Italian Championship RX 2021, what's new in Round 2!
Last Updated on 6 May 2021 @ 13:16:05
Many new entrants in Castelletto di Branduzzo
It will be a weekend full of novelty that is about to begin at the Castelletto Circuit in Castelletto di Branduzzo: in addition to the completely new track set up inside the prestigious Lombardy facility there will be, among the nearly fifty members, many drivers at the debut, or returning: in particular there will be many covered wheel cars at the start of the Castelletto Circuit!
Supercar
For the first time this year both Supercars and RX5 cars will be competing; two SCs with Rosario Corallo (Subaru Impreza), who didn't want to miss the home race, and Davide Volterra, finally at the start with his beautiful VW Scirocco. At the debut also the category RX5, with the young Arianna Corallo, Rosario's daughter, at the wheel of a VW Polo - N5, the two Citroen DS3 - N5 of Team La Superba driven by Roberto Camporese and Bruno Pelliccioni, the Renault Clio - N5 Biella Corse of Alfredo "Dedo" De Dominicis, the Toyota Yaris - N5 of Bluthunder Racing Italy driven by Pietro Porro and the Hyundai I20 - R5 of Luigi Ricci.
Super1600
With the last minute entry of the leader of the classification Nils Volland, the Super1600 is ready as never before to offer a great show, with 11 cars and 6 drivers from beyond the Alps: In addition to the German Volland, the reigning champion, the 16-year-old Jiri Susta with his Skoda Fabia, his compatriot Marcel Suchy, also with a Fabia, the Frenchmen Dylan Dufas and Damien Meunier (already protagonist last year) at the wheel of the agile Renault Twingo and the Belgian Clement Picard with a Citroen C2 will be competing.
The Italian colours will be held high by Silvano Ruga with his Renault Clio, Paolo "Popy" Barbieri with the Citroen C2, the '17 and '19 Italian champion Marco Valazza (Ford Fiesta), Andrea Carretti (Alfa Mito) and Mauro Grezzini, who after having impressed on his debut in 2019 returns to Rallycross with his Peugeot 208.
STC
The dominator of the first race, Roman Castoral (Opel Astra OPC), will not be present, so the prediction is definitely more open for this category, which will see at the start the drivers competing in Round 1 (except as said Castoral) plus some interesting new entries: Next to Franco "Frenk" Fusi (Renault Clio), Matteo Valazza (Citroen Saxo), Ettore Barberis (Honda Civic) and Mattia Nicolini (Citroen AX) there will be Mattia's brother Marco Nicolini, who did well in 2020 with his Peugeot 205 and the 17 years old Jean Claude Vallino (Opel Astra). At the start as usual also Alberto Palestrini with his trusty Renault Super5 STC Plus.
Kartcross
Once again, from a numerical point of view, the lion's share of the action will be in the Kartcross category, with 22 drivers battling it out and, as seen in Round 1, surprises will be the order of the day.
Obviously at the start the winner of the first round, Marcello Gallo, with his Lifelive TN5, and his closest pursuers in the general classification: Matteo Grieco (GMN Kart Cross, as well as his brother Nicolò), Marco Berniga (Planet Kart cross K3) and Kobe Pauwels (Lifelive TN5, at the head of the Trofeo RX ACISPORT Under 18).
The reigning Champion Simone Firenze (Semog Bravo Sport) and the '17 Champion Maicol Giacomotti (Planet Kart Cross K3) will certainly want to make up for the half-failure in Round 1. Mauro Vicario (Speedcar Xtreme) will certainly want to confirm his position in the top positions of the category, while Riccardo Canzian (Speedcar Xtreme) and especially the Italian Speed on Ice Champion Christian Tiramani (Planet Kart Cross K3) will want to improve their position after Round 1.
It is also worth highlighting the presence, in addition to Cristina Tadone (GMN Kart Cross), of Virginia Moncini (Ya-Car) already competing in some 2019 trials.
Three women, including Arianna Corallo, will be competing in this round.
The programme
For (hopefully) the last time Round 2 will be behind closed doors: as already happened in the first round, Saturday will be dedicated to scrutineering and shakedown. The actual race will take place on Sunday 9 May, with the usual live broadcast on Facebook and Bandw.tv.
The programme will be very intense, with the start of the first Q at 9.30 am and the semi-finals and finals from 4.30 pm.
The route
The final Rallycross track of the Castelletto Circuit is 1,350 m, of which about 400 will be gravel: it will be a rather complete, fast track where the drivers' driving skills will be enhanced.