The best performances in qualifying practice were set by Costoya in OKJ, Bogdan Cosma Cristofor in OKNJ, Miron Lorente in MINI Gr.3, Nellegard in MINI Gr.3 U10, Denner in KZ2, and Bondarev in OK. Qualifying heats will get underway shortly. The grand finale will take place on Sunday, January 28th with TV Live Streaming coverage.

An extraordinary paddock featuring the major manufacturers and world-class teams marked the start of the 2024 WSK Super Master Series at the South Garda Karting in Lonato. This is the first of four events organized by WSK Promotion, and it celebrates the 15th edition of this international series. Approximately 330 drivers from over 50 countries are participating, just one week after the WSK Champions Cup.

The event kicked off with Friday morning's qualifying sessions, where competitors in the MINI, OKNJ, OKJ, OK, and KZ2 categories aimed for the best results in this intense and competitive start to the season. The program continues with the qualifying heats. On Sunday, January 28th, the grand finale featuring prefinals and finals will be streamed live.

OKJ - Costoya, Lindblom, and Schaufler are quick from the go. 

In OK-Junior, the standout performers from the recent WSK Champions Cup quickly left their mark. In Session-1, the fastest time was set by the Austrian Niklas Schaufler (#301 DPK Racing/KR-Iame-Vega) with a time of 47.145s, which was ahead of Belgian Dries Van Langendonck (#328 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart) by 0.048. However, an even faster performance came in Session-2 from the Spaniard Christian Costoya (#337 Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Kart) with a time of 46.957s. He led the American Jack Dennis Iliffe (#330 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart) by 0.124s. Making his seasonal debut, the Swedish driver Scott Lindblom (#369 Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) recorded the best time in Session-3 and the second-best overall with a time of 47.034s, which was 0.078s faster than Italian Filippo Sala’s time (#327 Ricky Flynn/LN-TM Kart).     

OKNJ - Bogdan Cosma Cristofor puts his name forward.

In OKN Junior, the Romanian driver Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (#711 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart-Vega) claimed the best performance with a time of 47.469s. He was followed by the Japanese driver Sara Matsui (#708 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) at 0.129s and the Italian Valerio Viapiana (#702 Team Driver/KR-Iame) at 0.193s. Among the other top performers, the Italian Ludovico Mazzola (#713 Mazzola/Exprit-Vortex) was 0.222s shy of the top, the English driver Archie Lovatt (#712 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart) 0.239s and Pietro Bagutti (#701 Gamoto/Tony Kart-TM Kart) 0.284s.

MINI GR.3 - Miron Lorente sets the pole position time.

In Session-1, Sofia Povazhnaia (#595 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) surprised with the fastest time of 52.582s, narrowly ahead of Italian Manuel Martufi (#566 FK Motorsport/IPK-Iame) by 0.033s and Daniil Kutskov (#508 Team Driver/KR-Iame) by 0.045s. However, the Spaniard driver Daniel Miron Lorente (#501 Team Driver/KR-Iame) was the overall fastest with the best time in Session-2 (52.019s). The gaps here are also quite small: 0.057s on the Australian William Calleja (#516 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) and 0.080s on the winner of the recent WSK Champions Cup, the Italian Cristian Blandino (#550 Kalì-Kart/TGroup-TM Kart).

MINI GR.3 U10 – Nellegard has the upper hand.

Millimetric gaps among characterized the charts of the youngest drivers in the Under 10 category. The absolute fastest time in Session-2 is set by the Swedish driver Carl Nellegard (#553 Ward Racing/Tony Kart-TM Kart) at 52.325s, while the winner of the WSK Champions Cup, the Italian Niccolò Perico (#526 Energy Corse/Energy-TM Kart), took P2 at 0.031s, and the American Lucas Palacio (#575 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) finished third at 0.213s. In Session-1, the fastest was Lorenzo Di Pietrantonio (#511 BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) at 52.333s, with the second time at 0.170s by Greek driver Jason Kosmopoulos (#558 CRG Racing Team/TGroup-TM Kart) and the third time at 0.228s by Stepan Mazepin (#517 SM Racing/OTK-TM Kart)

KZ2 - Denner leads Hiltbrand by 0.020s.

Great competitiveness was displayed as usual by KZ2, where the French driver Emilien Denner (#11 Sodikart/Sodi-TM Kart-Vega) immediately stood out with the absolute best time of 45.175s in Session-1. However, just the Spanish driver Pedro Hiltbrand (#16 BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Kart) was just 0.020s shy of him and the winner of the WSK Champions Cup from Estonia Markus Kajak (#14 Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Kart) 0.050s. Making his debut with Tony Kart, the Dutch driver Marijn Kremers secured the sixth time being 0.126s off the pace. In Session-2, the fastest was the Romanian driver Daniel Vasile (#4 BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Kart) with a time of 45.433s, followed at 0.045s behind by teammate Cristian Bertuca and at 0.051s by the German driver Daniel Stell (#27 Dorr Motorsport/KR-Iame).

OK - Bondarev confirms his pace.

The winner of the OK category in the last round of the WSK Champions Cup, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev (#201 Prema Racing/KR-Iame-LeCont), confirmed his speed in this event by securing pole position in Session-1 with a time of 46.478s. The Italian Sebastiano Pavan (#218 Tony Kart Racing Team/OTK-Vortex) followed him closely, just 0.047s behind, while the third-fastest time went to English driver Lewis Wherrell (#229 Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Kart) at 0.152s. In Session-2, the fastest was the Colombian Salim Hanna (#208 Prema Racing/KR-Iame) with a time of 46.495s, ahead of Gerasim Skulanov (#233 DPK Racing/KR-Iame) by 0.113s and the Romanian David Cosma Cristofor (#205 KR Motorsport/KR-Iame).

The program of the WSK Super Master Series, Rd1 Lonato:

Saturday, January 27th: warm-up at 8:30; qualifying heats from 10:20.

Sunday, January 28th: warm-up at 8:00; Live on TV and Live Streaming from 9:30 Prefinals and Finals from 12:45 (12:45 MINI U10, 13:15 MINI GR3, 14:00 OKJ, 14:30 KZ2; 15:00 OK; 15:30 OKNJ).