Published on Monday, April 3, 2023

Exciting Finals of the WSK Open Series at the Cremona Circuit

The Finals of the second round of the WSK Open Series went to Pex (KZ2), Orlando (MINI Gr3 U10), Cosma Cristofor (MINI Gr.3), Pancotti (X30 Junior) and Ratel (X30 Senior). After qualifying practice and heats run in good weather, some rain arrived in the morning to affect the final phase of the second round of the WSK Open Series at the Cremona Circuit.

MINI, KZ2, X30 Junior and X30 Senior categories took to the track on the 1224-meter circuit of the newly built facility that hosted a WSK event for the first time. MINI confirmed once again on this occasion that it is the propaedeutic category par excellence with an international parterre of more than 80 drivers, aged 8 to 12, from 31 countries. Weather conditions fortunately clearly improved to the point where the finals could be run on dry asphalt. Before the start of the Finals, the young Swiss Elia Epifanio was remembered. He has been competing in the WSK series and unfortunately passed away recently following a sudden illness.

The winners of the Prefinals.

The winners of the Prefinals held on Sunday morning were the following:

MINI Gr.3 Under 10 – Prefinal: Leonardo Gorski (POL) (#511 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega).

MINI Gr.3 – Prefinal-A: Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD) (#501 Kidix/KR-Iame-Vega);
Prefinal-B: William Calleja (AUS) (#516 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega).

KZ2 – Prefinal: Stan Pex (NLD) (#13 SP Motorsport/KR-TM-LeCont).

X30 Junior – Prefinal: Rocco Coronel (NLD) (#704 Fath/Red Speed-Iame-MG).

X30 Senior – Prefinal: Cristian Comanducci (ITA) (#806 PRK/Tony Kart-Iame-MG).

The Finals.

KZ2 – Pex dominates the race in Cremona and takes the championship lead.

The Dutchman Stan Pex (#13 SP Motorsport/KR-TM-LeCont) had no problem winning the Final as well after dominating the Prefinal held on wet asphalt with a big lead. The Dutch driver hit all the targets in Cremona, from pole position to first position after the heats and then the victory in the final phase. Behind Pex, the two Italians Alessandro Minetto (#39 ErreEsse/Parolin-TM) and Daniele Federici (#43 KartXXL/BirelArt-TM) ended in the order at the end of a duel between the two. Fourth across the line was the Canadian Nicholas Taylor (#40 GP Racing/GP-TM), fifth was the German Lucas Scherbinskas (#22 NSL/Sodi-TM). The new classification leader is now Stan Pex.

KZ2 Final Result:
Stan Pex (NLD)
Alessandro Minetto (ITA)
Daniele Federici (ITA)

KZ2 Standings:
Stan Pex (NLD) points 141
Senna Van Walstijn (NLD) points 88
Alessandro Minetto (ITA) points 80.

MINI GR.3 UNDER 10 – Orlando has the upper hand in the Final.

The Final of the MINI Gr.3 Under 10 was rather lively and Michele Orlando (#618 IPK Official/IPK-TM-Vega) eventually came out on top in the very last lap of the race. The Italian driver, who started from the fifth row of the grid, soon made up ground and took the win ahead of two other protagonists, the other Italian Achille Rea (#544 CRG Racing Team/CRG-Iame) who started from the third row, and the Swiss Albert Tamm (#510 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) who started from the seventh row. At the end of the race, however, the most displeased was the Belgian son of Henri Kumpen (#549 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame), who led until the very last stages of the race and then finished seventh at the finish line. Fourth was the Slovak Alex Molota (#561 Firelly/EKS-TM), who ended ahead of the Italian Edoardo Colucci (#563 CMT/Parolin-TM) and the Swede Maximus Unt (#569 Ward Racing/Tony Kart-TM).

MINI GR.3 U10 Final Result:
Michele Orlando (ITA)
Achille Rea (ITA)
Albert Tamm (CHE)

MINI GR.3 U10 Standings:
Antoine Venant (FRA) points 97
Henri Kumpen (BEL) points 79
Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi (AUS) points 77

MINI GR.3 – Cosma Cristofor takes the win in the closing meters.

The MINI GR.3 Final was also quite lively with several drivers having a go to the victory. In the final meters, the young Romanian Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (#539 Team Driver/KR-Iame-Vega) won the race at the end of a great duel with the American Asher Ochstein (CRG Racing Team/CRG-Iame), who ended in second place and Vladimir Ivannikov (#522 Gamoto/EKS-TM) in third. The Dutchman Dean Hoogendoorn (#501 Kidix/KR-Iame), leading in the early laps, had to settle for fourth, as did the Englishman Noah Baglin (#521 iKart/KR-Iame), initially second, and eventually fifth. Disappointment for the Turkish Iskender Zulfikari (#502 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame), who ended only ninth after starting from the front row, and for Australian William Calleja (#516 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) who was among the protagonists at the beginning of the race and then retired. In the championship, Hoogendoorn maintains the lead with 10 points more of Cosma Cristofor.

MINI GR.3 Final Result:
Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (ROU)
Asher Ochstein (USA)
Vladimir Ivannikov

MINI GR.3 Standings:
Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD) points 128
Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (ROU) points 118
William Calleja (AUS) points 96

X30 JUNIOR – Pancotti takes the win.

The finishing order of the X30 Junior changed after a succession of overtakes for the final victory. The Romanian David Cosma Cristofor (#729 Kidix/KR-Iame-MG), first across the line, was eventually given a 3s penalty and slipped down to fourth place. The victory then went to the Italian Filippo Pancotti (#710 Team Driver/Tony Kart-Iame), who finished ahead of the Dutchman Rocco Coronel (#704 Fath/Red Speed-Iame). The latter led the race for a few laps and also on the penultimate lap. The third position went to the Swiss Tiziano Kuzhnini (#707 Team Driver/Tony Kart-Iame), who has also been leading the race in some laps. In the championship, the leadership is still in the hands of Coronel.

X30 Junior Final Result:
Filippo Pancotti (ITA)
Rocco Coronel (NLD)
Tiziano Kuzhnini (CHE)

X30 Junior Standings:
Rocco Coronel (NLD) points 142
Tiziano Kuzhnini (CHE) points 120
Filippo Pancotti (ITA) points 106

X30 SENIOR – Ratel takes the win and the championship lead.

France's Andy Ratel (#842 Beaumont/KR-Iame-MG) started from pole position but then made a comeback after being forced to give up several positions, and eventually won the X30 Senior Final. The second place was taken by China's Lin Jingxuan (MLG Racing/Parolin-Iame). Among the top performers, the fast Erika Lavazza (#803 Virus Racing/Tony Kart-Iame) took third place after being in the lead several times and then got on the podium following a penalty imposed on Austrian Nando Weixelbaumer (#833 Fath/Red Speed-Iame).

The German Colin Wurthenberger (#827 KGT Motorsport/Tony Kart-Iame) finished fifth ahead of the Italian Nicholas Tomasella (#840 MLG Racing/Iame), who started from the back of the grid. The overall leader Danny Carenini (#801 Energy Corse/Energy-Iame) was forced to retire due to an accident. In the championship, Andy Ratel moved therefore into the lead.