IRON MAN SERIES · Finale Race⏱ 1h24

The Finale endurance race at Lignano Circuit FPV in Precenicco was held on 30 August 2026 over 83 minutes on the 950-metre Lignano Circuit short layout, bringing together 10 drivers in a closely fought battle from start to finish.

GRASSOTTO MATTEO (kart #7) took the victory after 86 laps, crossing the line just 2.677 seconds ahead of BELLO' KRISTIAN (kart #2), who also completed 86 laps. ZACCARON ERIC (kart #10) rounded out the podium, 2.729 seconds off the winner. The top four were separated by only 3.241 seconds at the flag, illustrating the remarkable tightness of this finale. ROCCO ANDREA (kart #8) finished fourth, 3.241 seconds behind, while SCHUTZ CARLO (kart #4) and CUCCHIARA MATTIA GIANLUIGI (kart #9) completed the top six, both still on 86 laps but with larger gaps of 36.337 and 42.743 seconds respectively. TRAINA MATTEO (kart #5) and PALANTONE DONATELLO (kart #3) finished seventh and eighth, two laps down. DUREGON FEDERICO (kart #1) came ninth, four laps adrift, while BONDIO FABIO LEONE (kart #6) completed 76 laps in tenth, ten laps off the pace. All drivers made 4 pit stops, except DUREGON FEDERICO who made 5. The fastest lap of the race was set by ROCCO ANDREA in 51.534 seconds.

In terms of pure pace, ROCCO ANDREA led the field with a median race pace of 52.072 s, the best of any driver across all five stints — yet he crossed the line only fourth. His race pace advantage did not translate into a result, underscoring how critical pit stop timing and track position management proved to be on this tight circuit. GRASSOTTO MATTEO held the second-best median pace at 52.110 s, and converted it into the win thanks to consistent stint management: four of his five stints were rated stable, with only a minor slowdown of 0.18 s/lap in his third stint (9 laps, σ 1.03 s). ZACCARON ERIC delivered arguably the most controlled race among the podium finishers — third in pace (52.133 s median) and admirably regular across all five stints (σ 0.63 s overall), with no degradation trend recorded in any relais.

BELLO' KRISTIAN stood out as the most regular driver of the entire race (σ 0.60 s), ranking fourth in pure pace at 52.207 s, yet he outperformed that ranking to finish second. His strategy and consistency clearly played a decisive role. His only notable drop was a slowdown of 0.17 s/lap in his fourth stint (9 laps), quickly corrected in the fifth. By contrast, DUREGON FEDERICO illustrated the cost of inconsistency: fifth in pure pace (52.253 s median), he fell to ninth place in the final classification. Racing over six stints with a fifth pit stop, he suffered successive degradations of 0.29, 0.34 and 0.38 s/lap in his last three relais — the steepest tyre drop of the entire field — which proved fatal to his overall result.

Key takeaways for teams: on this short and demanding 950-metre layout, raw pace alone is not enough. The gap between ROCCO ANDREA (1st in pace, 4th in result) and GRASSOTTO MATTEO (2nd in pace, winner) demonstrates that stint management, pit stop timing and tyre preservation are the decisive factors. Maintaining a stable rhythm throughout each relais — as ZACCARON ERIC and BELLO' KRISTIAN did — is worth more than isolated flying laps. Drivers showing degradation trends beyond 0.20 s/lap risk losing the laps gained over the course of a race, as DUREGON FEDERICO's drop to ninth conclusively showed.