Parolin Motorsport took a double win at the first round of the WSK Euro Series at Viterbo in Italy from 14th to 17th May with Christian Costoya in OK and Elton Hedfors in Mini. Costoya took advantage of the excellent conditions to take a clean sweep at all stages of the event while Hedfors moved up from 6th in Qualifying to win his heats, Prefinal and the Final.
Peerless result for Costoya
Costoya had no serious rival in the OK category at Viterbo, leading every racing lap in a rare display of perfect synergy between driver, team and equipment. He finished the Final over three seconds ahead of his closest rival and is already 32 points ahead in the series standings. His teammate Qarrar Firhand made strong progress throughout the weekend and finished 14th in the Final.
Hedfors takes his first international win
In Mini Group 3 Hedfors qualified 3rd in his group, 6th overall, and then made his mark on the heats, moving up to take the lead in each one to head the intermediate classification. He was then unbeatable in his Prefinal and the Final to take the top of the podium by 0.750s.
Leo Laitinen qualified 4th overall but problems in two heats left him down in 16th overall. His comeback started with 3rd in Prefinal B then he gained seven places to 6th in the Final. Danila Verba continues to improve each time out with a highlight of 3rd in Prefinal A before finishing 17th in the Final after dropping back in the early-race battles. In the Under 10 category, Zayne Burgess took 6th in his first WSK event after running consistently in the top ten.
In OK-Junior, Bruno Blanco finished 9th in the Final after taking 4th in his Prefinal, while Giacomo Giusto and Juan Garciarce more than held their own in the highly competitive class.
Albert Tamm and Gioele Girardello from Modena Kart took 2nd and 3rd in OKN-Junior, with Lenni Makinen of LA Motorsport joining them in the top ten.
Meanwhile, in the European Championship for KZ2 at Valencia in Spain, Kimi Tani (LA Motorsport) finished 5th in the Super Heat, and Anatoly Khavalkin (Modena Kart) was a strong contender in the heats, but both fell prey to racing incidents in the Final.
“The results this weekend are an overwhelming vindication, with two wins in OK and Mini and a double podium in OKN-Junior for our partner team,” said Marco Parolin. “I’m also pleased to see great progress from drivers like Verba, Burgess and Blanco, and I think it shows the team’s dedication to continuous improvement in all aspects of racing.”
Next time on track will be the third round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series from 28th-31st May, also at Viterbo, before the European OK and OK-Junior Championship at Viterbo the following week.