The FIA Karting European Championship of the Tony Kart Racing Team kicks off with the victory of Tuukka Taponen in OKJ. The Tony Kart material gets on the OK podium as well.
Tony Kart Racing Team achieves another amazing victory on the Circuito Internacional de Zuera (Spain) with Tuukka Taponen who dominates with authority in the OKJ category. The excellent results of the Finnish perfectly caps off the first weekend of the FIA Karting European Championship where the Tony Kart Racer 401 R – Vortex duo proves to be at the top of the category, although some circumstances partially compromised the performance of some of their drivers.
Even Taponen, after having set the best time of his group in the timed practice, has to deal with a 15th spot which tarnishes the victory and the two second places obtained in the other Heats. Once in the final, though, the Finnish racer makes the most of the OTK Kart Group’s material characteristics to even recover from the ninth box on the grid and cross the finish line in the lead.
Excellent performance, albeit with a bit of bad luck in the finals, for Bruno Del Pino, the best of the Tony Kart Racing team at the end of the Heats in which he gets a second and two third spots, and for Karol Pasiewicz, the fastest of the team in qualifying with the seventh absolute time and then author of a fast lap in the Heats, but he is assessed a penalty.
Harley Keeble too gets a best lap as well and together with Aiden Neate, he performed several comebacks during the heats, at the end of which Neate recovered 30 positions while Keeble recovered 24. Their tenacity is not rewarded in the finals, a race in which both are forced to withdraw. Maxim Rehm, unfortunately, barely misses the access to the decisive race.
As for the OK category, the first round of the European Championship ends with an excellent fourth place finish for Joseph Turney, great at turning around the weekend’s results with a comeback of 8 positions in the final. The withdraw suffered in the races due to an accident in which he was involved in, which heavily affected the final results of the Englishman, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. Despite this, Turney scores a fast lap in the heats and gains two second spots. Pedro Hiltbrand asserts his ability of being fast and solid on his return from his injury, although he is still suffering the consequences of it. The Spaniard is firmly in the top ten in all four races, at the end of which he is the best of the Racing Team drivers in the standings, while crossing the finish line of the finals in ninth place before a penalty causes him to slide back into the order of arrival. Lorenzo Travisanutto unfortunately is victim of a contact in the first laps of the finals which ruins his weekend.
But Tony Kart is on the podium in this category and thanks to Nikita Bedrin who, driving for the Ward Racing Team, obtains the third final place after a starring weekend with a victory and two second positions in the Qualifying Heats.
After the Zuera race is over, Tony Kart Racing Team is preparing for the next event, planned to take place at the Adria Karting Raceway, where the first round of the FIA Karting European Championship for the KZ and KZ2 classes will take place in two weeks.