The start to the WSK Final Cup in Franciacorta

Qualifying practice kicked off the second round of the WSK Final Cup, the first qualifying heats will follow. Heats will continue throughout Saturday and on Sunday, November 26th, Prefinals and Finals will enjoy TV Live Streaming coverage.

The second and final round of the WSK Final Cup has begun at the Franciacorta Karting Track with the qualifying sessions on Friday. This event marks the conclusion of the WSK Promotion season, and on Sunday, November 26th, it will determine the final titles of 2023 in MINI, OKJ, OK and KZ2, as well as in the two federal categories OKN and OKNJ to be run in a single round.

As usual, the excellent competitiveness that is standard for WSK events is defining this final event, reaching another significant milestone in terms of participation with over 340 drivers, replicating the numbers from Lonato. The Lonato event on November 19th has already indicated the initial protagonists of the WSK Final Cup 2023, but the current provisional standings can undergo significant and unpredictable developments due to the higher points awarded in this second round at Franciacorta. Meanwhile, some surprises have already occurred in Friday's qualifying sessions.

Qualifying practice.

OKJ – Van Langendonck is the fastest of all, as Rocchio and Pesl show a solid pace.

In OK-Junior, Session-1, the best time in qualifying belongs to the Italian Gino Rocchio (#400 DR/DR-TM kart-Vega) with a time of 47.892s. He has been leading by 0.052s over the Austrian Niklas Schaufler (#345 DPK Racing/KR-Iame) and 0.092s over the Romanian David Cosma Cristofor (#302 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame).

In Session-2, the fastest time was set by the Czech Jindrich Pesl (#353 Monster K/Intrepid-TM Kart) in 47.956s, who was 0.027s ahead of the points leader Sebastian Lehtimaki (#311 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex), and 0.041s clear of the Chinese driver Xiao Yu Sun (#341 Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex).

In Session-3, the best performance at 47.760s came from the Belgian Dries Van Langendonck (#329 Forza racing/Exprit-TM Kart), who put in the overall fastest time. He was ahead of the Italian Davide Bottaro (#310 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) by just 0.013s and the Englishman Roman Kamyab (#326 Ricky Flynn Motorsport/LN Kart-TM Kart) by 0.064s.

OK – Classification leader Matveev posts the fastest time in practice.

In the first session of OK, the best performance was set by the German Taym Saleh (#210 Sauber Academy/KR-Iame-LeCont) with a time of 46.898s who pipped the Australian Xavier Avramides (#214 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) by 0.003s and the American Vivek Kanthan (#240 Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Kart) by 0.005s.

In Session-2, the current points leader Dmitry Matveev (#204 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) achieved the absolute best performance with a time of 46.549s, leading the Italian Sebastiano Pavan (#218 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex) by 0.090s and the German Thibaut Ramaekers (#227 VDK Racing/KR-Iame) by 0.170s.

MINI Gr.3 Under 10 – Loomets is the fastest in qualifying practice.

Two qualifying sessions were also needed in the MINI Gr.3 U10. The fastest in Session-1 was the French driver Stan Fagot (#Beaumont Kevin/FA-Iame-Vega) with a time of 54.348s, while the Bulgarian Alexander Lazarus (#505 Team Driver/KR-Iame) was 0.017s behind, and the current points leader, the Italian Niccolò Perico (#557 Energy Corse/Energy-TM Kart), posted the third time at 0.080s.

In Session-2, the Estonian Mark Loomets (#558 Energy Corse/Energy-TM Kart) achieved the absolute best performance in 54.050s, but with a margin of just 0.065s over the Spanish driver Lorente Daniel Miron (#501 Team Driver/KR-Iame) and 0.079s over the Portuguese Xavier Lazaro (#552 DR/DR-TM Kart).

MINI Gr.3 – Crisan posts the fastest time.

In the two sessions of MINI Gr.3, the best time was set by the Canadian Ilie Crisan Tristan (#539 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) in 53.405s. The American Devin Walz (#514 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) secured the second position, 0.201s behind, with his teammate, the Austrian Mariano Lopez, just two thousandths further back. The points leader, Cristian Blandino (#622 CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Kart), posted the fifth time, trailing by 0.279s.

In Session-2, the fastest was the Swiss driver Albert Tamm (#523 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame), ahead of the Spaniard Manuel Miguez (#561 CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Kart) by 0.246s, and the Italian Michele Orlando (#556 DR/DR-TM Kart) by 0.288s. 

KZ2 – Leuillet is the fastest as a lot of new drivers come to the fore.

In KZ2, the first session introduced some new contenders, with the best time set by the Czech driver Marek Skrivan (#21 Sumako IPK Racing/IPK-TM Kart-LeCont) at 45.845s. He edged out his teammate Vladimir Verkholantsev by 0.019s and the Swiss driver Ethan Frigomosca (#62 Gerber/Maranello-TM Kart) by 0.046s.

In Session-2, the French driver Tom Leuillet (#10 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex) took the lead with a time of 45.680s, also securing the overall best time. He was followed by the Czech driver Egor Nosov (#22 Sumako IPK Racing/IPK-TM Kart) at 0.033s and Maksim Orlov (#27 Modena Kart/Parolin-TM Kart) at 0.050s. However, the protagonists from the previous round in Lonato faced a bit of a setback: Cristian Bertuca (#1 BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Kart) secured the ninth time, trailing by 0.209s, and Matteo Zanchi (#52 Zanchi Motorsport/CRG-TM Kart), the leader and winner in Lonato, got the tenth time, trailing by 0.218s

OK-N Junior – Gryc is the fastest.

The fastest of OKNJ was the Polish driver Bruno Gryc (#706 MLG Racing/Parolin-TM Kart-Vega) with a time of 48.753s. He was 0.048s ahead of the Dutch driver Dean Hoogendoorn (#726 AKM Motorsport/KR-Iame) and 0.090s ahead of the Italian Giacomo Giusto (#711 Modena Kart/Parolin-TM Kart). The other top performances came from the Slovakian Alex Molota (#702 Firefly/Exprit-TM Kart) with the fourth time at 0.114s and the Swiss driver Kais Aziza (#710 Gamoto/Tony Kart-TM Kart) at 0.150s. Following them were the Romanian Bogdan Cosma-Cristofor (#712 Team Driver/KR-Iame) at 0.155s, the English driver Noah Baglin (#716 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) at 0.162s, and the Dutch driver Billy Van Staveren (#714 Modena Kart/Parolin-TM Kart) at 0.186s.

OK-N – Sarg leads the pack.

In OKN, the Estonian Robin Sarg (#810 Novalux/Lenzokart-LKE-Vega) stood out with a time of 48.565s, leading the Italian Andrea Volpato (#M2 Racing/Gillard-TM Kart) by 0.067s and Federico Rossi (#811 PRK/Tony Kart-TM Kart) by 0.146s. The latter preceded the Swede Leon Hedfors (#813 DR/DR-Modena Engines) by just 3 thousandths, while Lamberto Ferrari (#804 Sumako IPK Racing/IPK-Modena Engines) secured the fifth time at 0.323s.

After the qualifying practice, the first day of racing concludes with the qualifying heats.

The program in Franciacorta.
Saturday, November 25th: warm up at 8:00; Heats at 09:40; Prefinals OKNJ, OKN at 16:00.
Sunday, November 26th: warm up at 8:00; Prefinals at 09:40, Finals with Live TV and Live
Streaming from 12:40: 12:40 OKNJ, 13:10 OKN, 13:40 OKJ; 14:10 OK, 14:40 MINI U10; 15:10 MINI GR.3; 15:40 KZ2.