Johnny Johnson

Lorandi capitalizes on red flag in KZ Final

It was a tale of two races with Lorandi getting the better end over Kremers.

KZ - SPONSORED BY: CRG It's finally time for the main event at #SKUSASUPERNATS #SUPERNATS22 - 530 drivers from all over the planet are ready to do battle for the right to be called SuperNationals Champion. @MGtires @AiM Sports @IAME @Evinco Tires @Alpinestars @eKartingNews.com @BRM Chronographes Ame @Kart360 @Canadian Karting News

Posted by SuperKarts! USA on Sunday, November 18, 2018

Leonardo Lorandi (Baby Race / Parolin) has just captured his first karting victory in the States, picking up the massive win in KZ. Lorandi, bouncing between karting and Italian F4 in 2018, had good pace throughout the week, but never had fought for the lead in any of the heats. However, when the pressure was on, the 18-year-old came up in spades.

Lorandi had set the fastest lap of the race at the halfway point, having moved from sixth to third at that point, trailing only Marijn Kremers and Noah Milell. Two laps later, the Baby Race driver made a slick move on Milell, demoting the Swede to third and now had his sights set on Kremers. The only problem was that the Dutchman had a 2-second advantage and lapping similar times. 

The Racing Gods were apparently on the side of Lorandi, however, as a race stoppage came on lap 18 of 25. Tyler Coffman had been involved in an accident in turn 9 that brought out the red flags, bringing the field to a stop on track. The 2-second lead had evaporated in an instance for Kremers, much to the delight of Lorandi.

On the restart, Kremers brought the field to the green flag at a snails pace. The Birel ART took off from there, leading the field as he had for the first 17 laps. Lorandi, fully aware he may not have another chance to be this close to Kremers, took advantage by passing for the lead on the second circuit after the stoppage.

Lorandi's pace was too much for Kremers at this point to overcome, only being able to close within a kart's length on a few occasions. It was a tale of two races as Lorandi picked up the win in a race Kremers was almost certainly supposed to win.

Noah Milell (Tony Kart) ran third for the majority of the race, but a missed shift with two to go opened the door for Max Paul (DR Kart) to jump into third. Paul and Milell ran together in third and fourth at the stripe, followed by Kyle Wick a half-second back for the final podium spot.

Early reports indicate that Paolo De Conto had done some work on his CRG during the red flag and was disqualified from the race at that point. De Conto was running just inside the top ten and had not shown the speed we were accustomed to seeing on SuperSunday to that point.

Race Results - Top Five

2018 SKUSA SuperNationals XXII KZ Final
Rnk # Driver Gap Best Time
1 #7 Leonardo Lorandi Winner! 40.059
2 #5 Marjin Kremers 0.257 40.081
3 #15 Maximilian Paul 1.506 40.228
4 #31 Noah Milell 1.676 40.17
5 #9 Kyle Wick 2.122 40.291
Full standings
Rnk # Driver Gap Best Time
6 #6 Jake French 3.096 40.252
7 #11 Rubens Barrichello 3.241 40.362
8 #57 Matt Jaskol 4.582 40.249
9 #28 Danilo Dirani 6.453 40.208
10 #29 Rory van der Steur 7.417 40.232
11 #81 Brian Keck 8.167 40.45
12 #70 Joshua Fife 8.472 40.266
13 #21 Nic LeDuc 9.81 40.627
14 #78 Sage Karam 10.526 40.659
15 #14 Filip Ioan Ugran 13.171 40.7
16 #88 Antonio Serravalle 14.362 40.631
17 #82 Madeline Stewart 16.227 41
18 #69 Robert Heck Jr. 16.34 40.667
19 #55 John Baldasare 16.741 41.157
20 #44 Michael Stevens 17.106 40.638
21 #26 Lucio Masini 18.162 41.238
22 #43 Jac Preston 18.891 40.517
23 #18 Keawn Tandon 19.451 41.035
DNF #33 Kyle Apuzzo 10 LAPS 41.218
DNF #99 Pedro Paulo Fernandes 11 LAPS 41.443
DNF #22 Max Hewitt 16 LAPS 40.886
DNF #12 Tim Hollowell 18 LAPS 41.608
DNF #13 Allan Cesarman 22 LAPS 42.514
DNF #24 Axel Bengtsson
DNF #10 Xingran Tang
DNS #46 Yanai Marciano
DQ #17 Troy Loeskow 2 LAPS 40.273
DQ #71 Ron White 8 LAPS 40.192
DQ #4 Paolo De Conto 10 LAPS 40.161
DQ #40 Tyler Coffman 10 LAPS 41.004
DQ #76 Pierce Baldus 10 LAPS 41.237
DQ #8 Benjamin Tornqvist 19 LAPS 40.905
DQ #51 Mathias Ramirez
DQ #80 Kye Cavedon
Arthur Leist celebrates
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