On the occasion of the third round of the FIA Karting European Championship, the Tony Kart Racing Team achieves the victory in the OKJ class with Harley Keeble. Unfortunately, a good result in the OK class is missing.
The International Circuit of Naples is the theatre of another important success for the Tony Kart Racing Team. After the title in the OKJ class of the WSK Euro Series two weeks ago, the victory also comes along the third round of the FIA Karting European Championship for OK-OKJ classes. The leader is, once again, their Tony Kart Racer 401R chassis, set up, as usual, with the Vortex engines: the DST (OK) and the DJT (OKJ).
In OKJ category, they are on the starting grid of the final with all their five drivers who, considering the results obtained in the heats, have very good chances to win. After a pole position in the Friday's qualifying heats and three wins in the Saturday's ones, James Egozi jumps from the second place and, in the early stages of the race, is their best representative. It’s Harley Keeble joining the leading group, after recovering from the ninth starting grid box and then struggling for the first position. Keeble moves up to the third position, making the most of a gap left open by the rival in front of him and obtaining the temporary second position. The British driver gets closer and closer to the leader of the race and, with a strong acceleration coming out from the last bend, grabs the victory for just 2 thousandths of a second. This way, the WSK Euro Series 2021 champion celebrates, 15 days later, also an important success in the FIA Karting European Championship. In the meantime, Egozi ends his race in seventh position and ahead of his teammate Jan Przyrowski, eighth. Also The Polish driver shows during the whole weekend to have the necessary speed to aim at the top positions, as shown by the best timing in his qualifying group, a victory and two podiums in the qualifying heats. Jimmy Helias is getting more and more familiar with the “Junior class” after starting the season in the MINI. The French driver is constantly improving his performance, heat after heat: in the qualifying heats he is close to the Top 10 and in the eliminatory heats he scores a fourth place as his best result. Alexander Gubenko is, unlike his teammates, unlucky in the final and retires before the start: a pity, also because the Russian driver climbs a total of 24 positions both in the qualifying and the eliminatory heats.
In OK class, the bad luck strikes their three drivers. Joseph Turney is in the top positions for the whole weekend, running in the Top 5 since the qualifying heats already and collecting, during the qualifying heats, a victory and three third places. Unfortunately, a collision triggered by another driver at the start forces the British driver to leave the race even before tackling the first corner. A bitter taste remains for not having been able to show all their potential in this category, also considering that Bruno Del Pino and Tuukka Taponen do not end the weekend in a brilliant way.
No rest for the Tony Kart Racing Team: next weekend (July 15th - 18th) the second round of the Champions of the Future, reserved to OK and OKJ classes, will be held on the Spanish circuit of Zuera.