The Champions of the Future Euro Series has christened the brand new Rodby circuit in Denmark. Used by 43 drivers competing in OK and OK-Junior, the KR chassis immediately felt at home. Victories in the Qualifying Heats followed in quick succession on this unique track, which the drivers had to tame to aim for the best possible result. The event ended with a magnificent all-round performance in OK with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places, while Antonov, Martinese and Saleh had just put their best foot forward in the previous OK-Junior Final. Alex Powell and his KR-IAME are the new series leaders in OK, while Antonov remains well placed in OK-Junior.
Prema Racing drivers in top form
The partnership between KR Global Motorsport Company and the Prema Racing team continues to prove its effectiveness at every event. In Denmark, Alex Powell won four of the five heats, as well as the Super Heat! The Final was marked by intense duels and the Jamaican ended up in 2nd place just ahead of his team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta. It was Powell who scored the most points over the meeting as a whole, taking him to the top of the provisional rankings. In his first year in OK, Thailand's Enzo Tarnvanichkul continues to make great strides. In the Final, he climbed back up to 4th place, completing the Prema Racing team's magnificent overall performance. China's Yuanpu Cui, who had more difficulty in the heats, recovered well in the Final to climb from 29th to 13th place.
Kutskov and Sammalisto confirm in OK
The Finnish driver in the KR Motorsport team was looking forward to breaking into the top ten this season, and now he has done just that! Luka Sammalisto, always on the pace, climbed back up to 7th in the Final. Kirill Kutskov (DPK Racing), who had already finished 5th in the WSK at the end of April, repeated that excellent result in Denmark. In all, there were no fewer than five KR chassis in the top 10! Congratulations also to Maksimilian Popov, who climbed from 32nd to 11th place, Australian Xavier Avramides, who achieved his best performance at this level with 14th place, and Nacho Tunon (DPK Racing), who jumped nine places to 18th. Joe Turney, Thomas Strauven and Fionn MacLaughlin all won in the heats, but their success was to prove elusive in the Final.
OK-Junior: Antonov and Martinese battle for the podium
At Rodby, Iacopo Martinese (Cetilar Racing) and Stepan Antonov (KR Motorsport) held onto 2nd place for a long time during the Final and the podium was within reach for both young drivers. The suspense lasted right up to the last lap, but it didn't go in favor of the highly competitive KR-IAME team. Antonov dropped from 2nd to 4th place in the space of a few corners, while Martinese had to be content with 5th place, just ahead of Taym Saleh (Sauber Academy). Two other KRs were a little further back with Augustus Toniolo, who had climbed from 33rd to 10th, and Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing), 11th after moving up 16 places.
Winner of two heats, Thibaut Ramaekers (VDK Racing) may have regretted the collision at the start of the Final. The Belgian remains well placed in 4th position in the provisional series standings, sandwiched between Antonov in 3rd and Martinese in 5th. As for Oleksandr Bondarev, he was caught up in a collision at the start of the Final.
"On the whole, the new track has been well received by our drivers," commented Glenn Keyaert, one of the heads of the competition department. "Of course, some of the infrastructure is still being finished, but it gives the Nordic countries another circuit capable of hosting major international competitions. Overall, we're delighted with the performance of our equipment at Rodby and we'll be approaching the FIA Karting European Championship with even greater ambitions. I would like to congratulate all our drivers on their performance, especially Stepan Antonov who had not raced for several weeks due to travel difficulties during the May events.”