James Wharton was back on the podium in Europe on the weekend, placing second in OK Junior at the WSK Euro round at Lonato.
Wharton was third across the line, however a penalty for second-placed Alfio Spina for a driving infringement elevated the Aussie to second. He sits fourth in the championship.
“Out of grid 11, I made my way to 3rd on lap 1 with a great start” James posted on Facebook.
“Lap two I went to second, than led the next 2 laps. Ultimately we didn’t have the speed to win but happy to get the 🇦🇺 on the podium.”
Three other Australians contested the event, Peter Bouzinelous (getting into the final for 60 Mini and placing 29th), plus Marcos Flack and James Lodge in OKJ.
OK Junior (73 entrants)
- James Wharton (FA Kart/Vortex, Ricky Flynn Motorsport) – Q16. Ranked 1st after heats of 1-6-1-2. PreFinal 6th, Final 2nd.
- Marcos Flack (Energy/TM, Energy Corse) – Q53. Ranked 45th after heats of 15-14-22-25. PreFinal 20th (missed the cut).
- James Lodge (Parolin/TM, Parolin Racing Kart) – Q60. Ranked 65th after heat results of 28-29-14-22. PreFinal 28th (missed the cut).
60 Mini (92 entrants)
- Peter Bouzinelous (Parolin/TM, Parolin Racing Kart) – Q49 (of 92). Ranked 44th after heats of 17-16-21-15-11. PreFinal 14th, Final 29th
Full results are on the WSK website HERE
WKS Press
All still up for grabs in WSK Euro Series.
The penultimate round has become the launching ramp and raised the interest towards the grand finale of WSK Euro Series. The round in Lonato (BS) has rewarded drivers that were behind in the classifications: the final victory of KZ2 went to the Italian Marco Ardigò (Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone), who won in the final classification from the sixth place in the shifter category. KZ2 ended with its second round, while the final win of the other categories will be decided in one week time in Adria. In this case, even though the lead did not change, the advantage has decreased for the pacesetters after the unexpected results of this weekend.
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Ardigò wins the race and takes the KZ2 victory
Marco Ardigò is quite skilled in giving his best in the most important moments and in occasion of the decisive challenge of KZ2 he made the most of it. The Italian secured the pole position of the Final and led the race from lights to flag ending first in the final classification of the category. His teammate Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone), who was leading the standings after the first round, was hit by bad luck in this occasion. The Finn dominated the event until the Prefinal, but then had to retire from the Final due to a contact at the start.
Behind Ardigò, the battle has been intense with four drivers challenging each other for the remaining places of the podium. The Dutch Marijn Kremers (Birel Art-TM) had the best of his rivals and ended second leading the French Emilien Denner (Sodi Kart-TM) as both managed to keep the Italian Matteo Viganò (Tony Kart-Vortex) and the Dutch Bas Lammers (Sodi Kart-TM) behind. Above, the podium after the KZ2 Final.
Dexter Patterson heading towards the win in OK
Dexter Patterson (KR-Iame-Bridgestone) put in a perfect weekend in OK: the Scot collected all the points available in the heats and Prefinal A and aimed to get the victory in the Final, a result that he achieved relegating the Italian Lorenzo Travisanutto (KR-Iame) – that has been his main rival in Lonato – to the second place. The latter recovered well up to P2 leading the competitive British driver Harry Thompson (FA Kart-Vortex), who rounded off the podium.
Travisanutto is still leading the classification and is followed by the Swede Dino Beganovic (Tony Kart-Vortex), who won Prefinal B, but a fearsome Patterson is now close and ready to play his cards at the closer in Adria.
Arvid Lindblad overtakes everybody and wins OKJ
A very exciting OK Junior rewarded with the victory the unstoppable run of the British driver Arvid Lindblad (Exprit-TM-Vega), who managed to recover eight positions and get the top step of the podium at the South Garda Karting. Lindblad put in a lightning fast getaway as did James Wharton (FA Kart-Vortex), who recovered from P11 to P2.
The Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR-Iame) had hoped for a better result, as he started from the lead but slipped down to P3 in the end. This result allowed him to take the lead of the classification though, while the Dutch Thomas Ten Brinke (FA Kart-Vortex) is second. The Italian Alfio Spina (KR-Iame) was also disappointed as he lost P2 due to a penalty following a move deemed irregular by stewards. Above, the podium of the OKJ Final before the penalty to Spina.
Douwe Dedecker, the strongest of 60 Mini in Lonato
The Belgian Douwe Dedecker (Parolin-TM-Vega) confirmed his positive momentum in Lonato taking the pole position and the victory in the Final, race that he led throughout. Thanks to a great start from the third row, Manuel Scognamiglio (Tony Kart-TM) tried to challenge the leader sliding in behind him and trailing him. Despite his grit, the Italian had to settle for P2.
The third place went to the driver from the United Arab Emirates Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin-TM), who lagged a bit behind. The Brit William Macintyre (Parolin-TM) had a more difficult weekend than those of the previous rounds. He managed nevertheless to keep the classification lead and will certainly fight for the win next week in Adria.
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