Eight Australian drivers are in Lonato for the opening round of the WSK Super Master Series, but only seven are left in the competition after injury forced out one of our juniors.
OKJ driver Griffin Peebles withdrew before qualifying due to a back injury sustained at the previous weekend’s Champions Cup.
“After doing one (practice) session it became obvious that my back is still not right” Griff posted on social media. “Will do my best to be fit for round two in a couple of weeks.”
Melbourne’s Lewis Francis is the top qualified Australian, going 19th fastest in the 69-strong OK-Junior field. William Calleja is 23rd in Mini (against 89 others!).
In the top-tier KZ2 field, Oscar Targett made his debut with the factory Birel ART team, qualifying 34th (of 60).
- Full results can be found HERE
Aussie Wrap
William Calleja (Mini) – Parolin Motorsport, Parolin/TM
Q – 23 (Group E for the heats). Heat 1 – 7. Heat 2 – 6.
Bradley Majman (OKJ) – Shamick Europe (Parolin/TM)
Q – 44 (Group B for the heats). Heat 1 – 17. Heat 2 – 13.
Isaac McNeil (OKJ) – KR Motorsport, Kart Republic/IAME
Q – 46 (Group D for the heats). Heat 1 – 14. Heat 2 – 22 (dnf).
Vinci Dante (OKJ) – Shamick Europe, Parolin/TM
Q – 62 (Group B for the heats). Heat 1 – 19. Heat 2 – 20.
Lewis Francis (OKJ) – Shamick Europe, Parolin/TM
Q – 19 (Group A for the heats). Heat 1 – 9. Heat 2 – 9.
Oscar Targett (KZ2) – Birel ART Racing SRL, Birel ART/TM)
Q – 34 (Group B for the heats). Heat 1 – 17.
Henry Johnstone (KZ2) – Zanchi Motorsport, BirelART/TM
Q – 43 (Group C for the heats). Heat 1 – 21.
Griffin Peebles (OKJ) – Koski Motorsport, Tony Kart/Vortex
Withdrew due to injury.
Timetable (local times)
WSK Super Master Series, Round 1, South Garda Karting, Lonato
Saturday, January 29
08:40 – 10:08: Warm-up (8′)
10:10 – 17:35: Qualifying heats
Sunday, January 30 (Live Streaming)
08:30 – 10:27: Warm-up (12′)
10:40 – 13:20: Prefinals
14:20 – 16:15: Finals
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WSK Press – Qualifying Report
The first important challenges have taken place at the opener of the WSK Super Master Series that is underway at the South Grada Karting circuit in Lonato. This important international event features the presence of all the main constructors and the most credited teams in the 4 categories KZ2, OK, OKJ and MINI. A total of 265 drivers from 50 Nations out of the 300 entered passed scrutineering of this opening round of the WSK Super Master Series. As usual, the smallest category, MINI, is quite packed with an international presence of 90 drivers aged between 8 and 12 coming from 35 different countries.
Qualifying practice.
KZ2. In KZ2 the winner of the recent WSK Champions Cup, the Dutch driver Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing-Vega), kept his momentum posting the best time of Session-1 in 45.175s. In the same session a problem affected the French Emilien Denner and the teammate of Van Walstijn unfortunately did not manage to post any time. The German David Trefilov (Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Racing) was the quickest of Session-2 in 45.322s.
OK. The best time of OK was set by the Brazilian Matheus Ferreira (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-LeCont), as he completed his best lap after 45.933s in Session-2, while the Pole Gustaw Wisniewski (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing) surprisingly topped the charts in Session-1 with a best lap of 46.106s.
OKJ. The overall pole position of OKJ was posted by the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega), who went fastest in Session-3 with a time of 47.257s. The Dutch René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) won last year’s WSK Super Master Series in MINI and posted the fastest time in Session-1 (47.274s) this time around. The Swiss Enea Frey (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex) led the pack in Session-2 in 47.420s.
MINI. Four sessions took place in MINI. The winner of the WSK Champions Cup Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega) was the fastest of all in 52.056s. The time he posted in Session-3 was only 0.037s faster than the time set by the Italian Filippo Sala (Team Driver/KR-Iame), who was the quickest of Session-4 in 52.093s. The Austrian Niklas Schaufler (Emme Racing/EKS-TM Racing) was the best of Session-2 in 52.147s, while the fastest time of Session-1 was set by Ukraine’s Luka Fedorenko (Gamoto/EKS-TM Racing) in 52.447s.
The initial qualifying heats.
KZ2 to Trefilov and Palomba.
In KZ2 the German David Trefilov (Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Racing-Vega) and the Italian Giuseppe Palomba (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) came to the fore and won respectively the two heats of the shifter category. The Dutch poleman Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing) had to settle for P2 in the heat run with Trefilov. The French Arthur Carbonnel on Sodikart run by CPB Sport ended behind Palomba instead.
The provisional classification by penalty: 1. Trefilov 0; 2. Palomba 0; 3. Van Walstijn 2; 4. Carbonnel 2; 5. Ebner 3; 6. Pex 3; 7. Leuillet 4; 8. Rieberer 4.
Coluccio and Slater dominate OK.
The Italian Luigi Coluccio (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont) was fifth in Session-2 of qualifying, but bounced back and won the first of the two heats of OK gaining a good margin on the pole sitter from Brazil Matheus Ferreira (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame). The British driver Freddie Slater (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex) had the upper hand in the second heat and led the American Luis James Egozi (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex).
The provisional classification by penalty: 1. Slater 0; 2. Coluccio 0; 3. Ferreira 2; 4. Egozi 2; 4. Bertuca 3; 5. Eyckmans 3; 7. Bergstrom 4; 8. Bohra 4.
In the big uncertainty of OK-Junior, the current leaders are Lammers and Bondarev.
The 6 heats of OK-Junior had 6 different winners. The list of the winners was opened by the Dutch René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega) who was later on joined by the Swiss Enea Frey (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex), the Peruvian Andres Cardenas (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing), who recently won the WSK Champions Cup, the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Koski/Tony Kart-Vortex), the French Andy Consani (Sodikart/Sodikart-TM Racing) and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Bondarev (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex).
The provisional classification by penalty: 1. Lammers 2; 2. Bondarev 2; 3. Frey 3; 4. Gladysz 4; 5. Matveev 6; 6. Go; 7. Kutskov; 8. Cardenas.
A lot of protagonists in MINI.
Also in MINI the 6 heats had 6 different winners. The provisional classification is led by the Italian Davide Bottaro (AV Racing/Parolin-TM Racing) and the Czech Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parrolin-Iame), that were followed by the Italian Filippo Sala (Team Driver/KR-Iame), the Romanian David Cosma-Cristofor (Gulstar/KR-Iame) and the Spaniard Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing). One win went also to the Dutch Dean Hoogendoorn (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso-Iame).
The provisional classification by penalty: 1. Bottaro 2; 2. Pesl 2; 3. Sala 3; 4. Cosma-Cristofor 3; 5. Costoya 4; 6. Josseron 5; 7. Schaufler 6; 8. Van Langendonck 6.
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