until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Karting driver Luca Corberi says he asked officials to take his licence away after attacking a world championship rival last weekend, and claims he will never race again.
Corberi stunned the motorsport world with his actions after being taken out of the KZ final at Lonato last weekend.
The 23-year-old Italian took the front bumper off his kart, walked to the edge of the track and threw it at the competitor who had ended his race, Paolo Ippolito.
After the race, while still in full race gear, Corberi charged Ippolito in parc ferme and attacked him.
His father, the Lonato circuit owner, physically confronted Ippolito as well.
The FIA has launched an immediate investigation into the incident, Italy’s governing body has indicated it will take whatever action is necessary and karting commission president and ex-Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa has promised “consequences”.
Corberi says he will accept whatever punishment is awarded because he told officials at the world championship to suspend him and believes he should not race again.
He was disqualified from the race by the stewards of the meeting but a matter of formal suspension is something for the relevant FIA courts to decide.
@fiakarting pic.twitter.com/H6inUOtuU3
— Felipe Massa (@MassaFelipe19) October 5, 2020
In an unserved apology published on his Facebook page, Corberi said: “There are no excuses to explain why I’ve done such a disgraceful act.
“This has been something I’ve never done in my 15 years of career, and I really hope it won’t be seen by anybody else in the future.
“After the race, once I’ve been called by the sporting judges [officials of the meeting], I’ve asked them to take my licence away because I was fully conscious about my irreparable mistakes.
“But as they showed me, they don’t have the power for doing it, it’s written in the international rules.
“So please, don’t be against them, they were just doing their work in the best way they could.
“For this reason, I’ve decided to not take part in any other motorsport competition for the rest of my life.
“That’s not a self[-administered] justice, it’s simply the right thing to do.”
Corberi beat F1 drivers George Russell and Lance Stroll and F2 racers Callum Ilott and Dan Ticktum to win the 2012 CIK-FIA World Cup in the KF3 category, when he was 15.
He stopped top-level competition a few years ago and was racing at Lonato for fun as a one-off entrant.
The Corberi family has been involved in karting for more than 30 years.
He called what he did “one of the worst” moments in karting and “something I’ll never forget”, and suggested he expects no leniency or sympathy “because I don’t deserve it”.
“I’m writing today to say sorry, even if it’s not enough,” he said.
“Because after all the bad things that happened during this event, the worst ever has been done by me, a guy who loves this sport and after the worst day of his life will still remember his good racing memories.”
