Karter Corberi vows to never race again after “disgraceful” fight

Kart racer Luca Corberi has apologised and vowed never to race again following his “disgraceful” behaviour, after he caused outrage by throwing a bumper at a rival and starting a fight on Sunday.

The FIA has launched an investigation after Corberi was filmed throwing a bumper at rival Paolo Ippolito, who he had collided with during a race at the latest round of the FIA world karting championships at Lonato in Italy.

The 23-year-old was also later filmed starting a brawl with Ippolito after the race as the pair clashed in parc ferme, with a number of other drivers seen intervening.

Ex-F1 driver Felipe Massa, who is now the FIA’s karting commission president, promised that the “unacceptable” incident would have “consequences”.

On Monday, Corberi issued a statement via his Facebook page.

“I’d like to apologise to the motorsport community for what I’ve done,” he wrote.

“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, 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 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 to any other motorsport competition for the rest of my life, that’s not a self justice, it’s simply the right thing to do.”

Corberi, who finished fifth in the same karting category won by Williams F1 driver George Russell in 2012, said he would never forget the incident which he described as “the worst day” of his life.

"My family has been in karting since 1985, we've seen it grow, we've seen the best and the worst part of it," he added.

"This episode will be remember as one of the worst in our sport and that's something I'll never forget. I'm not asking 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 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."