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Canadian kart racer maintains momentum with awesome European debut |
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Thursday, 30 March 2006 00:00 |
 Canadian karting phenom Lorenzo Mandarino continues to ride the wave of excitement that began at last year’s SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas, where he won the headline SuperPro 125cc class over a stacked field to put his name among the elite in North America. Coming off an amazing outing to begin the Stars of Karting national championship in Norman, OK two weeks ago, Mandarino headed straight to Italy last Thursday to make his European debut in the first round of the Italian Open Masters Championship in La Conca, Italy. Running as a factory driver for the GP Kart Racing team in the ICC category, Mandarino was forced to work through the Last Chance race to make the main events after encountering trouble in one of the heat races. Lorenzo rose to the occasion and stormed from 30th to tenth in the first final and then fought back from a rough start to come home ninth in the second main, completing his impressive record of two top tens results. Mandarino now sits tenth in the point standings.
“Based on what everyone in the US believes, I expected the competition to be much more difficult,” stated Mandarino, upon his return to Burnaby, BC. “That’s not a shot at the Italian drivers, but I know that our best guys could run with them over here. It’s just about getting the right equipment. The drivers are older, more mature and more professional, and they all have the absolute best equipment. They also know how to drive the rubber!”
Erratic weather messed with the two groups of ICC qualifying. After the first group was sent from the grid to change to rain tires with a sprinkle of precipitation had started, series officials put the second group onto the track, as they had already been instructed to install the wets as the bad weather was looming. However, there was no time to adjust chassis set-up and Mandarino struggled to find the pace, jumping back to the pit area to make changes. Back out for just two more flying laps, Mandarino was 45th overall as the track had dried slightly by the time the second group hit the track and they ended up returning to dry weather slicks by the end of the session.
This put Mandarino on the 12th row for both of his heat races. Attacking from 24th in his first moto, Mandarino steered clear of the opening lap mayhem as he found his way to a solid 14th. In the second heat, he had worked to 16th but found himself on the sidelines after getting chopped by a competitor who was aggressively defending his position.
Mandarino started second in the last chance Repechage after finishing the heats with just too many points to earn one of the 28 transfer positions straight into the mains. The Canadian held his position to finish second, which put him 30th on the grid for the first Final. Mandarino would then impress his team and the entire paddock with a stellar run to tenth in the opening race. Mandarino capped an amazing Italian debut with a ninth in the second main event, after falling to 20th at the start when a majority of the field launched before all the lights had been illuminated. A few drivers received penalties for the start, and series officials have stated that they will address the issue for the second round.
Mandarino will be back in Italy on the April 21-23 weekend for the second stop of the Italian Open Masters Championship, although he will be forced to miss the second round of the Stars of Karting Western Championship as a result.
“I really think I can run upfront at the next race, as long as our luck holds out,” added the rapidly maturing 19 year-old. “I just need to be consistent and to get a good lap in qualifying to get up front early.”
Mandarino’s domestic Stars of Karting program will consist of running in the ICA class in the East Division with High-Rev Engineering’s Marc Zartarian and his potent Vortex power and in the West with KLS Racing’s shop program with George Barks TM. In addition to this Italian Open Masters program, Mandarino will also run with the GP factory team in the European Championship and World Championship programs. The Canadian’s efforts are backed by NewWay Forming, Rossi Motorsports, Drivers Edge, OMP, KLS/GP Racing, Kart Racing Technologies, High-Rev Engineering, George Barks TM Racing and the Signs Factory.
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