Text & photo: www.vortex-rok.com

435 absolute protagonists

Are there any favorites among the 435 ‘Rokkers’ ready to hit the famous Italian track? Which countries will bring the best team? Will we have new protagonists also in this edition of the Superfinal? Answering these questions is simply impossible as this is a highly competitive event but we can recollect the international champions in action next week.

In the category of the ‘Expert’, we find the Polish Daniel Zaiac, ready to defend the title of a category he dominated in the last edition. In the Super ROK, two international champions will get on track, the Italian Mattia D’Abramo (2017) and the Andorran driver, the current champion, Alexandre Machado.

The American Connor Zilisch, 2017 Mini ROK champion, will undertake to win the title also in the Junior ROK, getting the same result the Italian Federico Cecchi gained in the Mini ROK category in 2016 and, later, in the ROK Junior category in 2018. The target of winning in different categories will be a spur for Riccardo Cinti, already winner of three international titles in the Super ROK, and now among the Shifter pretenders. Cinti will face the current champion, Andrea Zemin, who banished him to the second position last year.

The Shifter will be the category with the highest number of titled drivers in the race. Besides the above mentioned Cinti and Zemin, the champion of the Super category (2011-12), Cristopher Zani, and the winner of Junior ROK 2017, Luca Bosco, will also join the fight.

The provisional entry list can be found here.

Coveted awards

A worldwide event such as the ROK Cup Superfinal keeps its good reputation even in the prize money reaching up to 50.000 euros. More details will follow during the Superfinal week with the revealed list of prizes but let’s remember that the 2019 champions will be given access to the ‘ROK The Rio’ race in Las Vegas (USA) or the ROK Asia Final in Singapore.

As always, there will be the final ROK Party to be held in the ROK tent inside the paddock, Saturday 12th October, where the first of each category will be awarded. An ideal occasion to thank the 435 protagonists of the ROK Superfinal.

Technical partners

The Panta fuel 98 octane will be used in all ROK classes and will be available at the track.

Following the introduction of the ROK marking on the Bridgestone YLP (4,5 / 6,0) tires for the next ROK races – the Trofeo d’Autunno on October 5th-6th and the ROK Cup Superfinal on next week, the rain tires to be used in the ROK classes will be the following:

  • Junior ROK, Senior ROK, Expert ROK, Expert ROK Plus: rain tires Bridgestone YLP 4,5/10,0-5 6,0/11,0-5
  • Shifter ROK, Super ROK: rain tires Bridgestone YLP 4,5/10,0-5 6,0/11,0-5 with ROK marking

Timetable

The provisional timetable can be found here. It will get serious on Wednesday 9th October with tire distribution and sporting checks. On the same morning, the first free practice sessions will be run. On Thursday, in addition to the pursuit of free practices, the mandatory briefings will be held for all 435 participants.

The technical checks will precede the heats. At 10.50 am on Thursday 10th October, the first class entering the qualifying practices will be the ROK Junior until the poleman names will be known at 1.20 pm. At the end of Qualifying, the heats will start quickly spinning towards the peak of the event, on Saturday afternoon, with the Superfinal Finals.