The first protagonists to the fore in Adria at the WSK Open Cup

The Adria Karting Raceway is staging the double challenge of WSK Open Cup, that got to its heart today with qualifying of Round 1 and Round 2 followed by the initial heats in this long racing week that will end on Sunday, November 19th with all the finals of KZ2, OK, OKJ and MINI.  Also, this event in Adria valid for the WSK Open Cup follows the format of the double round, due to the racing calendar revision that has been required by the Covid-19 emergency.

Gustafsson and Pex on top in KZ2.

The Swede Viktor Gustafsson (Leclerc by Lennox Racing/BirelART-TM Racing-Vega) and the Dutch Stan Pex (KR Motorsport/KR-TM Racing-Vega) respectively posted the best time in the two qualifying sessions of KZ2. Gustafsson topped the charts of Round 1 in 47.319s, while Pex those of Round 2 in 47.437s. The excellent Dutch driver Senna Van Walstijn (CPB/Sodikart-TM Racing) was also among the quickest and was just 0.025s shy of Gustafsson, while the French Tom Leuillet (Praga Racing Team/TM Racing) was 0.039s off Pex’s pace.

Qualifying practice KZ2:

Round1: 1. Gustafsson 47.319; 2. Van Walstijn +0.025; 3. Pex +0.060; 4. Leuillet +0.144; 5. Valtanen +0.150; 6. Van Hoepen +0.173.

Round2: 1. Pex 47.437; 2. Leuillet +0.039; 3. Gustafsson +0.046; 4. Van Hoepen +0.117; 5. Van Walstijn +0.126; 6. Marseglia +0.129.

OK dominated by Barnard.

The WSK Champions Cup winner Taylor Barnard (Rosberg Racing Academy/KR-Iame-Bridgestone) dominated the scene in both sessions valid for the OK qualifying practice of Round 1 and Round 2. Barnard went quickest in the first session posting his best time of 48.015s, leading the French Marcus Amand (VDK/KR-Iame). Barnard was the fastest again in the second session in 48.170s, but this time around he only was 0.025s clear of the Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov (DPK Racing/KR-Iame).         

OK qualifying practice:

Round1: 1. Barnard 48.015; 2. Amand +0.145; 3. Badoer +0.254; 4. Taponen +0.262; 5. Pirttilahti +0.263; 6. Dunne +0.274.

Round2: 1. Barnard 48.170; 2. Tsolov +0.025; 3. Zhivnov +0.086; 4. Badoer +0.090; 5. Pirttilahti +0.096; 6. Bertuca +0.109.

Sato and Clausen lead OK-Junior.

Qualifying practice of OK-Junior featured two groups in both sessions. The quickest of Round 1 was the Japanese Rintaro Sato (Ricky Flynn/Kosmic-Vortex-Vega) in 49.642s. He proceeded the Italian Manuel Scognamiglio (Gamoto/Tony Kart-Vortex), while his teammate from Danmark Tobias Clausen topped the charts of Round 2 in 49.651s. The second best time was set by the American  Ugo Ugochukwu (Sauber Karting Team/KR-Iame) in 49.704s.

OKJ qualifying practice:

Round1: 1. Sato 49.642; 2. Scognamiglio 49713; 3. Pasiewicz 49.725; 4. Cui 49.755; 5. Clausen 49.733; 6. Kucharczyk 49.819.

Round 2: 1. Clausen 49.651; 2. Ugochukwu 49.704; 3. Scognamiglio 49.728; 4. Pasiewicz 49.736; 5. Rinicella 49.779; 6. Powell 49.792.

Van Langendonck and Gladysz share the lead in MINI.

MINI International Gr. 3 has been particularly open as usual as a lot of youngsters challenged each other for the lead. Drivers have been divided in two groups in each of the two sessions also in this category. The quickest of Round 1 was the Belgian driver Dries Van Langendonck (Leclerc by Lennox Racing/BirelART-TM Racing-Vega) in 54.430s. He led the Pole Maciej Gladysz (Parolin Racing Kart/Parolin-TM Racing) who completed his best lap after 54.501s. The latter posted the quickest time of Round 2 in 54.302s and was followed by Slovenia’s Aleksandar Bogunovic (Gamoto/Tony Kart-TM Racing).        

MINI qualifying practice:

Round1: 1. Van Langendonck 54.430; 2. Gladysz 54.501; 3. Bogunovic 54.570; 4. Olivieri 54.806; 5. Kamenik 54.824; 6. Skulac 54.835.

Round2: 1. Gladysz 54.302; 2. Bogunovic 54.431; 3. Lammers 54.460; 4. Cardenas 54.614; 5. Hanna 54.615; 6. Apicella 54.655.   

The winners of the first heats of Round 1:

KZ2 Manche-1: 1. Van Waltstijn; 2. Pex; 3. Leuillet.

OK Manche-1: 1. Barnard; 2. Pirttilahti; 3. Zhivnov.

OKJ Heat A-B: 1. Ugochukwu; 2. Kucharczyk; 3. Sato.

OKJ Heat C-D: 1. Lindblad; 2. Gowda; 3. Rinicella.

MINI Heat C-E: 1. Lammers; 2. Skulanov; 3. Gladysz.

MINI Heat B-D: 1. Cardenas; 2. Przyrowsky; 3. Hanna.

MINI Heat A-E: 1. Van Langendonck; 2. Tarnvanichkul; 3. Schaufler.

MINI Heat C-D: 1. Skulanov; 2. Lammers; 3. Przyrowsky.

The program of the WSK Open Cup at the Adria Karting Raceway:

Thursday: Warm-up, Heats Rd.1;

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.