Rain arrived at the South Garda Karting Circuit of Lonato to make things tricky in the first part of the weekend of the only round of the WSK Open Cup. The fifth edition counts over 200 drivers from 48 different countries to contest categories MINI, OKJ, OK and KZ2.

After free practice, the event got to its heart with qualifying practice and the soaking wet qualifying heats, which confirmed some of the values on the field as a lot of known protagonists came to the fore, but some others also displayed their driving skills on the wet.

KZ2 – Denner is the fastest.

In the most powerful category, KZ2, the French Champion Emilien Denner (CPB Sport/Sodikart-TM Racing-Vega) posted the pole position time (1:02.049s) in the closing stages, which was just over 0.1s faster than the time set by his fellow-countryman Jeremy Iglesias (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM Racing). The Italians Matteo Zanchi (Zanchi Motorsport/BirelART-TM Racing) and the winner of editions 2019 and 2021 Giuseppe Palomba (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) accused a bit more delay respectively ending at +0.787s and +0.848s. The other CRG driver, i.e. the Finn Paavo Tonteri, was fifth at +1.288s and the German David Trefilov (Maranello SRP/Maranello-TM Racing) sixth at +1.311s. The other main protagonist of the series, the Swede Viktor Gustavsson of CRG was only 13th instead.  

Denner wins the first heat. The heat run on Friday afternoon was dominated by Emilien Denner, who built a big margin on Jeremy Iglesias, Matteo Zanchi, Giuseppe Palomba and Paavo Tonteri.

OK – Good result for Sammalisto: he claimed the pole position.

In OK the Finn Luka Sammalisto (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-LeCont) claimed the pole position on the wet in 1:05.587s, which was 0.6s faster than his teammate from China Yuanpu Cui and 0.698s than the Swede Oscar Pedersen (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex). The Italian Sebastiano Pavan also put in a strong performance with Forza Racing on Exprit-TM Racing. He posted the fifth fastest time at +0.771s and the Pole Jan Przyrowski (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) followed him at +0.992s.

The first heat to Cui. Luka Sammalisto went off in the heat run on Friday and the victory went to his teammate Yuanpu Cui, who led Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing) and Oscar Pedersen.           

OKJ – Gladysz is the fastest in qualifying.

The fastest of the three qualifying sessions of OK-Junior was the Pole Maciej Gladysz (Ricky Flynn Motorsport/LN-Vortex-Vega), who posted a 1:05.638s in the third session. He already won the WSK Open Cup of 2020 in MINI. Gladysz proceeded the fastest of Session-2, Peter Ageev (Leclerc by Lennox Racing/BirelART-TM Racing), who completed his best lap after 1:05.823s, and the best of Session-1, the Brit Lewis Wherrell (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing) who posted a 1:06.296s. The Austrian Niklas Schaufler (DPK/KR-Iame) also showed a good pace posting the fourth fastest time in 1:06.131s. He proceeded the two team Ricky Flynn’s drivers: the Brit Alfie Slater (1:05.837s) and the Colombian Hernandez Hanna (1:06.399s). The Dutch René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) went off instead and, therefore, will have to start the heats from the back of the grid.

Schaufler and Gladysz to the fore in the heats. The heats on Friday highlighted the speed of Niklas Schaufler, who led Maciej Gladysz and the Brazilian Miguel Costa (Sauber Academy/KR-Iame).

MINI – Bogdan Cosma Cristofor on top in the first, dry, session.

Only the first of the four sessions of MINI was run on the dry and the Romanian Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) got the most of it, posting the best time of the session and overall in 53.550s. The fastest of the other three sessions, run on wet conditions, was the Italian Ludovico Busso (DR/DR-TM Racing) in Session-2 (1:11.857s). The Brit Roman Kamyab (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) went quickest in Session-3 (1:11.919s) and the Pole Bruno Gryc (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) did the same in the fourth (1:12.167s).

Busso leads the provisional classification. Ludovico Busso installed himself on top in the heats run on Friday, as he claimed one win and a second place. The provisional P2 is occupied by the American Jack Iliffe (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing) and the third by Dean Hoogendoorn (Alonso Kart by Kidix/Alonso Kart-Iame). The two drivers secured, in fact, one win each. 

The program of the WSK Open Cup, Lonato:

Saturday, October 1
08:30 – 09:55: Warm-up
10:00 – 18:30: Qualifying heats

Sunday, October 2 (TV, Live Streaming)
08:45 – 10:40: Warm-up
10:50 – 13:00: Prefinals
14:00 – 16:00: Finals (14:00 OKJ; 14:30 MINI; 15:00 KZ2; 15:30 OK).