Podium and leadership for Tony Kart in the “COTF” in Sweden
Luigi Coluccio hits the third place in OK category on the occasion of the third round of the Euro Series at Kristianstad, Sweden, and climbs to the top of the overall standing ahead of his teammate Joseph Turney, just one round to go in the championship.
Two of the Tony Kart Racing Team drivers occupy the first two positions in the OK category of the Champions of the Future Euro Series. At Kristianstad (Sweden), the Tony Kart Racer 401 RR proves to have the necessary pace to gain the upper part of the ranking, even in adverse weather conditions. Once more powered by the DST (OK) and DJT (OKJ) engines of Vortex, the "engine division" of the OTK Kart Group.
In OK, their best driver from Friday is Luigi Coluccio. The Italian driver sets the second best time in his own group and the second best time overall in the qualifyings, but as a result of the combined ranking he finishes fourth. Coluccio runs smartly in the qualifying heats, become insidious by the rain, and achieves a total of two victories, three podiums (two second places and one third) and two fastest laps, which allows him to become leader of the general ranking at the end of the day on Saturday. A subsequent second place in the super heats secures Coluccio a front row position in the final, but another heavy rain starts to fall just before the start. Without making any mistakes, Coluccio gains the final finish line in third position and takes the lead in the championship, with only one round still to go before the championship closes.
Juho Valtanen also performs well at Kristianstad and also in precarious track conditions. From the seventh place on the starting grid, the Finnish driver quickly climbs to fourth position and finishes just behind his teammate Coluccio. Incredible comeback for Joseph Turney from the bottom of the grid, able to climb up the classification of not less than 18 positions. The British driver is now second in the championship, just a few points behind the leader Coluccio.
At the starting grid of the final we also find the reigning OK world champion Tuukka Taponen, on track just a week before in Belgium for the first round of the FIA Karting European Championship KZ-KZ2. Very close to the access to the final is Kuba Rajski, unfortunately unlucky in the super heat on Sunday morning. Interesting chronometric results also from Liu Ruiqi, Oscar Wurz and James Egozi in view of the next round of the next round of the European Championship.
Still in OKJ, bad weather plays a decisive role in the final results. Enzo Tarnvanichkul, always fast throughout the weekend and four times on the podium between qualifying heats and super heats, immediately makes himself a protagonist of the final: already in the very first laps, in dry track conditions, he runs in the third place and very close to the first two drivers, defending his position brilliantly at the same time. Unfortunately, the rain suddenly begins to fall and, also thanks to several off-track of other drivers, the Thai driver drops down the rankings. The final and premature stop of the race then prevents Tarnvanichkul from achieving the desired result.
In difficult conditions, Jimmy Helias emerges positively from the group in the final and, with a climb of 18 positions, finishes just a few tenths of a second from the Top 10. Jan Przyrowski is also among the most competitive drivers of the weekend, thanks to a win, a fastest lap and a Top 5 at the end of the qualifying heat, but the Polish driver stops prematurely in the Sunday morning's super heat and also from the final. Arthur Dorison, Alp Hasan Aksoy, Giacomo Pedrini and Maria Germano Neto have been working closely with the team for the whole weekend, in order to prepare the next round of the European Championship in the best possible way.
The next appointment for the Tony Kart Racing Team is the third round of the FIA Karting European Championship OK-OKJ (June 2nd-5th) once more in Kristianstad, Sweden.