The first finalists of the WSK Open Cup have been defined in Adria
The second day dedicated to qualifying heats of Round 1 of the WSK Open Cup in Adria have been very intense as all drivers of KZ2, OK, OKJ and MINI challenged one another to get the best starting positions in the Prefinals that will be held on Saturday. The circuit of Adria will stage another round of heats to select the drivers that qualify for the Prefinals of Round 2 and complete the contenders of the Finals that will get underway on Sunday, November 29th.
Stan Pex on top in KZ2, but the others trail him!
In KZ2 Senna Van Walstijn (CPB/Sodikart-TM Racing-Vega) won the first heat, while the other Dutch Stan Pex (KR Motorsport/KR-TM Racing) won the second as the poleman Viktor Gustafsson (Leclerc by Lennox Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) struggled and had to settle for two placings. The third and closing heat has been very exciting. Pex had again the upper hand but was chased all the way to the flag by Van Walstijn and by the French Tom Leuillet (Praga Racing Team/TM Racing). Gustafsson was fourth instead.
KZ2 classification after heats: 1. Pex; 2. Van Walstijn; 3. Albanese; 4. Leuillet; 5. Marseglia; 6. Vyacheslav; 7. Gustafsson; 8. Valtanen.
Close battles in OK among Barnard, Zhivnov and Amand.
The three heats run in OK had three different winners. The first was run on Friday and the poleman from Great Britain Taylor Barnard (Rosberg Racing Academy/KR-Iame-Bridgestone) won it from the Finn Niklas Pirttilahti (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing) to the Russian Andrey Zhivnov (Team Komarov/Tony Kart-TM Racing). On Thursday, the first heat went to Zhivnov who proceeded Barnard and Pirttilahti, while the second one was won by the French Marcus Amand (VDK/KR-Iame) as Zhivnov and Alfio Andrea Spina (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex) completed the podium, with the latter displaying a good shape in his debut in the higher class. Zhivnov is leading the charts after the heats as he claimed one victory, a second and third place.
OK classification after the heats: 1. Zhivnov; 2. Barnard; 3. Pirttilahti; 4. Amand; 5. Spina; 6. Revesz; 7. Wurz; 8. Andreasson.
Arvid Lindblad puts his name forward among a lot of rivals in OKJ.
The situation in OKJ is quite fluid as the top positions have been a fight among the American Ugo Ugochukwu (Sauber Karting Team/KR-Iame-Vega), the Brit Arvid Lindblad (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame), who claimed two wins and the provisional lead with them, his teammate from China Yuanpu Cui, the Pole Tymoteus Kucharczyk (BirelART Racing/RK-TM Racing) and the other American James Luis Egozi (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex). These drivers showed the pace to fight for the win as the victories in the heats tell us. The Brit Freddie Slater (Ricky Flynn/Kosmic-Vortex) and the Jamaican Alex Powell (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) were also among the quickest.
OKJ classification after the heats: 1. Lindblad; 2. Slater; 3. Powell; 4. Kucharczyk; 5. Cui; 6. Scognamiglio; 7. Pasiewicz; 8. Clausen.
René Lammers among the contenders of MINI.
A total of 10 heats have been run in MINI to define the finalists of Round 1. The Dutch René Lammers (Baby Race/Parolin-Iame-Vega) displayed a great shape and a crescendo of results. The son of former F1 driver Jan Lammers won three heats. The Russian Gerasim Skulanov (Formula K Serafini/IPK-TM Racing) won one heat, but then had to retire from the closing heat due to an incident. The Pole Jan Przyrowsky (AV Racing/Parolin-TM Racing) won one heat, with the Peruvian Andres Cardenas (Energy Corse/Energy/TM Racing), his teammate from Colombia Hernandez Hanna, the Belgian poleman Dries Van Langendonck (Leclerc by Lennox Racing/BirelART-TM Racing) and the Norwegian Marcus Saeter (Revolution Motorsport/Energy-TM Racing) claimed one win each.
MINI classification after the heats: 1. Lammers; 2. Przyrowsky; 3. Van Langendonck; 4. Hanna; 5. Olivieri; 6. Gladysz; 7. Saeter; 8. Tarnvanichkul.
The program of the WSK Open Cup at the Adria Karting Raceway:
Friday: Warm-up, Heats Rd.2;
Saturday: Warm-up, Heats Rd.2; Prefinals Rd.1, Prefinals Rd.2.
Sunday: Warm-up, Finals Rd.1 and Prize Ceremony, Finals Rd.2 and Prize Ceremony.