The first FIA Karting competition in the history of the Leopard circuit in Viterbo got off to a sunny start, with excellent initial feedback from the competitors. In Italy, Friday's Qualifying sessions proved particularly interesting to follow with 197 drivers entered, and extremely close gaps in the three categories represented. In the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship, Spain's Christian Costoya was the fastest in OK, and Britain's Noah Baglin made the difference in OK-Junior. In the FIA Karting Academy Trophy - Senior, no one was able to beat the excellent lap time set by Britain's Harrison Whitticombe.

OK: Second consecutive pole position for Costoya

On his third lap in Group 1, Costoya (ESP) completed a perfect lap of 50.913. The Spaniard was the only one to lap the 1,294-metre Viterbo circuit in under 51 seconds. The current leader of the Mondokart.com European Championship could not have dreamed of a better scenario at the start of this competition, five weeks after achieving a similar performance in Portimão, Portugal. The next two places went to the fastest drivers in Groups 2 and 3: Daniel Kelleher (IRL) and Jacob Micallef (MLT).

Second in Group 1, Borys Lyzen (POL) achieved his best FIA Karting Qualifying result since his recent move to OK. Winner of the opening race at Campillos, James Anagnostiadis (AUS) lies in 5th place in the standings ahead of Vladimir Ivannikov, an increasingly serious contender for the podium.
 

Top 10 OK qualifiers
1 Costoya, Christian (ESP - Parolin / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 50.913
2 Kelleher, Daniel (IRL - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 51.044
3 Micallef, Jacob (MLT - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 51.219
4 Lyzen, Borys (POL - KR / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 51.006
5 Anagnostiadis, James (AUS - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 51.128
6 Ivannikov, Vladimir (Birelart / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 51.242
7 Wolfe, Noah (GBR - Birelart / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 51.016
8 Craigie, Kenzo (GBR - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 51.146
9 Francis, Lewis (AUS - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 51.295
10 Sala, Filippo (ITA - Exprit / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 51.153

Ok-Junior: Three competitions, three different pole position winners

After Iskender Zulfikari (TUR) in Spain and Dan Allemann (SUI) in Portugal, Noah Baglin (GBR) received the trophy offered by manufacturer Maxxis for taking pole position. In Group 1, with a time of 52.467, the Briton beat his compatriot Will Green by just 131 thousandths of a second, but that is already a significant gap at this level. The winner of the Final in Campillos in early April showed that he was determined to win again.

In Group 2, Zulfikari completed an excellent lap of 52.770, but second place in the combined Qualifying standings went to Ilie Crisan (CAN), the fastest in Group 3 with a time of 52.636. Allemann confirmed his excellent current form by finishing fifth in the Qualifying Practice ahead of outsider Evan Purcell (GBR).
 

Top 10 OK-Junior qualifiers
1 Baglin, Noah (GBR - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 52.467
2 Crisan, Ilie (CAN - Tony Kart / Vortex / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 52.636
3 Zulfikari, Iskender (TUR - Exprit / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 52.770
4 Green, Will (GBR - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 52.598
5 Allemann, Dan (SUI - Tony Kart / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 52.714
6 Purcell, Evan (GBR - LN / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 52.781
7 Arias, Bosco (ESP - LN / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 52.617
8 Calleja, William (AUS - Exprit / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.2 - 52.720
9 Hoogendoorn, Dean (NED - KR / IAME / Maxxis) Gr.3 - 52.836
10 Domain, Henry (GBR - Exprit / TM Kart / Maxxis) Gr.1 - 52.628

Academy-Senior: Whitticombe has the last word

After the difficult weather conditions at the Algarve circuit for the first competition of the new FIA Karting Academy Trophy - Senior, this time the 35 drivers enjoyed a magnificent blue sky during Qualifying. On the Viterbo track, where grip improved steadily as temperatures rose throughout the sessions, the order changed frequently.

On his fourth flying lap, Harrison Whitticombe (GBR) knocked Jules Avril (FRA) off the top spot, even though the Frenchman had just beaten Annabel Kennedy's (AUS) time. At the very end of the session, Gianna Pascoal (RSA) moved up to fourth place ahead of Agustin Sepúlveda (CHI). Mio Olert, who took pole position in Portugal, finished sixth this time. Behind him, around twenty drivers were grouped together within just five-tenths of a second! The Qualifying Heats promise some intense duels...
 

Top 10 Academy-Senior qualifiers
1 Whitticombe, Harrison (GBR) - 54.075
2 Avril, Jules (FRA) - 54.183
3 Kennedy, Annabel (AUS) - 54.264
4 Pascoal, Gianna (RSA) - 54.266
5 Sepúlveda, Agustín (CHI) - 54.318
6 Olert, Mio (SWE) - 54.330
7 Birinci, Ates (TUR) - 54.358
8 Fitriansyah, Kimi Rae (INA) - 54.390
9 Sato, Yuzuki (JPN) - 54.407
10 Hoang, Arthur (BEL) - 54.422
(1 group only)...

Provisional schedule for the Viterbo event

Saturday 7th June
09:00 - 10:26: Warm-up
10:35 - 17:55: Qualifying Heats

Sunday 8th June
08:30 - 09:40: Warm-up
09:50 - 10:05: Last Academy-Senior Qualifying Heat
10:10 - 11:55: OK and OK-Junior Super Heats
13:05 - 16:30: Finals and podium ceremonies
 

The Viterbo event can be followed via live timing and streaming on the website www.fiakarting.com