Mazzeo becomes double World Champion in Chile
Raptor/Gimar driver Alessio Mazzeo has gone from being close in the past to becoming a double World Champion in less than 24-hours, the Italian taking the biggest win of his career today when he executed a flawless drive to win the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro GT World Championship final in Chile. Winning the Electric GT World title yesterday in Santiago, and having hinted at what was to come as he put in a sterling performance in the battle for the Nitro TQ honours in the final qualifier, lining up behind Serpent’s eventually Top Qualifier Andrea Catanzani, he and Catanzani were the class of the field. From the start of the 1-hour Main they pulled clear of the field around the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile track with it looking like the stage was set for a battle between the two different generations of drivers. Unfortunately that anticipated fight to become the World No.1 lasted just four & a half minutes. Catanzani would suffer a flame out and his demise was only the start of more problems to come for Italian drivers, the nation dominating qualifying and locking out all four direct qualifying spots in the main. 11-minutes in and Natanaele Senesi suffered the first of numerous flame-outs. With Alex D’Angelo holding a comfortable second, just as Mazzeo put a lap on the Capricorn driver 36-minutes into the race, the 2023 Worlds Top Qualifier would come to a stop on track. The issue proved terminal, his throttle servo having failed. This promoted Carli Lopez to second making for a Raptor 1-2 on track. Despite this being his first World Championships, the 21-year-old drove a superb final to maintain his position and take a hugely popular second place. A driver who is no stranger to the World Championship stage, Brazil’s Flavio Elias would turn around a day that started off in the worst way possible when he was taken out of his Semi by another driver in pit lane while in a bump up position. Having to go through the Last Chance Final, the WIRC driver won that to line up as the 11th car in the final and through all the drama found himself finally achieving a World Championship podium finish, a recovering Catanzani just 3-seconds back when they crossed the line.
