Wharton Switches to KZ2

As he prepares for a switch to cars, James Wharton contested his first WSK meeting in the KZ2 class at Sarno on the weekend. It was the third round of the WSK Super Master Series and the Ferrari Driver Academy pilot continued with the factory Parolin team on Parolin/TM.

After qualifying 17th (of 52) Wharton had heat results of 10th, 8th and 9th to be ranked 15th. A 13th place finish in his Pre-Final preceded a 10-position gain back up the order in the Final, eventually classified 15th.

“A great learning weekend overall!” James said of the meeting. “I finished in P15 in the final and definitely learned a lot; I feel I have lots of positives to take away from this weekend.”

James Wharton aboard the KZ2 in Italy (pic – Wharton/Facebook)

Meanwhile, Griffin Peebles qualified 46th in the 78-kart Mini field. After the heats he had moved up to 31st (heat results of 12, 3, 10, 15 and 8) and placed 22nd in Pre-Final A, which meant he did not transfer to the Final.

  • full results are on the WSK site HERE

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from WSK press

The third round of WSK Super Master Series has been successful both in terms of participation and spectacle. The race was housed by the new 1550 meters long International Circuit Napoli in Sarno (Salerno, ITA) with 271 drivers on track from 47 nations out of the entered 300.

Kremers takes the win in KZ2, Valtanen the lead of the championship

Several twists enlivened KZ2 where, eventually, the Dutch Marijn Kremers (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) took the win in an exciting finale after winning Prefinal/B. He led the KR Motorsport pairing made by the Finn Juho Valtanen (KR-TM Racing), who won Prefinal/A, and the Italian Danilo Albanese (KR-Iame). The other Italian Giuseppe Palomba (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) was fourth and the Finn Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) fifth. The Italian Francesco Celenta (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) and the French Adrien Renaudin (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing) did not finish due to an incident, while other protagonists like the classification leader from Sweden Viktor Gustavsson (Leclerc by Lennox/BirelART-TM Racing) and the Italian Alex Irlando (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Racing) were out of the games already in the Prefinal.

Final KZ2: 1. Kremers; 2. Valtanen; 3. Albanese; 4. Palomba; 5. Puhakka; 6. Longhi; 7. Ippolito; 8. Marseglia; 9. Hiltbrand; 10. Iglesias.
KZ2 classification: 1. Valtanen points 174; 2. Kremers 131; 3. Gustavsson 101; 4. Albanese 100; 5. Puhakka 93.



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Antonelli back to the victory in OK. Camara keeps the lead

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) was back to the victory in a WSK event after winning last year the WSK Euro Series. The Italian driver has been perfect both in Prefinal-A and in the Final, dominating the two races from lights to flag, while his teammate from Brazil Rafael Camara won Prefinal-B, but then was relegated from P2 to P4 by a 3s time penalty in the Final, a result that allowed him to retain the classification lead. The other two podium positions went therefore to the Finn Tuukka Taponen (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) and the Russian Artem Severiukhin (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex). The Czech driver Igor Cepil (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) was fifth instead.

Final OK: 1. Antonelli; 2. Taponen; 3. Severiukhin; 4. Camara; 5. Cepil; 6. Malek; 7. Tsolov; 8. Modenese; 9. Fittipaldi; 10. Turnay.
OK classification: 1. Camara points 255; 2. Antonelli 196; 3. Taponen 157; 4. Lindblad 145; 5. Severiukhin 123.

Russian drivers to the fore in OKJ, Kutskov wins from Popov. Powell leads the classification

Russian drivers have been shining in OK-Junior after the Japanese Kean Nakamura Berta (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing) and the French Enzo Deligny (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) had the upper hand in the two Prefinals. The Russian Kirill Kutskov (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) and his fellow-countryman Maksimilian Popov (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex) bounced back in the Final dominating it. The third place went to Singapore’s Akshay Bohra (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) who led the Belgian teammate Douwe Dedecker. Dedecker ended fifth winning the sprint to the line with the other KR Motorsport, the Jamaican Alex Powell, who confirmed his classification lead.

Final OKJ: 1. Kutskov; 2. Popov; 3. Bohra; 4. Dedecker; 5. Deligny; 6. Powell; 7. Slater; 8. Krapin; 9. Keeble; 10. Sammalisto.
OKJ classification: 1. Powell points 180; 2. Bohra 160; 3. Kutskov 123; 4. Popov 122; 5. Slater 101.

Maiden win for Olivieri in MINI. The championship still in Costoya’s hands

The MINI Final has been uncertain and hard fought. This time the victory went to the young Italian Emanuele Olivieri (Formula K Serafini/IPK-TM Racing), who claimed his maiden win in a WSK event. Olivieri pipped the Czech Jindrich Pesl (Baby Race/Parolin-Iame) and the Brit Lewis Wherrell (Team Driver/KR-Iame). The Dutch René Lammers (Baby Race/Parolin-Iame) was among the quickest and slipped down to P4 in the closing stages, while the French Jimmy Helias (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) was fifth. The classification is still sub-judice due to the appeal to the decision to exclude Helias from qualifying early into the weekend. The Spanish classification leader Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) was eighth after winning Prefinal-A and leading the central part of the Final.

Final MINI (sub-judice): 1. Olivieri; 2. Pesl; 3. Wherrell; 4. Lammers; 5. Helias; 6. Orjuela; 7. Ivannikov; 8. Costoya; 9. Slater; 10. Tarnvanichkul.
MINI classification (sub-judice): 1. Costoya points 195; 2. Lammers 192; 3. Olivieri 146; 4. Orjuela 124; 5. Skulanov 120.

The WSK Super Master Series will reach its conclusion with the fourth round on April 25th in Lonato. This race will be preceeded by the opener of WSK Euro Series on April 11th in Lonato.



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