Baglin and Venant secure Pole Positions in Valencia, Genolet takes early Academy Senior advantage
The pressure was on today as drivers sought to bank an early advantage during Round 2 of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship. A gloomy weather forecast for Saturday raised the stakes with drivers knowing every lap today could be crucial in setting Sunday’s final grid.
A heavy afternoon deluge over the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero drenched the paddock yesterday leaving fingers crossed for a full day of running today. After a solid morning of free practice, teams and drivers made their final adjustments before heading into timed qualifying practice.
Noah Baglin defended his championship lead strongly with a pole position and double heat win in the OK category that has set him up perfectly for the weekend ahead. Meanwhile, Antoine Sylva Venant put in a blistering lap during Junior qualifying practice to take pole position but already has drivers hot on his tail during the early heats.
Finally, in the Academy Senior category, Alexis Genolet from Switzerland leads as we head into the weekend running.
OK
With tomorrow’s weather forecast creating so much uncertainty in the paddock, drivers needed to put in their best performances during qualifying practice to get ahead of the pack, unsure how many opportunities they’ll have to make up ground tomorrow.
Championship leader Noah Baglin set the early pace with a 53.107 second lap, two tenths clear of Italian Nicolo Cuman who put in an assured performance during the first session. As qualifying practice progressed, Iskender Zülfikari almost secured back-to-back pole positions setting a lap time just six hundredths of a second shy of the Brit.
In the final session Bosco Arias led the timings but ultimately fell short of the top two. Dan Allemann and Niklas Schaufler completed the top six after qualifying practice with Czech driver Pesl also impressing to keep close to the leading pace.
Dean Hoogendoorn will again be disappointed with his qualifying performance and relying on the weather holding off tomorrow to make up places. He ended qualifying practice over half a second off the pace in 37th position with Evan Purcell just behind him.
Luke Kornder, who finished in second place in La Conca, also had an early setback this weekend to place in 29th position. James Anagostiadis and Klara Kowalczyk also find themselves toward the back of the grid with the Polish driver unable to replicate her blistering performance from the previous round.
Noah Baglin, after securing pole position, said: “It feels good, it wasn’t good in La Conca quali-wise but to get pole position here is really, really good for me. I want it to be dry [tomorrow] I’ve still got the pace in the wets so let’s see what happens!”
As the heats got underway, Baglin successfully defended his lead finishing his first heat with almost 2 seconds to spare ahead of Jindřich Pesl. Zülfikari again struggled to maintain his qualifying advantage and lost 5 positions in his first heat and 6 positions during his second.
Joe Turney, James Anagnostiadis and Davide Bottaro all made-up ground during the heats this evening with Dean Hoogendoorn also gaining a total of 13 places in his two heats before receiving a 5 second time penalty for a track limits violation.
Niklas Schauffler held positions to maintain his advantage whilst Bosco Arias fell back a place in his first heat and seven places in his second heat to dent his qualifying advantage with Lev Krutoholov gaining most.
At the end of running today, the provisional OK points standings are as follows:
1. Noah Baglin (GBR, KR) 100 points
2. Niklas Schaufler (AUT, DPK Racing) 94 points
3. Dan Allemann (SUI, VDK Racing) 94 points
4. Davide Bottaro (ITA, Lenovo Kali Kart Team) 91 points
OK Junior
Junior winner from round 1, Will Green, topped his qualifying group ahead of Zach Zhaoqi Zhu who had displayed strong pace all morning. Many Nuvolini also put in a solid performance to keep himself in contention.
Green’s time of 55.051 didn’t stand for long as Daniel Miron Lorente snatched provisional pole before Antoine Sylva Venant went even quicker to set a sub-55 second lap and the time to beat headed into the third session.
Albert Tamm led the charge in the final session, but Venant’s time proved too much of a challenge for the remaining drivers. Venant therefore secured pole position and said “It felt good out there, I had the speed and I will try to take the points this afternoon”.
Gioele Giardello also put in an impressive performance to keep him in a healthy position this afternoon as did UAE racer Maxim Bobreshov who ended qualifying practice in 9th position. Frasnelli and Walle who were chasing Venant’s time in the second qualifying session also secured top ten positions.
Troy Ferguson ended qualifying with the best time of this weekend’s wildcard entries and placed in 28th position during his first weekend racing for Parolin Motorsport in FIA Karting.
Further down the order, Antonio Pizzonia had a more challenging qualifying to place in 21st position and last week’s polesitter Priam Bruno had to settle for 50th position with the Belgian struggling to master the Valencian track.
In the early heats this afternoon, Giardello performed a crucial overtake on Zach Zhaoqi Zhu in his first heat and on Maxim Bobreshov in his second heat to end the day on a perfect 100 points whilst polesitter Venant lost out to a surging Oskari Walle in their first heat.
Green held on to his advantage throughout the evening whilst Miron Lorente and Frasnelli had a mixed set of heats with Mohamed El Bouzakhi, Many Nuvolini and Giacomo Giusto all gaining positions.
At the end of running today, the provisional Junior points standings are as follows:
1. Gioele Girardello (ITA, Parolin Motorsport) 100 points
2. Antoine Sylva Venant (BEL, KR) 94 points
3. Oskari Walle (FIN, Parolin Motorsport) 94 points
4. Many Nuvolini (FRA, KR) 82 points
Academy Senior
The 2026 FIA Academy Trophy season officially got underway today with Senior drivers familiarising themselves with both the track and their karts for the season.
Two qualifying practice sessions set the grid for tomorrow’s heats with Alexis Genolet from Switzerland laying down a 55.928 second lap, the only driver to break the 56 second lap time.
Constantin Papst from Germany and Albie Lapper from the United Kingdom got closest to Genolet’s time but still fell over two tenths short of the Swiss driver. Jonathan Landström from Sweden and Oliver Kurg complete the top 5.
Liam Carr had a strong start to his weekend and managed to clinch 8th ahead of FIA Women in Motorsport sponsored competitor Marcella Assumpçao who starts in 10th. Simba Motoda, who had high expectations coming into the weekend, didn’t secure the front row position he was looking for and starts the heats tomorrow in 15th position.
Alexis Genolet said after securing his pole position “it was a really good lap, three good sectors and took the pole. I just have to take care on the straights, create the gap and win all the heats”
The top 5 following qualifying practice are as follows:
1. Alexis Genolet (Switzerland)
2. Albert Lapper (United Kingdom)
3. Constantin Papst (Germany)
4. Jonathan Landström (Sweden)
5. Oliver Kurg (Estonia)
Action resumes at the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero circuit tomorrow, Saturday 9 May, with the continuation of qualifying heats from 10:20. You can watch all the action LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube channel from 10:15 CET.