MEDIA INFORMATION
FIA KARTING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
SARNO, ITALY – September 16th-18th, 2022
For immediate release
Monday, September 19th, 2022
EMIRATI KEANU AL-AZHARI NARROWLY MISSES OUT ON SARNO
KARTING FINAL AFTER DETERMINED HEAT PERFORMANCES
SARNO (ITALY): Young Emirati kart racer Keanu Al-Azhari narrowly missed out on reaching the Final in the OK Senior category at the Mondokart.com FIA Karting World Championship finale on the Sarno track in southern Italy on Sunday.
The Tony Kart Racing Team rookie delivered consistent performances throughout all the practice sessions, qualifying heats and warm-up stints, but was classified in 43rd position when the two Super Heats were combined on Sunday morning.
Only 36 of the 72 remaining racers were able to qualify for the final, which was won by Brazil’s Mattheus Morgatto from Finland’s Tuukka Taponen and Sweden’s Oscar Pedersen.
Ninety young racers lined up at the start of Friday morning’s free practice sessions. Al-Azhari was entered in the second of the four stints on the 1,550-metre long Circuito Internazionale Napoli and he drove well to stop the clocks in sixth of the 23 entrants. The fastest time of 1min 190.859sec fell to the Finn Luka Sammalisto.
Al-Azhari was down in 21st position in the first of the qualifying practice heats that preceded five qualifying sessions in the afternoon. Team-mate Taponen won the Qualifying heat for groups A and B, where Al-Azhari crossed the finish line in 20th in the 30-kart field.
Al-Azhari was entered in a second qualifying stint at the end of the day and improved to finish 15th, with the heat win falling to Great Britain’s Freddy Slater.
Jamaica’s Alex Powell won Al-Azhari’s third qualifying heat on Saturday lunchtime with a fastest lap of 55.024sec. The Emirati came home in 16th with a best run of 55.692sec. In his final heat on Saturday afternoon, Al-Azhari finished 14th of the 30 runners with a best tour of 55.445sec. The heat win fell to Spain’s Ruben Moya.
When points awarded for all the various heats were added together, outright victory in the sessions fell to Morgatto, with Pedersen and China’s Yuanpu Cui finishing second and third. Al-Azhari was classified in 45th of the 90 entrants on the biggest race meeting of his young career to date.
After a couple of warm-up sessions for the Super Heats on Sunday morning, Al-Azhari joined 35 rivals in Super Heat A. He clocked a best lap of 55.190sec and slotted into 19th position in a heat won by Japan’s European Champion Kean Nakamura-Berta.
Taponen won Super Heat B. When the two Super Heats were combined, Al-Azhari was classified in 43rd of the 72 remaining racers, but just missed out on reaching the 36-kart final on Sunday afternoon.
Ends
For further information:
Firas Nimri, Tel: + 962 7 7728 2000, E-mail: firas@nimri.com.
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