There has been plenty of time to practice over the past week as one by one each Canadian driver arrived at South Garda Karting for the 2021 Rok Cup SuperFinal. Instead of the usual Trofeo D’Autunno, a collective test was held on the weekend prior, giving drivers who came early a pair of a day full of hot-pit practice sessions.
By Monday, each Canadian driver was finally settled in at the track and practice continued around the famous circuit with more and more drivers from around the globe arriving.
Finally, it’s Thursday and the event is serious from here on out. Qualifying hit the track as well as the first round of heat races and our drivers get to show their worth.
With 18 Canucks in attendance, we have a competitor in every category except Super Rok. From Mini to Shifter and everything in between, there is lots for us to keep up on but we’re here to do just that.
Here’s how our Canadian drivers fared in Qualifying on Thursday at South Garda Karting.
Junior Rok
Pole-Position: Leopardi Samuele (ITA) – 48.952
50. Caleb Campbell – 49.782
Finding the right space during Qualifying is always a challenge over here in Europe and Campbell put down a good lap while fending for position during the session. He will race from Group E in the heat races, hoping to make the top-34 for the A Final.
Mini Rok
Pole-Position: Piórkowski Marek (POL) – 53.951
7. Jensen Burnett – 54.198
30. Mayer Deonarine – 54.598
40. Jordan Di Leo – 54.662
58. Christian Papp – 54.850
The Mini Rok division likes to play follow the leader and so the first few laps of each group were chaos. Once the drivers finally settled into where they wanted to be, it was still tricky to find clear track and no slow karts. Burnett made the best of a slow group to go P2 in his session and will slot into P7 overall.
Deonarine and Papp were passing karts almost every lap but still showed great pace overall. For Di Leo he was stuck in a small group of slower karts that he just couldn’t get through and for sure didn’t show his one-lap pace.
These kids will be split up into a number of groups for the heats and need to be within the top-17 of their respective halves to make the A Final on Saturday.
Senior Rok
Pole-Position: Ovenstad Herman (NOR) – 48.068
7. Robert Soroka – 48.234
14. Marco Filice – 48.333
21. Nolan Bower – 48.435
32. Andrew Maciel – 48.603
37. Gianluca Savaglio – 48.748
45. Lorenzo Morsillo – 48.840
Waiting until his final tour, Robert Soroka blistered off a great lap that put him seventh overall. The field at the top is very tight as a couple of tenths cover more than 20 drivers. Marco Filice is one of two non-OTK karts in the top-20 with a 13th place effort and a key positioning in group A for this heat races.
Just behind him is Nolan Bower with a 20th place effort followed by Gianluca Savaglio in 40th, who appeared to struggle to find a group on track he wanted to lap with, and Lorenzo Morsillo in 45th.
All of our Senior drivers have shown a strong pace through the practice days, now let’s see what they can do in the heat races.
Expert / Expert Plus
Pole-Position: Chiari Marco (ITA) – 48.979
13. Joe Crupi – 49.649
18. Cayden Goodridge – 50.172
DNS. Mark Pavan
It was not the Qualifying session our Expert drivers were hoping for. First, Mark Pavan had to miss the session after an incident in the morning warm-up that bent up his kart pretty bad.
Joe Crupi was the highest-ranking of our Canadians in 13th overall (10th in Expert) but 0.67 sessions off the top-time while Cayden Goodridge was 18th overall (14th in Expert) as he continues to get faster after missing most of Monday and Tuesdays practice days.
Shifter Rok
Pole Position: Liwinski David (POL) – 46.548
5. Davide Greco – 46.737
10. Josh Conquer – 46.971
23. Taegen Poles – 47.410
After pacing the morning warm-up session we had high hopes for Davide Greco and he delivered with a top-five effort. He was actually tied for fourth overall, but fifth puts him on the preferred starting side of the track for the heat races.
Josh Conquer had a great lap as well to position himself in the top-ten in a small but very competitive group of shifter racers, while Taegen Poles was 23rd overall and remained within a second of the fastest time.
All of the classes have one round of heat races this afternoon to round out Thursday’s Rok Cup SuperFinal competition at South Garda Karting.
**All results are unofficial
