Season 8, Round 4 - Casteletto (ITA)
The penultimate round of the Season 8 Championship took the drivers to the virtual Italian lake of Casteletto Di Branduzzo Track! An exciting combination of fast and slow corners created some of the best racing we seen this season!
If the track wasn't already exciting enough, the rain came to make things even more spicy! Khali Atkins prevailed over the others, by quite a margin too! 2 tenths of a second separated him and Alessandro Ceronetti in P2. Aaron Heathman would claim P3, Alessandro De Tullio P4 and Leon Rullit rounds out the top 5!
For the second time this season, Atkins lead the way into turn 1 in the Pre Final. Heathman and Rullit managed to take advantage of a poor start from Ceronetti to move themselves up to P2 and P3. Ceronetti soon made his way back up to P3, dropping Rullit into the clutches of De Tullio. Heathman soon found himself having superior pace compared to Atkins. Despite that, Atkins managed to defend himself for a few laps, before Heathman eventually took the spot, and cleared him. Atkins soon dropped back into 4th after being overtaken by Ceronetti and Rullit.
Soon enough, Atkins regained his qualifying pace, and started setting some purple sectors, moving himself up to P2. Having gained a second in 34 laps to the race leader, Atkins was looking likely to regain the lead, until a collision with Ceronetti destoryed his hopes for a top 3 finish. Therefore, Heathman managed to claim the victory, with Ceronetti in P2 and Rullit in P3. Ceronetti was awarded a 3 place penalty following the collision with Atkins, in terms promoting Gill into P3, and Atkins back in P4.
So what was the order for the Final? Heathman and Rullit made up the front row with Gill and Atkins behind them. The two Alessandro's, (De Tullio and Ceronetti), lined up behind them. Frank Mossman, Carmine Caruso. Bryce Stevens and Ted Bradbury round out the top 10. Rullit managed to get the headstart this time, taking the lead early on. Heathman dropped back to P2 and Ceronetti managed to make his way up to P3. Soon enough, Ceronetti made his bid up the inside of Heathman, but in the proccess sent him into a half spin, which allowed Rullit to pull a fair gap over Ceronetti, and Heathman drop into P5. Luck had the better of Heathman this time round, as he progressively dropped back until eventually crashing with Ted Bradbury who was having a good race up until that point into P7. Leading rookie, Carmine Caruso, was too having a great run, getting up into P5 in the opening lap.
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While all of this was unfolding the top 4 were pulling away from the others, till Atkins was sent into another spin while racing De Tullio, to top off a night of what could have been's for the Jamaican driver. Ceronetti managed to pull a lead of 2 seconds over De Tullio and Rullit, in a race that seemed already won by him. However, not so much further back was Ethan Lampe whom managed to get himself into P5 on lap 6 out of 20 after starting in P20! What a comeback drive!
Rullit found his way through on De Tullio for P2, and started setting some fast lap times to catch right back up to Ceronetti just after mid-race. The race is on! Meanwhile, the battle for P5 was igniting, with Mossman, Gill, Caruso and Atkins! Eventually, the top 4 closed all back up, with Lampe being involved, after starting dead last! Rullit found his way into the lead and demoted Ceronetti into Lampe, who overtook De Tullio for P3! On the same lap, Ceronetti fell into a mistake and promoted Lampe and De Tullio. All of a sudden, Rullit found Lampe in his clutches. Lampe made his move not long after and left Rullit having to deal with De Tullio, whom gave him a major battle!
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Further back, Atkins fell back a further 4 positions, and Gill came out on top in the battle for P5. Caruso was left to battle for P6 with Mossman, but they eventually collided with eachother, leaving Mossman having to retire from the race. As De Tullio and Rullit were trading places for P2, Lampe managed to gain a comfortable gap over the others, giving him an opportunity to take what seemed like an impossible win at the start of the race. Rullit was sent into a spin, dropping him back just behind Ceronetti, leavng us with a fight between the Alessandro's for P2! On the closing lap, a major scrap for P2, left De Tullio come out on top of that fight, with Rullit rounding out the podium, and Ceronetti just behind in P4. Lampe took an impressive win, doing so, promoting him back into the championship contention positions! Gill was P5, and Top Amateur was Carmine Caruso in P6!
A turnatable round, causes Ceronetti to drop his lead just to a mere 5 points to Ethan Lampe, whom promotes himself to P2, and in with a chance to win his first ever OKC title at the last round in Genk! Being absent, Adakonis takes his drop round, putting him in a contending place in P3.
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In the amateur championship, Caruso extends his lead by just 3 points to Dylan Denhaese, and they too take their championship to Genk, where they will be fighting for some amazing prizes!
