A bunch of Australians contested the opening round of the 2022 WSK Euro Series at Lonato on the weekend and they all made the finals at a huge event that saw 244 drivers race across the four classes.
Aussie & Kiwi Wrap
Griffin Peebles: OK-Junior (Koski Motorsport, Tony Kart/Vortex)
Q: 7 (of 64). Heats: 13(P), 6, 4, 4, 2. Ranking:15. Prefinal A: 9. Final: 12th.
“Good to be back on track and fully recovered from injury.”
Bradley Majman: OK-Junior (Shamick Europe, Parolin/TM)
Q: 56. Heats: 7, 15, 12, 20, 8. Ranking: 33. Prefinal A: 13. Final: 23rd.
Dante Vinci: OK (Shamick Europe, Parolin/TM)
Q: 24 (of 33). Heats: 24, 27, 23. Ranking: 29. Prefinal: 15. Final: 19th.
Oscar Targett: KZ2 (Birel Art Racing, Birel Art/TM)
Q: 7 (of 35). Heats: 10, 6, 11. Ranking: 8. Prefinal: 9. Final: 12th.
“A very good start along with some consistent early laps got me up into P8 but there was an obvious lack of pace throughout. I held onto P8 until 5 laps from the end where I was hit wide and back to P12, which is where I would go on to finish. Still, I sit P9 in the championship and can’t wait to get back in Sarno for a bit of redemption.”
William Calleja: Mini (Parolin Motorsport, Parolin/TM)
Q: P5 (of 110). Heats: 3, 4, 4, 14, 18, 5. Ranking: 20. Prefinal B: 7. Final: 30 (DNF)
“In the final, I got involved in a crash at the start and dropped down to P22 but got to P9 just before the checkered flag” (but was scored one lap down in the official result)
Maxim Kirwin (NZ): Mini (Team Driver Racing Kart, KR/IAME)
Q: P14 in his group. Heats: 7, 27(DNF), 15, 15, 10, 7. Ranking: 40. Prefinal B: 32. Final: DNQ
- full results are HERE
WSK press
A good participation success and a lot of spectacle have been the strong points also of edition 2022 of the WSK Euro Series 2022. The first act of this campaign has been run at the South Garda Karting of Lonato where 244 of the entered 260 drivers from 53 nations made it onto the track.
THE PREFINALS.
After the 42 qualifying heats held on Friday and Saturday, the final stages on Sunday did not lack some surprising results in the Prefinals held in the morning. In OKJ the two winners of the junior category had the chance to improve their positions: the Pole Jan Przyrowski (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) won Prefinal-A and Hungary’s Martin Molnar (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing) Prefinal-B. In MINI Gr.3 the Canadian Ilie Crisan Tristan (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso Kart/Iame-Vega) had the upper hand in Prefinal-A, while the Dutch Dean Hoogendoorn (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso-Iame) won Prefinal-B. The French Jeremy Iglesias (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Racing-LeCont) kept the momentum of the heats and won the Prefinal of KZ2. In OK, the Japanese Kean Nakamura-Berta (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega) had a surprisingly good start and took an early lead keeping it until the chequered flag.
THE FINALS.
KZ2 – Palomba recovers all the way to the top.
In KZ2 the Italian Giuseppe Palomba (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing-LeCont) completed a real deed. He won the Final at the end of a recovery weekend following the hiccup he experienced in qualifying, when his time was canceled due to a technical irregularity. Palomba’s deed has been a constant recover since the first of the three heats. He then claimed P2 in the Prefinal and took an early lead in the Final securing eventually the win. The other two steps of the podium went to his strongest rival, the French Jeremy Iglesias of CRG Racing Team, and the Swede Viktor Gustavsson, also on CRG. Two other CRG drivers followed: the Italian Alex Irlando and the Spanish driver Jorge Pescador, who completed a recovery race too. The sixth place went to another Spanish driver: Genis Civico (Modena Kart/BirelART-TM Racing).
advertisement
Final result KZ2:
1. Giuseppe Palomba (ITA)
2. Jeremy Iglesias (FRA)
3. Viktor Gustavsson (SWE)
OK – Nakamura-Berta wins the Prefinal and the Final.
OK saw a very strong performance by the Japanese Kean Nakamura-Berta (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega) in the closing stages. He recovered from P7 to the fifth place after the heats and then dominated the Prefinal and the Final. Paolo Ippolito (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) was quite unlucky and, after taking the pole position, he was delayed by an incident in a heat and in the Prefinal. The second place went to the Swede Joel Bergstrom (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing), who has been very quick throughout the weekend, and in the Final he led the Chinese driver Yuanpu Cui (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame), who, in turn, completed a recovery race. The French Enzo Deligny (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) won the heats but then had to stop in the Prefinal due to a technical issue. Deligny ended the Final in P5 after recovering a lot of ground. He closed his effort behind Lithuania’s Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing). The other top places went to the Czech Jiri Becicka (Parolin Racing CZ/Parolin-TM Racing), United Arab Emirates’ Rashid Al Dhaheri (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing) and the Italian Danny Carenini (Team Driver/Tony Kart-Iame).
Final result OK:
1. Kean Nakamura-Berta (JPN)
2. Joel Bergstrom (SWE)
3. Yanpu Cui (CHN)
OKJ – Przyrowski dominates the Final.
OKJ was dominated by the Pole Jan Przyrowski (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega), who won Prefinal-A and then kept his momentum winning the Final from a combative René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) and Philippine’s William Go (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing). The latter managed in fact to recover up to the podium in P3. The fourth place went to the South-African driver Luviwe Sambudla (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame), while the fifth to the winner of Prefinal-B, the Hungarian Martin Molnar (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing). The pole sitter and leader after the heats Scott Lindblom (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Racing) ended the Final only in P22 instead.
Final result OKJ:
1. Jan Przyrowski (POL)
2. René Lammers (NLD)
3. William Go (PHL)
MINI – A good victory to Ivannikov in the Final.
Vladimir Ivannikov (Gamoto/EKS-TM Racing) had a great weekend in MINI Gr.3. He claimed a stunning full-haul in the heats and closed Prefinal-A in P2 before dominating the Final leading it all the way to the flag. The Dutch Dean Hoogendoorn (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso-Iame) tried to challenge Ivannikov for the win, after leading the pack in Prefinal-B, but he closed his Final in P2. The third place after a good recover went to the Italian Iacopo Martinese (BabyRace Driver Academy/Parolin-Iame), who claimed a podium finish leading his teammates Filippo Pancotti and Oliver Palocko. The sixth place went to the Canadian Ilie Crisan Tristan (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso Kart/Iame-Vega), who won Prefinal-B.
Final result MINI:
1. Vladimir Ivannikov
2. Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD)
3. Iacopo Martinese (ITA)
The next round of the WSK Euro Series will be on July 31st in Sarno (Salerno), at the International Circuit Napoli (ITA).
advertisement