Italian karter handed 15-year ban for race meltdown

An Italian who threw part of his go-kart at a rival during a world championship final, repeatedly crossed the track during the race and came to blows afterwards has been banned for 15 years by the sport’s governing body.

Luca Corberi waited by the side of the track after being shunted out of the KZ final in Lonato, northern Italy, last October and hurled his kart’s front fairing at rival Paolo Ippolito as he approached at 100kph.

The FIA’s international tribunal said in a statement that the 23-year-old also physically attacked Ippolito after the race, with the fathers of both karters also joining in the melee.

“The fight reached a point where fathers and sons were hitting each other,” it said.

The incident, widely shared across social media, prompted 2009 Formula One world champion Jenson Button to call for a life ban. Corberi announced afterwards that he was retiring from motorsport.

The FIA tribunal said in its full reasoning that the fairing, weighing at least 1.3kg, could have caused serious neck injuries had it hit Ippolito.