Kian Gauci won round three of the karting category of the Malta National Sim Racing Championships 2026 at Franciacorta, leading every lap of the final and holding off a late charge from Eli Xuereb to take the chequered flag by 0.269 seconds on the road.
Alessandro Vella finished fourth on the road but was classified second, 0.073 seconds ahead of Xuereb, after three-second penalties for Xuereb and Zack Scicluna were applied. Scicluna, back after missing round two, took pole position and finished fourth.
The 30 points moved Gauci into the championship lead on 75, seven clear of Ayrton Tonna, who arrived at Franciacorta seven points ahead and left with fifth place. Vella is third on 66, and the top three are now covered by nine points with two rounds to run.
Three drivers inside a thousandth
Seven drivers took part, with Benjamin Borg Irimia and Eman Muscat absent. The format was unchanged: qualifying, two heats that set the grid, then a final, which is the only session scoring championship points.
Qualifying produced one of the closest timing sheets the championship has seen. Scicluna took pole with a 48.713s lap set in the final minutes, and Ayrton Tonna and Xuereb both stopped the clock at 48.714s, a thousandth of a second behind. Vella was fourth on 48.730s, 0.017 seconds off pole, having completed two laps fewer than the drivers ahead of him.
Gauci was fifth, 0.094 seconds from pole. Johannes Camilleri qualified sixth on 49.612s and Eli Tonna seventh on 49.790s.
Gauci takes heat one from fifth
The first heat was decided at the rolling start. Scicluna was slow away from pole and Xuereb, lined up behind him, was caught out with him. Vella went straight into the lead, and Gauci, who had started fifth, was on his rear bumper at once and took the lead from him early in the heat.
Scicluna recovered quickly but picked up a five-second penalty for contact with Ayrton Tonna, and Xuereb’s heat unravelled completely: he finished two laps down, with a three-second penalty for contact with Eli Tonna on top. Gauci held Vella at around a second for the rest of the heat and won it, with Scicluna crossing the line third.
Vella wins a chaotic second heat
Heat two lost its heat one winner at the first corner. Gauci was pushed wide at the exit of turn one and dropped to the back of the field. Scicluna made the better start from the front this time, with Xuereb all over his rear bumper.
Xuereb’s attempt to pass ended in contact that spun Scicluna, and a second collision moments later briefly flipped Xuereb’s kart. He collected a five-second penalty for each. Vella, who had stayed out of both incidents, came through into the lead and won the heat, while Gauci recovered from last to second and set a 48.708s fastest lap, quicker than Scicluna’s pole time.
Gauci breaks clear on the opening lap
The final ran to 18 racing laps after a formation lap. The first formation attempt was abandoned when a pedal came loose on Gauci’s simulator, and venue staff fixed it before the field lined up again with Vella on pole, Gauci alongside and Xuereb at the back.
Gauci and Ayrton Tonna reacted fastest at the green flag and ran first and second through the opening corners, with Vella dropping to fourth. Tonna’s race turned within the first two laps, when contact with Scicluna sent him to the back of the field. Scicluna was given a three-second penalty for the incident.
Gauci was more than two and a half seconds clear by the end of the second lap. Behind him Xuereb had already come from seventh on the grid to third, and he took second from Vella within a handful of laps. He also took a three-second penalty for contact with Eli Tonna on the way through.
Xuereb runs out of laps
Gauci’s lead peaked at around four and a half seconds before Xuereb began to take it back a tenth at a time, lapping consistently in the 48.6s. By the final lap he was on Gauci’s rear bumper and looked for a way through into the last sequence of corners, but Gauci had enough of a buffer into turn 12 and won on the road by 0.269 seconds.
With Xuereb carrying three seconds, the win was never at risk. Gauci could have followed him across the line and still been classified first.
The fight that decided second was further back. Vella spent the second half of the race behind Scicluna, knowing both drivers ahead of him carried three-second penalties and that he needed to stay within three seconds of Xuereb to beat him on corrected time. He set the fastest lap of the final, 48.510s, but could not find a way past Scicluna, who defended to the flag.
Vella crossed the line fourth, 3.196 seconds behind Gauci and 2.927 seconds behind Xuereb. It was enough. Once the penalties were applied he was classified second by 0.073 seconds, with Xuereb third and Scicluna fourth, 6.002 seconds behind the winner.
Ayrton Tonna recovered from the back to fifth, 9.716 seconds down, including a pass on Eli Tonna, who finished sixth. Camilleri was seventh.
Fans voted Ayrton Tonna Driver of the Day with 89 percent of the vote.
What the drivers said
“Once I saw the gap, I just knew I had to drive clean, and it was basically secured,” Gauci said. “It’s all about the start of the race. If you have pace, you can fight for the win, but you need a good start.”
Gauci had driven Franciacorta in real life but has never driven Mika Salo Karting, the venue for round four. “I got faster and faster throughout the heats,” he said. “I just need to get quick fast.”
“Qualifying didn’t go my way. I couldn’t get a proper lap in,” Vella said. “In the final I managed to get my pace back. My rhythm wasn’t 100 percent there, but I’m happy to be P2, even though it’s due to penalties. I managed to stay with them, and that’s all that matters.”
Xuereb said he simply ran out of race. “I was pushing, and I saw gaps, which I used,” he said. “I didn’t have enough laps, or I would have caught up a bit more.”
Gauci takes the championship lead
Gauci’s 30 points led the round, ahead of Vella on 26, Xuereb on 22 and Scicluna on 19. Ayrton Tonna scored 16, Eli Tonna 14 and Camilleri 12.
Gauci now leads on 75 points from Ayrton Tonna on 68 and Vella on 66. Xuereb is fourth on 57, Eli Tonna fifth on 52 and Scicluna sixth on 49, with Camilleri on 34, Borg Irimia on 24 and Muscat on 12.
Gauci has finished second, fourth and first, and has now led a championship that has had a different leader after every round. Three rounds have also produced three different winners.
Round four is at Mika Salo Karting on 10 October, with the season finishing at La Reve on 7 November. Commentary came from Jake Sparey and Nicolas Hillebrand.
The Malta National Sim Racing Championships 2026 are sanctioned by the Malta Motorsport Federation.
This championship is supported by GamingMalta as part of its commitment to Malta’s grassroots esports community.
