Despite the host track being shut down in the days leading up to the event, the opening round of WSK Champions Cup got underway as scheduled on the weekend – but at Lonato rather than Adria (more about the switch was posted HERE last week).
William Calleja was the top placed Australian at the event, taking 9th in the Mini final. William (Parolin Motorsport, Parolin) had earlier qualified a super impressive 3rd (of 88 drivers who set times) and is likely to have finished further up other than for a penalty in the opening heat race.
In OK Junior, Griffin Peebles (Koski Motorsport, Tony Kart) qualified 10th but injured his back in the final heat. The injury contributed to him dropping to 9th in the Pre-Final. “He was treated before the Final but retired the kart from P6 after only 4 laps due to too much pain” his dad Robert informed KartSportNews.
Summary of the Australian results below.
Aussie Wrap
- William Calleja (Mini) – Parolin/TM (Parolin Motorsport)
Qual: P3. Heats: 16-5-1-4-3. Ranking: 11th. PreFinal A: 6th. Ranking: 10th. Final: 9th. - Griffin Peebles (OK-Junior) – Tony Kart/Vortex (Koski Motorsport)
Qual: P10. Heats: 15-8-12. Ranking: 9th. PreFinal: 9th. Final: 30th (DNF) - Lewis Francis (OK-Junior) – Parolin/TM (Shamick Europe)
Qual: P30. Heats: 24-24-18. Ranking: 24th. PreFinal: 23rd. Final: 28th (was inside top 10 by lap 7 before DNF) - Bradley Majman (OK-Junior) – Parolin/TM (Shamick Europe)
qual: P18. Heats: 18-14-20. Ranking: 19th. PreFinal: 24th. Final: 19th. - Dante Vinci (OK-Junior) – Parolin/TM (Shamick Europe)
Qual:32nd. Heats: 22-32-22. Ranking: 28th. PreFinal: 27th. final 21st.
The event also marked the first podium for the Shamick Europe team, Britain’s Irfan Coskun taking 3rd in OK Senior in a field of 16 drivers.
- full results from the meeting are HERE
Around 300 drivers are entered for this weekend’s event at the same circuit, the opening round of the WSK Super Master Series.
Official WSK Finals Day Report
After an eve characterized by intensely cold temperatures, the sun came out for the final stages of the WSK Champions Cup in Lonato and the nice weather allowed all the drivers to show their competitiveness. The participation to this event that opened WSK Promotion’s 2022 season has been once again great with more than 170 drivers from 36 different countries on track in KZ2, OK, OKJ and MINI.
The Prefinals
KZ2. The Dutch driver Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing-Vega) kept his momentum winning the Prefinal of KZ2 at the end of a good recovery. The other protagonist, his teammate from France Emilien Denner (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing), ended to the back instead as he went off during the first lap.
The Russian Maksimilian Popov (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont) won OK proceeding Danny Carenini (Team Driver/KR-Iame) at the sprint to the line, while the Italian Sebastiano Pavan – who is Carenini’s teammate and has been the protagonist of the heats – had to retire from the Prefinal.
OKJ. In OK-Junior the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) confirmed to be on top of this category. In the Prefinal he led Singapore’s driver Tiziano Monza (DPK/KR-Iame) and the Brit Nathan Tye (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing).
MINI. Two Prefinals took place in MINI due to the high number of entered drivers. Prefinal-A was dominated by the Czech driver Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega), while the Swede Scott Kin Lindblom (Gamoto/EKS-TM Racing) had the best of the Spaniard Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) at the last lap of Prefinal-B.
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The Finals
The Dutch driver Senna Van Walstijn dominates KZ2
In KZ2 the Dutch Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing-Vega) dominated the weekend even though he had to temporarily concede the lead of the Final to the French driver Arthur Carbonnel (CBP Sport/Sodikart-TM Racing).
Van Walstijn regained the lead of the race in the closing laps and crossed the finish line ahead of his teammate from France Emilien Denner (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing), who recovered a stunning 10 places. Carbonnel ended his effort in P3. The fourth place went to David Trefilov (Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Racing) instead, who led Matteo Zanchi (Zanchi Motorsport/BirelArt/TM Racing).
OK Victory to the Italian Danny Carenini
Danny Carenini (Team Driver/KR-Iame-LeCont) did not miss the chance to take the win in OK despite slipping down to P3 early on. Back on top of the Final, Carenini did not struggle much to take the win leading the Russian Maksimilian Popov (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex) and the Brit Coskun Irfan (Shamick Europe/Parolin-Iame).
The fourth place went to the German Felix Arnold (CV Perfomance/KR-Iame) and the fifth to the Italian Francesco Marenghi (DPK Racing/KR-Iame). The Italian Sebastiano Pavan (Team Driver/KR-Iame) completed a great recovery ending sixth from the last spot on the starting grid.
Peru’s Andres Cardenas surprises OKJ
The Final of OK-Junior has been surprising and the final win went to the Peruvian Andres Cardenas (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing-Vega) after the domination of the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex) until the Prefinal.
In the Final Matveev lost several places before being forced to retire, while Cardenas claimed the victory leading the Chinese Zhenrui Chi (Beyond Racing Team/KR-TM Racing), who proceeded the Brit Nathan Tye (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing). The fourth place went to the Brazilian Miguel Costa (DPK Racing/KR-Iame), the fifth to the Israeli Guy Elbag (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex).
The Final of MINI won by the Spaniard Christian Costoya
At the end of a lively position exchange on the top of the MINI’s Final, the Spanish driver Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega) had the upper hand in the closing stages and secured the win from the Czech Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame), who dominated in qualifying practice and heats.
The third step of the podium went to the Dutch Dean Hoogendoorn (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso-Iame), while the fourth and fifth place went to the Belgian Dries Van Langendonck (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) and the Austrian Niklas Schaufler (Emme Racing/EKS-TM Racing).
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