Victory in the MINI Gr.3 U10 category at Muro Leccese with Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi, Australian driver of the Tony Kart Racing Team, ahead of a second Tony Kart Rookie.
The trophy wall of the Tony Kart Racing Team is further enriched in this 2023. After the WSK Super Master Series won in the OK category, the second seasonal title has been gained on the occasion of the WSK Super Cup by MINI, run at the La Conca International Circuit (Italy). Heart of this result is their Rookie model, powered by the VTM engine of Vortex, the "engine division" of OTK Kart Group.
In the MINI Gr.3 U10, a starring weekend for Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi, at the top of the ranking right from qualifying heats with fifth place overall and then leader at the end of the heats, in which he set a win, two podiums and three fastest laps out of a total of three races. The very young driver of the Tony Kart Racing Team shows off his supremacy in the A pre-final, running in the lead from the switching off of the traffic lights up to the chequered flag, and also in the decisive final on Saturday afternoon: thanks to a perfect start from the pole position, Eskandari-Marandi leads the early stages of the race, always fighting for the first place and obtaining the final victory, ahead of another Tony Kart Rookie chassis. A result that rewards the hard work and the excellent start of the season of the Australian driver working with their team.
Debut with their official colours for Oliver Sini, soon fast and with a third place gained as best placing in the qualifying heats. The Indonesian driver ends the event with a comeback of 8 positions and a solid Top 10 result in the final. Second competition with the Racing Team, on the other hand, for Achille Rea, able to get the fourth position in his qualifying group and to obtain not less than three times a top 10 placement in the qualifying heats as well as a positive sixth place in the A pre-final; however, in the final, a penalty of 5 seconds for the front spoiler in the wrong position prevents the Italian driver to close in the top positions.
In the MINI Gr.3, it is once again Ilian Tristan-Crisan to show off on track. Fourth in his group during the qualifyings, the Canadian driver distinguishes himself in the eliminatory heats for his constancy in terms of results and runs strongly in the A Prefinal of Saturday morning with a second place, while in the following final he is the author of a tough race allowing him to rank among the top ten drivers of the weekend. Bruno Blanco also performs well, the fastest in Saturday's warm-up, seventh in the B Prefinal and in the fight up to the last metre of the final for a place in the Top 15.
The drivers in the two MINI categories are on stage again this weekend (June 15th – 18th) for the second round of the Italian ACI Karting Championship, still at the International La Conca Circuit. Simultaneously, the OK and OKJ categories are also on track again at Rødby (Denmark) for the third round of the FIA Karting European Championship.