The winners of the third round of the championship held at the International Circuit Napoli are Slater (KZ2), Coluccio (OK), Hanna Hernandez (OKJ), Rousseau (MINI Gr.3) and Unt (MINI Gr.3 Under 10).
The competitiveness expressed in the third and penultimate race of the WSK Super Master Series at the International Circuit Napoli in Sarno will remain among the most intense memories of this international series, which also on this occasion saw a significant participation with over 250 drivers from 45 countries and many emerging young talents in all four categories of the championship, from the smallest MINI to the most competitive OKJ, OK, and KZ2.
The decidedly combative qualifying heats at the beginning of the weekend and the Sunday morning Prefinals finally determined the starting grids for the highly anticipated afternoon’s Finals to determine the winners of this third round, that is particularly important for the championship in view of the fourth and final race on April 30th in Cremona.
The winners of the Prefinals held on Sunday morning:
OK-Junior – Prefinal-A: Kirill Dzitiev (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega);
– Prefinal-B: Dries Van Langendonck (BEL) (Energy Corse/Energy-TM-Vega).
MINI Gr.3 Under 10 – Prefinal-A: Albert Tamm (CHE) (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega);
– Prefinal-B: Daniil Kutskov (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega).
MINI Gr.3 – Prefinal-A: Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD) (Kidix/KR-Iame-Vega);
– Prefinal-B: Vladimir Ivannikov (Gamoto/EKS-TM-Vega).
KZ2 – Prefinal-A: Emilien Denner (FRA) (Sodikart/Sodi-TM-Vega);
– Prefinal-B: Giuseppe Palomba (ITA) (Birel Art Racing/BirelArt-TM-Vega).
OK – Prefinal-A: Luis James Egozi (USA) (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont);
– Prefinal-B: David Walther (DNK) (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont).
The Finals.
KZ2 – A surprising Slater in the Final.
The KZ2 Final has been quite open, with three drivers competing for the victory, after Giuseppe Palomba (Birel Art Racing/BirelArt-TM-Vega), who started from pole position, had to give the lead up. His teammate Cristian Bertuca took over the lead, but in the last laps, the Italian Matteo Viganò (Leclerc by Lennox/Birel Art-TM) overtook him after a great recovery, only to be overtaken in the last two laps by another Birel Art driver, the Englishman Freddie Slater, who ultimately won the race. On the podium, next to the winner Freddie Slater, Matteo Viganò took second place and Cristian Bertuca the third. The Swedish driver Viktor Gustavsson (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM) finished fifth, ahead of the Italian Alex Maragliano (Maranello SRP/Maragliano-TM) and the Frenchman Adrien Renaudin (DR/DR-Modena Engines), both of whom made a good comeback. Giuseppe Palomba finished seventh. The French driver Jeremy Iglesias (CRG Racing Team/CRG-TM), the German Paul Maximilian (DR/DR-Modena Engines), and the Frenchman Emilien Denner (Sodikart/Sodi-TM), who lost positions after starting from the front row, also made it into the top ten. Cristian Bertuca remained at the top of the championship standings with 241 points.
KZ2 Final result:
1. Freddie Slater (GBR)
2. Matteo Viganò (ITA)
3. Cristian Bertuca (ITA)
OK – Coluccio puts in a great recovery to take the win.
The OK final was also very exciting, with the Italian Luigi Coluccio (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont) putting up a great comeback performance to take the lead just after halfway and fly undisturbed to victory. A heated battle unfolded behind him for the other two podium positions, with René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM) coming out on top over the other protagonist of the category, the American Luis James Egozi, Coluccio's teammate. Among the front-runners, the Latvian driver Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy Corse/Energy-TM) also tried to get in on the action but ultimately settled for fourth place, with the Belgian Thomas Strauven (Ricky Flynn/LN Kart-Vortex) in fifth and the Frenchman Jimmy Helias (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex) in sixth. Other notable performances were put in by the Danish driver David Walther (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex), who finished seventh after leading the race in the early stages, and the Polish driver Jan Przyrowski (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex), who finished eighth. Luis James Egozi maintained his lead in the championship with 219 points.
OK Final result:
1. Luigi Coluccio (ITA)
2. René Lammers (NLD)
3. Luis James Egozi (USA)
OKJ – Hanna Hernandez dominates and takes the lead of the championship.
The Colombian Salim Hanna Hernandez (Ricky Flynn/LN Kart-Vortex-Vega) only needed a couple of laps to take the lead from the starting second row of the grid and dominated the Final, leading the Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame), while the Singaporean driver Tiziano Monza (Shamick/Parolin-TM) inherited the third place due to a penalty inflicted on the Romanian David Cosma Cristifor (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame). The OK-Junior Final was very competitive in all positions, with the Belgian Dries Van Langendonck (Energy Corse/Energy-TM) finishing in fourth place, the Scottish driver Zac Drummond (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM) fifth after a great comeback, the German Simon Rechenmacher (TB Racing Team/KR-Iame) sixth and the Spanish driver Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM) seventh. Hanna Hernandez now leads the championship with 153 points.
OKJ Final result:
1. Salim Hanna Hernandez (COL)
2. Oleksandr Bondarev (UKR)
3. Tiziano Monza (SGP)
MINI GR.3 – Rousseau wins the sprint from Zulfikari and Hoogendoorn.
The MINI Gr.3 provided another exciting Final, with at least five drivers capable of winning the race until the last meters. Surprisingly, the most skillful to cross the finish line first was the Englishman Noah Baglin (IKart/KR-Iame-Vega), but a 5-second penalty dropped him to 11th place. The Panamanian Gianmatteo Rousseau (Kidix/KR-Iame) took over the top step of the podium, as in a sprint to the line he had the best of the Turkish driver Iskender Zulfikari (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) and the Dutchman Dean Hoogendoorn, also with the Kidix team. The Romanian Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (Team Driver/KR-Iame) finished in fourth place at 0.013s, but ahead of the American Keelan Harvick (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) and Vladimir Ivannikov (Gamoto/EKS-TM). Dean Hoogendoorn remains at the top of the championship standings with 245 points.
MINI Gr.3 Final result:
1. Gianmatteo Rousseau (PAN)
2. Iskender Zulfikari (TUR)
3. Dean Hoogendoorn (NLD)
MINI GR.3 UNDER 10 – Amazing win for Unt.
In MINI Gr.3 Under 10, the Swedish driver Maximus Unt (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-TM-Vega) surprised everyone by winning the race in the final moments. He started from the fourth row of the grid and overtook all the top qualifiers to win by a narrow margin of 0.037s over Daniil Kutskov (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame), with his teammate, the Polish driver Leonardo Gorski, taking third place, 0.096s behind. Henri Kumpen from Belgium, also from BabyRace, finished fourth and was followed by the Ukrainian Nikita Botte (Novalux/Lenzokart-LKE). The other two top drivers of the weekend, Giacomo Giusto (Modena Kart/Parolin-TM) and the Ukrainian Oleksandr Legenkyi, had to settle for sixth and seventh place respectively. The current leader in the championship, Antoine Venant (Kidix/KR-Iame), maintained his position thanks to an eighth place finish.
MINI Gr.3 Under 10 Final result:
1. Maximus Unt (SWE)
2. Daniil Kutskov
3. Leonardo Gorski (POL)
Complete results: www.wskarting.it/index.asp
The next round of the WSK Super Master Series:
4th Rd – 30/04/2023 Cremona / MINI – OKJ – OK – KZ2
The opening round of the WSK Open Series in Lonato on March 12th.
The WSK events relentlessly continue next weekend with the opening round of the WSK Open Series a the South Garda Karting circuit of Lonato (Brescia).