Published on Friday, April 14, 2023

Qualifying practice of WSK Open Series in Castelletto

The pole sitters of the third round of the championship are Zulfikari (MINI Gr.3), Legenkyi (MINI Gr.3 U10), Kuzhnini (X30 Junior), and Albanese (X30 Senior). The official first day of the WSK Open Series started on Friday with qualification practice at the International 7 Laghi Kart Circuit in Castelletto di Branduzzo.

The MINI category, which is reserved for young drivers aged 8-10 and 10-12 from 33 different nationalities, was particularly lively and competitive as usual, marking the penultimate event of the WSK Open Series. Meanwhile, for the X30 Junior and X30 Senior categories, which have drivers from 14 nationalities, the Castelletto round represents the final act valid for the assignment of their respective titles after the first two rounds held in Lonato and Cremona.

MINI GR.3 – Zulfikari takes the pole position.

The qualifying sessions of the MINI Gr.3 took place in two Sessions. In Session-1, the fastest was young Turkish driver Iskender Zulfikari (#552 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega), who set an impressive time of 53.651s in the final moments. The Swiss driver Dan Allemann (#552 Spirit-Racing/Parolin-Iame) secured the second fastest time, only 0.309s behind Zulfikari, followed closely by the American driver Devin Walz (#514 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) at 0.316s, and his teammate Mark Pilipenko, also from the United States, at 0.330s. Ilia Berezkin (#542 Team Driver/KR-Iame) finished with a time of 0.385s behind the leader.

In Session-2, the fastest time was set by the Australian driver William Calleja (#516 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) with a time of 53.746s, which was just slightly higher than Zulfikari's time. The English driver Noah Baglin (#521 iKart/KR-Iame) secured the second fastest time, only 0.079s behind, followed closely by the Dutch driver Dean Hoogendoorn (#501 Kidix/KR-Iame), the current leader of the standings, who achieved the third fastest time, only 0.083s behind. Slightly further behind were the Romanian driver Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (#539 Team Driver/KR-Iame) at 0.202s and the American driver Keelan Harvick (#513 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) at 0.206s.

MINI GR.3 UNDER 10 – Legenkyi is the fastest

Two Sessions have also been run for the qualifying of the MINI Gr.3 U10. In Session-1, the Ukrainian driver Oleksandr Legenkyi (#536 Team Driver/KR-Iame-Vega) showed his skills with the best time of 53.931s, which placed him 0.032s ahead of the Polish driver Leonardo Gorski (#511 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) and 0.042s ahead of the winner of the previous race in Cremona, the Italian driver Michele Orlando (#618 IPK Official/IPK-TM). The fourth fastest time was set by another Italian, Achille Rea (#544 CRG Racing Team/CRG-Iame), 0.079s behind, and the fifth fastest time was by the Swiss driver Albert Tamm (#510 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) at 0.108s.

In Session-2, Hong Kong’s driver John Han (#555 Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM) took the lead with a time of 54.267s, slightly ahead of Legenkyi. The second fastest time was secured by the championship leader, the Belgian driver Antoine Venant (#572 Kidix/KR-Iame) at 0.118s. The third best performance was by the Italian driver Niccolò Perico (#566 Energy Corse/Energy-TM) at 0.172s. He qualified ahead of the Slovakian driver Alex Molota (#561 Firefly/EKS-TM), who stopped the clock at 0.195s and the Italian driver Edoardo Colucci (#563 CMT/Parolin-TM) at 0.220s.

X30 JUNIOR – Kuzhnini posts the fastest time.

In the single session of X30 Junior, the fastest was the Swiss driver Tiziano Kuzhnini (#707 Team Driver/Tony Kart-Iame-MG) with a time of 50.203s. He led the Italian Riccardo Ferrari (#712 Zanchi Motorsport/Tony Kart-Iame) by 0.036s and the championship leader Rocco Coronel (#704 Martinis/Red Speed-Iame) by 0.062s. Fourth fastest was the Italian driver Filippo Pancotti (#710 Team Driver/Tony Kart-Iame) with a gap to the top of 0.162s, and fifth fastest was another Italian driver, Davide Mizzoni (#702 Italcorse/Italcorse-Iame)at 0.246s.

X30 SENIOR – Albanese very quick from the beginning.

The leaderboard was defined in the last few meters with the best performance posted by the Italian driver Federico Albanese (#846 Italcorse/Italcorse-Iame-MG), making his debut in the WSK Open Series. He narrowly surpassed the Austrian driver Nando Weixelbaumer (#833 Martinis/Red Speed-Iame), who set the second fastest time, just 0.026s behind, while another Italian driver, Federico Rossi (#805 PRK/Tony Kart-Iame) was in third place, 0.072s behind. The Italian driver Erika Lavazza (#803 Virus Racing/Tony Kart-Iame) also performed well taking the fourth fastest time at 0.131s, with a lead of 0.002s over Danny Carenini (#801 Energy Corse/Energy-Iame), who is second in the standings. The championship leader from France Andy Ratel (#842 Kidix/KR-Iame) posted the ninth fastest time being 0.307s behind.

The program of the WSK Open Series, Round 3, International Circuit 7 Laghi Kart:

Saturday, April 15th: warm-up from 9:00 a.m.; qualifying heats from 11:10 a.m.
Sunday, April 16th: warm-up from 9:00 a.m.; Live Streaming from 11:10 a.m. with Prefinals and from 13:50 p.m. with Finals (13:50 MINI U10, 14:20 MINI GR.3, 14:50 X30 Junior and 15:20 X30 Senior).