Sat 26th June, Italy-Gruppo Birel 24hr race at Ala Karting Track. Fabienne was invited to race in the Gruppo Birel 24hr race at Ala Karting Track, Italy with KAYAK team. Viewing the Ala Karting layout for the first time on Friday afternoon she took some laps in Kayak’s private kart to get the feel of the track.
Saturday morning’s practice was in the competition Birel kart and Fabienne was nominated to do the Qualifying. With extra weight added, Fabienne was still heavier than most of her main competitors but this didn’t pose too much of a problem as Fabienne always enjoys a challenge.
The kart did not feel 100% in qualifying and Fabienne only managed 5th place. It was very close and the competition was tight. With a final mechanical check by the scrutineers the kart was deemed ok for the race.
Fabienne during the final stint
Damiano started the race and overtook 3 karts to get up to 2nd taking the lead in lap 3, the KAYAK team lead for the majority of the race.
Fabienne’s first stint was 3rd in line at 3:30pm, each stint was only 30 min so it was quiet hectic but consistant throughout for Fabienne.
All drivers in the team did a stint each, then only Alice, Damiano and Fabienne continued the next stints till about 10 pm. After a few hours rest the trio started again around 7am till 1pm rotating stints between themselves.
Everything went like clockwork until 4hrs till the end of the race when the team ran into some unfortunate mechanical problems and unforeseen delays.
“We lost a lot of laps and at the end of my stint, the driver infront of me in the fueling area drove off and took the fuel rig with him, so we sent our next driver out with an almost empty tank while the organisers fixed the fueling station. The safety car came out, so we did a driver change and fuel at the same time, it was a bit crazy,” commented Fabienne.
Fabienne -3rd right- with the entire Kayak team
“Then I had a sparkplug failure in the beginning of my stint, so had to come in to change the kart around to a spare one. We then ran into more mechanical issues and we just had to keep pushing really hard till the end.” she continued
With all the drama during the last few hours the KAYAK team managed to pull through and snatch a second place overall, a worthy finish for such a gritty team and Fabienne Lanz, the fast fearsome female from South Africa.
The KAYAK team consisted of members, Alice Bordignon, Annalisa Cardani, Damiano Marchesa, Marco Arcao, Lorenzo Di Cillo and Fabio Torri with Luca Bonazza as the Chief of team.