Italian Karting Star For Horsepower Heaven
Italian karting star Roberto Toninelli will be racing in the KZ2 gearbox category at Horsepower Heaven in Geelong this weekend.
The 31-year old will race a Luxor Kart with LKE engine for Brendan Shugg’s Fast-Tech Motorsport operation. He will also compete at Kalgoorlie’s KZ2 Dash for Cash two weeks later.
Above: Toninelli in action at a WSK round earlier this year.
pic - lenzokart.com
Shugg, the newly appointed Lenzo/Luxor Racing kart distributor for Australia, instigated the deal after visiting the Lenzo factory in Sicily recently. “Originally I asked Michele Lenzo (Manager of Lenzo Kart) to come and race himself, but he decided it would be better to have Roberto come over and race” Brendan informed KartSportNews.
“I was recently at the factory for two weeks, got to drive on their test rack and toured the factory and got talking to Michele, saying we had the KZ2 Kalgoorlie Dash for Cash with Horsepower Heaven just two weeks beforehand, so there were two meetings close together.”
The Italian ace will arrive in Melbourne on Thursday before heading to Geelong. After Horsepower Heaven, he will head to Perth for two weeks. While there he’ll do some testing with Fast-Tech Motorsport, then off to Kalgoorlie for the Dash for Cash.
Above: Roberto Toninelli (right) when he signed to race for the Lenzo family's racing division. 24-year-old Michele Lenzo (left) runs the Lenzo Kart business.
pic - lenzokart.com
Shugg will also be competing at Geelong and is looking forward to Kalgoorlie. “We’ve already got some good KZ guys over here, and it’s not often the interstaters come over to compete in WA, and there’s Roberto too. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Toninelli is somewhat of a karting veteran with a well credentialed CV. A Formula Super A (100cc) driver in the late 90s, he twice won the Winter Cup in Italy. He regularly placed in various European Championships over a 10-plus year span, including winning the Euro Super ICC title in 2006, and third in the 2004 ICC World Cup.
Above: Part of the Lenzo test track
pic - Brendan Shugg
Above: Part of the Lenzo factory
pic - Brendan Shugg
