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Birelart takes a podium in Portimao with Wolfe

FIA Karting European Championship - Portimao (PRT) - 04, May 2025

The second round of the FIA Karting European Championship - OK and OK-Junior, held on the very demanding Portimão track, saw Noah Wolfe put the Birelart Racing team's efforts into practice with a brilliant 2nd place, despite the complicated weather conditions in the western Algarve.

Noah Wolfe out in front in OK

Faced with a field of 85 drivers, it was necessary to be incisive from the outset of Qualifying. Mission accomplished for Noah Wolfe, competing in the VAR by Birel colours, who set the fastest time in his group and finished 2nd overall. Consistent despite some disruptive showers during the heats, he scored two wins and two other top-six finishes. However, a retirement in one heat prevented him from retaining a place in the top five, relegating him to 10th place provisionally. 

After a fine recovery to 2nd place in the Super Heat, contested on a dry track, he started 5th on the grid for the Final. Once the track had dried out, Wolfe quickly climbed up to 2nd place, extending his lead over the pack along with the leader. This was Noah's best result to date in an FIA Karting Championship.

Another of the team's representatives, Aston Sharp (CL Racing), showed himself to be fast right from Qualifying (3rd in his group, 9th overall). Despite two retirements in the heats, his other solid results in the top eight enabled him to qualify for the Final in extremis. After starting last, he made up 17 positions to finish 19th.

Eloi Gonzalez, also well placed in Qualifying, just missed out on the Final, penalised by tricky conditions and a number of incidents during the race.

Commitment and fighting spirit in OK-Junior

Among the youngest drivers, Ludovico Mazzola confirmed his progress with a fine 13th place in Qualifying and regular results in the top 10 in the heats, concluding his weekend in 14th place in the Final.

Gustavo Marquez Da Silva, meanwhile, made an impressive 38-position recovery between the heats and the Super Heat, just missing out on the Final. Pietro Bagutti, who was well on his way to Qualifying, was unfortunately unable to start the Super Heat, despite finishing 3rd in the heat, his best result of the weekend.

Analysis from team manager Jordon Lennox

"Congratulations to Noah on his first podium in FIA Karting, not forgetting our engineers and all the members of the Racing Team, who all played a key role in this performance. Despite some very unsettled weather on Friday and Saturday, we saw that our drivers knew how to exploit the full potential of the Birelart equipment, whatever the conditions. We're looking forward to building on this momentum when we return to Italy in Viterbo.”

A busy month of May in Spain

The team is gearing up for an intense month of May, with the first round of the FIA European Karting Championship - KZ/KZ2 from 15th to 18th May, preceded next weekend by the preparatory round of the Champions of the Future. Direct-drive karts will then contest three races in a row at Viterbo, starting with the WSK Euro Series, before the return of the European Championship at the beginning of June.

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