The Virtu Ferry Jean de la Vallette will, this Friday morning, be transporting 10 Maltese drivers, together with their racing cars, pit crews, equipment and helpers, across to Sicily to compete in the 4th round of the 2011 Campionato Siciliano di velocita in Pista, promoted by AICS, which takes place at the Autodromo Valle dei Templi, at Racalmuto in Sicily over the weekend.

This championship is growing in stature with every event, with more drivers from Northern Italy making the long trek down to compete. For this weekend’s event an entry of over 150 cars is expected, and 10 of these will be owned and driven by our own Maltese boys.

For John Zammit and David Anastasi this will be their first visit to Racalmuto this season, both having raced their Lotus Elise and Mini Honda successfully there on many occasions in previous vears. Their tough competition in Group P3 will come from a number of hot Italian BMWs and Porsches.

The 1000cc class for Formula cars is always very hotly contested and this weekend will be no exception. Motorsport Team Malta will be represented by Johann Spiteri and Simon Camilleri, both driving Jedi Suzukis, and the Van Diemen Suzuki of Matthew Zammit.

The third race with Maltese participation is the bigger capacity race for Formula cars, which will have five Maltese drivers participating. In the 1300 class Patrick Gauci (Hawke Kawasaki) will be joined by newcomers to Sicily Adam Bugeja and Fabio Baldacchino, both driving OMS cars. Alan Curmi races in the 1600 class with his Radical PR6 Suzuki, whilst Joshua Anastasi’s JBR-4 Kawasaki will once again be racing in the 2 litre class, where his main competition is expected to come from the Formula Masters Honda of Italian champion Mario “Patatina” Pappalardo.

For this fourth year in succession, the Motorsport Team Malta boys will be managed by Joe Anastasi, who will have his work cut out keeping 10 hungry Maltese drivers to heel. “At Racalmuto in May we had success in every class we entered. I expect more of the same this weekend. We have a good bunch of very dedicated drivers who, I am sure, will bring honour to Maltese motorsport again this weekend.”

The team thanked Virtu Ferries, without whose help this venture would not be possible.