James Wharton has finished fifth in the OK-Junior final at the WSK Champions Cup overnight.
Having qualified fastest and won all four heat races, Wharton (FA/Vortex) started his pre-final from pole, but finished second behind Paolo Gallo (CRG/IAME). Under the format for the event, this dropped him to a second row start for the final.
A solid start saw him leading by lap 3, and he ran second to Alex Dunne (Exprit/TM) for much of the race. However, the skirmishes of the final lap saw the Forza Racing drivers Dunne and Arvid Lindblad take a team one-two, while James dropped to fifth at the flag.
- full results HERE
event press release
Filaferro on top in 60 Mini
A new driver emerged as the one to beat in category 60 Mini: the Italian Andrea Filaferro (Tony Kart-TM-Vega) capitalized on the good start from the second row and installed himself on top of the Final overtaking the poleman from Russia Maksim Orlov (Parolin-TM).
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The two kept fighting exchanging positions on top early on. Filaferro eventually put in some very effective driving and won the race, while Orlov had to concede his position also to the Italian Francesco Marenghi (Tony Kart-TM), who ended second. The race has been exciting until the very end when Arab Emirates’ driver Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin-TM) got past Orlov and claimed P3 at the end of a comeback race started from the fifth row of the grid.
Alex Dunne grows and wins in OK Junior
The Irish Alex Dunne (Exprit-TM-Vega) had a rolling start to the new season and set the benchmark in OK Junior, winning an eventful Final.
Always among the top three, Dunne found his way past the Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR-Iame-Vega), who was leading the race after starting from the pole position. The Irish kept the lead of the race all the way to the flag, while behind him the fight for P2 involved the Aussie James Warton (FA Kart-Vortex) and Antonelli. The sting was in the tail though: the duel between the two cost both their position, as the British driver Arvid Lindblad (Exprit-TM) and the Dutch Thomas Ten Brinke (FA Kart-Vortex) eventually got past both. These latter two seized the moment and respectively claimed P2 and P3.
Top marks for Taylor Barnard in OK
Taylor Barnard completed his apprenticeship in OK Junior winning the WSK Final Cup at the Adria Karting Raceway last November. Today, such a short time down the road, the British driver Taylor Barnard (KR-Iame-Bridgestone) proved to fully deserve his promotion to the higher category winning the WSK Champions Cup in OK.
Started from the pole position after winning the Prefinal, Barnard managed the lead and won the race from a very good Gabriele Minì (Parolin-TM). The Italian driver, also at his maiden race in OK, had to bounce back after losing some positions early on, managing to clinch second in the closing stages. The Italian Cristian Comanducci (Tony Kart-Iame) ended a positive weekend in third place. Below, the OK podium.
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