Seventeen-year-old Gianluca Dingli, photo, of BRM Virtu Ferries Racing Team last weekend competed in the last race of the Sicilian Regionale Rotax Max Championship in the 1,280m long Kartodromo Internazionale Triscina in Castelvetrano Trapani Sicily. 

Gianluca, who was accompanied by his parents, arrived on the track on Saturday morning where he found his team and team manager Mario Lena eagerly waiting for him with his two BRM chassis which displayed logos of Virtu Ferries - Gianluca’s main sponsor - and 2 Rotax Max engines, which engines are restricted and sealed and show the full performance and skills of the driver prepared for Saturday’s practices. 

In the morning and afternoon practice, Gianluca’s driving skills improved session by session and his lap times were amongthe fastest of the top Sicilian drivers who helped Gianluca gain more confidence for Sunday’s race.  

On Sunday Gianluca had a very difficult task to choose his chassis and engine for the race as they both had been performing well since Saturday. 

In the pole position he registered a timing of 50.468 seconds and he was 5th from among 13 drivers.  The best timing was recorded by Davide Chiarenza which was that of 50.036 seconds. 

In the pre-final race Gianluca kept his position and in the final race, which consisted of 20 laps, he was more concentrated to obtain a place on the podium than to win the race because he needed only a few points to secure his second place in the Rotax Under 30 Championship and third place in the overall championship. 

In fact he managed to move up two positions to finish the race in  third place from the under 30’s. 

This race result, training, hard work, dedication and determination has given Gianluca a lot of satisfaction in his karting career.  His team manager Mario Lena commented that second place in the under 30 championship and third place in overall championship is a very positive result for Gianluca considering that he had to travel from Malta for these races and get familiar with new karting tracks that he had never raced in before.

Gianluca thanked his main sponsor, Virtu Ferries, for making it possible for him to take part in all the championship races, his employers Hetronic Malta (a division of Methode), Edwin Gauci of Badger Raceway for sponsoring his training sessions in Malta, Sandro Craus, Mayor of Rabat, Zoqdi Racing Team, Hubert Camilleri of Chevron Auto Dealer, Viking Signs, MMF, Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport and, last but not least, his parents Wayne and Marie Therese who support him continuously in his sport.