Tony Kart: success in OK class at the Final Cup in Lonato
On the occasion of the first out of the two rounds of the Series promoted by WSK Promotion, held at the South Garda Karting track (Italy), the Tony Kart Racer 401 RR finish on the first step of the podium the final reserved for the OK category.
Penultimate appointment of the 2024 season for the Tony Kart Racing Team, engaged for the first round, out of two, of the WSK Final Cup. At the South Garda Karting of Lonato del Garda, their Tony Kart Racer 401 RR is on track – with the 2025 livery already, in the OK and OKJ categories, powered by the VTS and VTJ engines, respectively, from the Vortex factory, the “engine division” of OTK Kart Group. In the MINI Gr.3 U10, on the other hand, the Racing Team puts on track the unmissable Tony Kart Rookie, powered by the Vortex VTM.
In OK class, after the assignment of the pole position to a Tony Kart Racer 401 RR chassis, at the end of the qualifying practices, the qualifying heats allow David Walther to enter the top-ranking positions: actually, in the intermediate ranking of Saturday night, the Danish driver takes the eighth place, also confirmed after the top-5 obtained in the B prefinal on Sunday morning. The final initially sees Walther keeping his own starting position but in the next laps,
The final sees Walther initially retain his starting position and then, in the following laps, enter into a fight with his rivals for the fifth place. Having gained the fourth place halfway during the race, our driver crosses the finish line on the podium, hosting at the highest step just a “Racer” chassis. Positive debut for Jindrich Pesl with the Tony Kart Racing Team. Thanks to a stop in the B pre-final, in which he started from the fifth row, the Czech driver is forced to climb up from the bottom in the final; nevertheless, Pesl shows off during the race and recovers as many as 18 positions. Tough performance for Thomas Pradier, in his first race among the “Seniors,” able to gain 10 positions in the final and finish close to the top-10.
For the first time lined up among the Senior drivers with their colors, Macauley Bishop improves steadily over the weekend, until expressing his full potential in the final: from the ninth row, the British driver, thanks to a stout pace, reaches the sixth position in just three laps. A collision with another driver, however, irreversibly compromises his final result, which seemed to be really hopeful, given the speed expressed in the very first laps of the final, a race also attended by Oliver Rasmussen, at his absolute debut in OK class.
First absolute presence with their sports division for Cian Geraghty and Augustus Lawrence who, together with Maria Germano Neto, obtained some interesting chronometric feedback during the weekend.
In OKJ, Ilie Tristan Crisan experiences a constantly top weekend. The Canadian driver sets the second best time in his group of the qualifying practices and gets a victory and two top-3 places in the qualifying heats. A collision on the last lap forces Crisan to retire in A Prefinal, but despite this he is in contention for a podium place throughout the final, which also sees Augustus Toniolo at the starting grid. Second race with the Tony Kart Racing Team for Cole Denholm, while Oliver Sini makes his first appearance in the category, after several successes in the MINI category with the team.
In the MINI Gr.3 U10, Tiberius Müller hits the top-5 in his own group during the qualifyings and gains access to the final quite easily. Linghan Li obtains a second place as best result in the qualifying heats and proves to be their best placed driver in the final. After an unlucky qualifying, Jean Poujol exploits all the potential that the Tony Kart-Vortex technical package can offer him and in the qualifying heats he recovers as many as 30 positions - amazing his recovery of 20 positions in the B-D heat! – gaining a leading role in the B pre-final. The French driver, in fact, starts in 13th position, but gets the fourth on the first lap already, sets the second best time of the race and fights to the last for victory; however, a collision forces him to raise the white flag and to start again from the back in the final. Henri Moehring is involved in an accident on Saturday that forces him to end the weekend prematurely. Finally, Andrea Iannone makes his official debut with the Tony Kart Racing Team.
The last appointment of the WSK Final Cup is scheduled in two weeks (November 21st-24th) at the Cremona Karting circuit in San Martino del Lago (Italy).