Corberi quits racing after ‘disgraceful act’

Finley Crebolder

Luca Corberi has announced that, following his shocking actions in an FIA Karting World Championship race, he is to retire from motor racing. 

The 23-year-old was criticised by a huge number of people, including Jenson Button, after footage emerged online of him throwing the bumper of his car at Paolo Ippolito, a driver he felt had taken him out, during a karting race.

What’s more, he then found Ippolito after the race and, along with his father, attacked him.

“Luca Corberi has just destroyed any chance he had at a racing career after his disgusting behaviour today at the FIA Karting World Champs,” Button wrote on Twitter.

“His father owns the circuit and is seen power driving the guy into a wall. Life ban for both of these idiots please.”

The FIA launched an investigation into the incident soon afterwards, with many calling for Corberi to be handed a lifetime ban.

Whether he does or not, it now seems certain that he’ll never race again regardless.

“I’d like to apologize to the motorsport community for what I’ve done. 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,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

“After the race, once I was been called by the stewards, I 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 to do it, it’s written in the international rules.

“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-justice, it’s simply the right thing to do.

“My family has been in karting since 1985, we’ve seen it grow, we’ve seen the best and the worst part of it. This episode will be remembered as one of the worst in our sport and that’s something I’ll never forget.

“I’m not asking for any indulgence, because I don’t deserve it. I will totally agree with the punishments required. I’m writing today to say sorry even if it’s not enough, because, after all the bad things that happened during this event, the worst 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.”

Even though Corberi has announced he is to retire, he’ll likely still receive some kind of punishment from the FIA, with karting president Felipe Massa stating that he will “face the consequences of his actions”

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