TONY KART RACING TEAM
2008 CIK-FIA WORLD CUP FOR KF1
& ASIA-PACIFIC KF2 CHAMPIONSHIP
22-25.05.2008    SUZUKA (J)

Tony Kart Racing Team has been always in the first positions at the World Cup in Suzuka too! In the pre-final Marco Ardigò started from the first position, after having led the heats. In the pre-final Gary Catt won hands down and gained the right to start in pole in the super final.
At the end of the won pre-final arrived the clamorous decision: our English driver was penalized with 10’’. The race direction considered a normal race contact in a too excessive way.
Both episodes influenced heavily the result of the race and the possibility for our team to win, however we have always proved to be extremely competitive.
In the heats, with the wet track, Ardigò gained two great results which allowed him to start from the first position in the pre final, without penalties.
Gary recovered with decision, and after the qualifying, where he gained a second and third position, in the pre-final he started from the third position.
Tony Kart-Vortex had a great balance in the fast bends of the Suzuka Circuit and our drivers performances are the confirmation.
In the pre-final Ardigò and Catt started in the first and third position, the race was exciting already in the first phase when Ardigò, after having had a contact in the first laps, was forced to abandon the race due to mechanical problems.
After that event Gary led the group and won clearly the race. The cold washer arrived after the race with the decision of the race directors of penalizing our English driver, decision, as we have already said, a little bit too excessive. 
In the final Gary started in a perfect way and in the fourth lap gained the first position, the kart of the English driver was perfect. When he was leading the race, Catt made a mistake (8th lap), missing the trajectory the tyre got dirty and so the hard work of the week-end was cancelled and Gary went back in fourth position.
After that our driver had a spirited reaction gaining record times at the end of the race, this proved the great kart that he had, but he didn’t reach the podium.
Marco Ardigò tried to recover from the last line but the hard fight and a banal mistake allowed him to reach only the fifth position.
In the KF2 category our Italian driver Camponeschi caught the eye. Flavio finished the qualifying with 10 penalty and in pre-final he started from the sixth position.
The Junior Team driver had a positive performance in the pre-final, he fought hardly and gained, with a second position, the first line in the final.
The race awarding the Asia-Pacific title was really hard and in the final Flavio fought for the first positions in all the 24 laps, but at the end, for only 203 tenth, he missed the podium.
The Japan event has just finished and our Racing Team is already engaged in an important test.
On next Sunday the usual KZ1 line-up (Ardigò, Benedetti and Gaggianesi) will be on the track in Varennes. The race on the Allieres track belongs to the French Championship and represents a good testing bench for the World Cup in September.
In this occasion there will be also Matias Laine, usually engaged in KF1.

POST RACE IMPRESSIONS

Giacomo Aliprandi - Tony Kart Racing Team, Team Manager
“The technical material worked well and gave us the positive results expected, we could point to the victory.
Regarding the most discussed aspect, Gary penalization.…It was a normal race event and we think that the penalisation was  a too hard measure.   
We know that a race can be influenced by episodes such this one and we don’t want to polemize.
Next week-end our team will be in Varennes, that event will be an important test in view of the World Cup.”