholas Reino in sixth. The top ten also includes Mattia D’Abramo in seventh, Matteo Lazzarotto in eighth, Francesco Koci in ninth and Alessandro Zini in tenth. The standings continue with Matteo Peruccio, Vittorio Maria Russo, Alex Desario, Rayan Carré, Alberto Masotto, Daniele Galbiati, Nikola Nikolic, Plamen Teliyski, Elia Galvanin, Mirko Graziani, Mariachiara Nardelli, Nicola Marini, Manuel Gritti, Chiara Bolognini, Shai Derungs, Tommaso Scarato, Andrea Saporiti, Evyatar Narov and Grigori Bozov.

In the pre-final, Zanetti held the lead after the first few corners, but as early as the second lap he was forced to yield to the attacks from Matteo Melis and Giuseppe Gaglianò. On the fifth lap, the lead changed hands again, with Gaglianò ahead of Melis. However, shortly afterwards, Gaglianò received a three-second penalty for failing to follow the start procedure and, in the meantime, was overtaken on the track by Melis and Ferrari. The situation remained largely unchanged until the penultimate lap, when, surprisingly, Melis was forced to retire from the race due to a technical problem. Ferrari capitalised on this and claimed victory ahead of Zanetti in second and Reino in third. Gaglianò dropped back to fourth place, ahead of Koci, Galbiati, Carré and Desario. Peruccio was also penalised for a collision, as were Mazzolini and Lazzarotto for having their front spoilers in the incorrect position: the three finished ninth, tenth and 11th respectively.

In the final, Ferrari made the most of his pole position and immediately took the lead, with Reino, Zanetti and Gaglianò hot on his heels. As the laps went by, however, it was Gaglianò who stepped up a gear: the Italian quickly closed the gap to Ferrari and, on the seventh lap, overtook him to take the lead. From that moment on, Gaglianò built up a lead over his rival and managed it right until the chequered flag, thus securing victory. Ferrari finished second, whilst Zanetti took the lowest step on the podium, ahead of Peruccio in fourth. Koci, Carré, Galbiati, Mazzolini, D’Abramo and Masotto occupied the positions immediately behind them.

With 419 points, Gaglianò clinched the Super ROK title, adding it to the one he won last year in the Senior ROK. Ferrari finished the championship in second place with 316 points, whilst Zini came third on 249 points.

Shifter ROK

The Shifter ROK has a completely unexpected end to the weekend in store.

Once again, Marco Chiarello sets the pace in qualifying. The Italian takes pole position with a time of 46.693 seconds, ahead of his rivals Nicola Rossini in second and Riccardo Rigodanza in third. Mattia Rossetti takes fourth place, followed by Lorenzo Brunetti in fifth and Cristian Curti in sixth. Mateo Moni is seventh, followed in the standings by Francesco Del Vecchio, Alessandro Merigo, Antonio Lagrotteria, Alessandro Risi, Pietro Camerlengo and Gabriele Bensi.

In the pre-final, Chiarello got off to a perfect start when the lights went out, although he was immediately challenged by Rigodanza. In contrast, Rossini stalled on the grid and, despite attempting to restart, was forced to retire. Chiarello and Rigodanza immediately pulled away from the rest of the field, whilst behind them Bensi surged into third place, despite having started from the back of the grid. At the end of the scheduled 13 laps, the chequered flag confirmed Chiarello’s victory over Rigodanza, with Bensi third ahead of Rossetti, Camerlengo, Brunetti, Del Vecchio, Merigo, Risi and Lagrotteria.

In the final, Chiarello and Rigodanza got off to a good start from the front row and battled for the lead in the early stages, whilst Rossini quickly moved up to third place, ahead of Bensi in fourth. As the laps went by, Chiarello gradually pulled away from Rigodanza, who was in turn busy looking over his shoulder at Rossini. On the ninth lap, however, came the turning point: Chiarello was forced to retire due to a technical problem, leaving the victory to be contested between Rigodanza and Rossini. Rigodanza came out on top, crossing the finish line first ahead of Rossini, whilst Bensi completed the podium. Camerlengo finished fourth, followed by Rossetti, Brunetti, Lagrotteria, Merigo and Risi.

Despite his unexpected retirement in the final, Chiarello capped off a dominant championship campaign by clinching the title with 456 points. Rossini finished the season in second place with 323 points, ahead of Bensi, who came third on 318 points.