Xander Clements, November 13th, 2015

 

Heading into the penultimate round of the SKWC IAME Leopard Farewell Tour the series remains in Italy for its final European race on the year at the new Ferrari International Circuit.

Qualifying/Super Pole

Once again we find Ben Hamlet (Intrepid) on top of the charts, and by a good margin. After getting into super pole with the fastest time he blew the rest of the field away with a two and a half tenth gap on the rest of the drivers. Corrie Hiatt (BirelART) had his best qualifying run of the season to qualify in second, with Phillippe Denes (Tony Kart) finishing in third on his Tony Kart debut.

Heat 1

A shaky start for the seven drivers in Heat 1 allowed Hamlet to pull away just enough to clear away from Denes and company. PSL Karting driver Alex Frazer (Ricciardo) made his way around Adam Rylance (CRG) off the start defended all he could until a spin dropped him out of contention. While Rylance was one of the fastest in practice, the battle slowed his progression and forced the New Yorker to finish in third, with Denes in second and Ben in first.

Heat 2

While Corrie Hiatt led the field to a cleaner start in the heat, it was only a matter of time before Brenden Baker (Intrepid) worked his way around the #42 BirelART machine to take over the lead. Baker had little to no practice coming into the event and though it took him all of qualifying and the first half of the heat to find pace, he showed lap times consistent with that of his English teammate. Ian Bushey stayed consistent behind the two to finish in third, while Connor Tebbe (Kosmic) and Charlie Jafari (CRG) clinched the final two transfer spots into the main.

Last Chance Qualifier

With both front row drivers not finishing their heats, it was expected to be an exciting battle of grit and determination between Alex Frazer and Carson Clements (Kosmic) as to who would win the B-Main. Elliott Budzinski (Ricciardo) made his debut on the new brand, but his pace was lackluster and after a few mishaps in the early going he had to retire his chances of advancing to finish third while Clements would hold off Frazer for the top spot.

Final

In a much cleaner start to the main event than last week, Ben Hamlet led the field once again through the first lap and pulled to a comfortable advantage. Battles around the track for both 2nd, 5th, and 6th all remained heated throughout the night, with the drivers swapping positions many times over. Brenden Baker, Phillippe Denes, and Corrie Hiatt all maintained gaps between each other after the first lap, with Baker leading the train for second. 

 

Once again calamity struck Baker but this time due to bad contact with a curb in the first chicane, sending the American pilot down the order to fourth after all was said and done. He eventually recovered back to his original spot of second before the end of the final, but by then Ben Hamlet was too far gone for Baker to launch an attack for the victory. Hiatt remained on Baker's tail after conceding second place and would hold on for the final step of the podium with Denes finishing fourth and Adam Rylance rounding out the Top 5.

Championship Outlook

With this victory Ben Hamlet of Intrepid Driver Program clinched his first ever SKWC Championship as well as the first ever Team Championship for the newly-formed team. He is the first British driver to have ever won an SKWC title, and only the second non-American. Rookie of the Year honors is going to come down to the finale with just thirty markers separating CRG USA's Brendan Burcroff and Energy Kart UK's Alexander Kirkwood. Meanwhile, the battle will rage on for second in the Driver standings as only twenty five points separate Brenden Baker from Adam Rylance, although both have clinched spots on the podium.