Preview: World Cup at Suzuka

press release

Created in 1991, the CIK-FIA Karting World Cup is traditionally held in Japan, on the Suzuka track adjacent to the well known automobile circuit. The very high quality standard of the organisation and the specificities of Suzuka’s fast course make this event one of the most appreciated of each Karting season. The World Cup for Super KF & KF1 to be organised on 23 and 24 May 2009 is coupled with an Asia-Pacific KF2 Championship.

Compared to the two previous editions, the 2009 version of the World Cup has gathered over twice as many entries in the top category! On the one hand, most Manufacturers will be present and have decided to send to Japan all their best Drivers, and on the other, the regulations have been adjusted so that grade B licence-holders will henceforth be eligible for the Super KF & KF1 categories, which has enabled more local Drivers to enter. Japanese Teams and Drivers, as well as savouring the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with the European references of Karting, will clearly make it a point of honour to demonstrate their competitiveness and the excellent level of their national championship, the “All Japan Karting Championship”.

Provisional leader of the European Championship, the first round of which took place in Italy in mid-April, the Briton Jason Parrott (Birel-Parilla) will be in the limelight, and so will the Frenchman Manuel Renaudie (Gillard-Parilla), the Belgian Yannick de Brabander (Intrepid-TM), the Finn Aaro Vainio (Maranello-Maxter) or Britain’s Oliver Rowland (LH-Maxter), Robert Foster-Jones (FA-Vortex) and Richard Bradley (Maddox- Maxter). They will all be faced with a strong contingent of offi cial Drivers entered by the Teams CRG, Birel, Tony Kart and Kosmic, led by a double World Champion (Marco Ardigo), several Vice-World Champions (Libor Toman, Gary Catt, Arnaud Kozlinski) and Davide Fore, four times World Champion and last winner of this famous Suzuka event. Additionally, the Briton Ben Hanley who raced in GP2 last year will make a come-back to Karting. With its 18 representatives, the organising country will of course be the one with the largest number of entries, and it should be led by Takamoto Katsuta (4th in KF2 in 2008) and the 2008 Japanese Champion Daiki Sasaki.

With 41 entries, the Asia-Pacific KF2 Championship will cut a fine figure, bringing together a very talented European delegation and the best Japanese kartmen. Winner of the 2008 CIK-FIA Viking Trophy, the Russian from Siberia Maxim Zimin will be one of the European leaders, with the Italians Felice Tiene, Aniello Smarrazzo, Ignazio D’Agosto and Matteo Beretta, the Brit Ben Cooper, France’s Brandon Maisano and Portugal’s David Da Luz. And as regards Japan, some of the most prominent drivers should be Nobuharu Matsushita and Hiroki Ohtsu.

The qualifying practice & heats will be held on Saturday 23 May, and the pre-finals & finals are scheduled for the Sunday. All the results will be published live on www.cikfia.com

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