After the morning qualifying sessions, the first day of competition at the International Circuit Napoli in Sarno continued with the first series of heats in the categories MINI Gr.3, MINI U10, OKJ, OK, OKNJ, and KZ2. The heats will conclude on Friday to determine the finalists who will compete for the category titles on Saturday, with live TV and live streaming coverage.
OKJ – The first heat goes to Costoya.
The final lap of the first heat in OKJ saw the victory going to the Spanish driver Christian Costoya (#337 Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Kart-Vega). He secured the win in the final duel against the championship leader, the Austrian Niklas Schaufler (#301 DPK Racing/KR-Iame), and the pole position holder, the Turkish driver Iskender Zulfikari (#307 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame). Among the top performers, the Dutch driver Dean Hoogendoorn (#319 AKM Motorsport/KR-Iame) ended in fourth place and the Swedish driver Scott Lindblom (#369 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) in fifth.
OKNJ – A surprising Molota.
The first heat of OK-N Junior brought some surprises. The victory went to the Slovakian driver Alex Molota (#717 Firefly/Gillard-TM Kart-Vega), who started fifth but made a comeback to take the lead in the race, narrowly defeating the Italian Valerio Viapiana (#702 Team Driver/KR-Iame), also making a comeback. However, the pole position holder from Italy Gioele Carrer (#723 Scarpi Racing/Parolin-Iame-Vega), lost positions and finished only ninth. The championship leader, the Romanian Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (#711 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart), secured a sixth-place finish.
MINI Gr.3 Under 10 - Palacio and Simone take the two heats.
In the two heats of MINI Gr.3 Under 10, the victory in heat A-B went to the American Lucas Palacio (#575 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega), who had secured the pole position in the Session-1 of qualifying. In heat C-D, it was the Canadian Rocco Simone (#565 Fusion Motorsport/KR-Iame) who surprised everyone. Palacio triumphed over the Portuguese Xavier Lazaro (#519 SM Racing/OTK-TM Kart) and the Italian Achille Rea (#515 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex). The current leader in the standings, the Italian Niccolò Perico (#526 Energy Corse/Energy-TM Kart), finished in sixth place. In the C-D heat, Rocco Simone preceded the Swede Carl Nellegard (#553 Ward Racing/Tony Kart-TM Kart) and the Belgian Henri Kumpen (#534 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex).
MINI GR.3 - Calleja wins the duel with Miron.
The championship leader, the Australian William Calleja (#516 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega), prevailed in the battle for victory against the Spanish driver Daniel Miron Lorente (#501 Team Driver/KR-Iame) and the Italian Julian Frasnelli (#591 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame). The Italian Cristian Blandino (#550 Kalì-Kart Racing/TGroup-TM Kart) made a recovery to the fourth position, the Swiss driver Albert Tamm (#518 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) finished fifth, and the Dane Matteis Stigsen (#556 CRG Racing Team/TGroup-TM Kart), who secured pole position in qualifying, finished sixth.
KZ2 – Great runs by Orlov and Leuillet.
Two heats were contested for the KZ2 category. In heat A-B, the victory was claimed by Maksim Orlov (#44 Modena Kart/Parolin-TM Kart-Vega), dominating the race ahead of the Estonian Markus Kajak (#14 Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Kart) and the Romanian Daniel Vasile (#4 BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Kart) making a comeback. The Frenchman Tom Leuillet (#33 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex), the winner in the last race at Franciacorta, secured victory in heat C-D against the championship leader, the Italian Cristian Bertuca (#1 BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Kart), and the Spanish driver Genis Civico (#85 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex).
OK - Walther wins the first heat.
In the battle for victory in the first heat, the Danish driver David Walther (#257 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex-LeCont) prevailed over the pole-sitter, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev (#201 Prema Racing/KR-Iame). The top two in the championship standings, respectively the Belgian Ean Eyckmans (#209 BirelART Racing/TM Kart) and the Italian Sebastiano Pavan (#218 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex) ended in third and fourth places.
The program of the WSK Super Master Series, Rd4 Sarno:
Friday, March 1st: warm up from 8:40; heats from 11:20.
Saturday, March 2nd: warm-up from 8:30; Live TV and Live Streaming from 9:50 for Prefinals and from 12:15 for the Finals (12:15 OKJ; 12:45 OK; 13:15 OKNJ, 13:45 MINI U10, MINI Gr.3 14:15, 14:45 KZ2).