It will be a very "hot" weekend the one we are about to experience on the Cremona circuit and not only due to the high atmospheric temperatures. In fact, the Italian track will host the last Round of the FIA European Championship for the OK and OK-Junior categories, with both titles to be awarded. At CRG there is particular interest in the major category, the OK one, where the Brazilian Gabriel Gomez is currently in P2 in the general standings with 202 points, just 6 points behind the leader Rene Lammers. The battle for victory, mathematically also includes Alex Powell, who is actually in P3 in the standings with 165 points, but in all likelihood, it will be a two-way challenge, which will already start from the qualifying stages with the assignment of the first scoring.
There will be a total of 95 drivers competing in the OK category and for what concerns the CRG Team, in addition to the Brazilian Gabriel Gomez, the line-up will also include the eagerly awaited rookie with the CRG colors, Simon Rechenmacher, as well as Simone Bianco, Mattia Colnaghi, Francisco Macedo, Michael Ider, Mark Dubnitski and Louis Iglesias. With 8 official drivers in the OK class, the CRG Team will be one of the biggest and most competitive ones, as it was also shown in the Champions of the Future preparation race, which took place in Cremona 15 days ago. On that occasion, in particular, it was Iglesias and Colnaghi who expressed the best feeling with the Italian track, while Gabriel Gomez, who was the great protagonist in the absolute sense of the first 3 Championship Rounds, suffered the most. However, the work done in the pre-race tests indicated the direction to allow the Brazilian driver to fight for the title with great chances of success. Furthermore, having many competitive teammates could be a useful help for Gomez to share technical data and strategies on the track. Klara Kowalczyk will still be absent from OK Junior, as she will be racing in the promotional Academy category, so the CRG Team will line-up 3 official drivers: Gabriel Koenigkan, Bernardo Gentil, and Javier Herrera.
The event program includes Qualifying Practices and the first Heats scheduled on Friday, followed by the whole day of Saturday dedicated to the Eliminatory Heats and, finally, the Super Heats and the Finals on Sunday, which will determine the 2023 OK and OK-Junior European Champions.
On the FIA Karting official website and on the Championship App, it will be possible to follow the action on the track with Live Timing from Friday and the Streaming of the races from Saturday.
CRG drivers’ expectations:
Gabriel Gomez (OK): “We have had an exceptional season so far, often dominating entire race weekends with our performances and now the whole team is working hard to finish this Championship in the best possible way, bringing home the title. We are very close with the points won so far with our direct opponent; therefore, whoever does better in managing this round will basically be the Champion. Honestly, the race test we did here 15 days ago was the worst of the year for me, but it also gave us very useful data for this decisive event in which we are not allowed to make any mistakes. As happened 15 days ago in the Champions of the Future race, I will have some very competitive teammates and their work from a technical point of view will also be useful for me to have a little extra help, considering that every detail will be important this weekend. We want to win and we will do our best to do that".
Simon Rechenmacher (OK): “I will make my debut with the CRG Team in an FIA race on the weekend in which the team will fight for the Championship and this already gives me the dimensions of the potential of this new phase of my career. This weekend my main objective will be to gain experience in this type of international event, trying to find the best feeling with the team's working methodologies without making mistakes. I can't wait for the activity on the track to start".
Provisional standings for the FIA 2023 Karting European Championship - OK before Round 4:
1- Rene Lammers (NLD) - 208 points
2- Gabriel Gomez (ITA) - 202 points
3- Alex Powell (JAM) - 165 points
4- Tomass Stolcermanis (LVA) - 138 points
5- Joe Turney (GBR) - 89 points