The 25th edition of the Winter Cup has been another spectacular sporting event at the South Garda Karting circuit in Lonato. The race has been perfectly organized and 301 drivers challenged each other for the win in their categories.
The finals have been particularly exciting and the battles on track were decided in the closing meters. The prestigious hall of fame of the event welcomes this year Giuseppe Palomba (Birel Art-Tm Racing-Bridgestone/Birel Art Racing) in KZ2, the Brit Joseph Turney (Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone/Tony Kart Racing Team) in OK, the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (KR-Iame-LeCont/Rosberg Racing Academy) in OK-Junior and the young driver from United Arab Emirates Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin-Vortex-Bridgestone/Team Ippoliti) in Mini Rok. Among the quests of the 25th Winter Cup, Alfa Romeo F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi and Aprilia MotoGP rider Andrea Iannone contributed to give credit to the event handing the trophies out to the winners.
KZ2. In KZ2, 68 drivers made it to the track and Giuseppe Palomba secured the win in an exciting finale on Birel Art-Tm. He managed to find his way past his teammate and runner up in the KZ World Championship Riccardo Longhi in the closing stages. The pairing has been the protagonist of this edition of the Winter Cup since qualifying practice and heats. Palomba claimed in this way his second win in a row with Birel Art after winning the WSK Open Cup at the end of 2019, which proves the great growth of the Italian driver. Longhi also showed a great competitiveness, but eventually had to settle for P2 due also to the strong pain on one arm. The French Jeremy Iglesias (Formula K-Tm Racing) rounded off the podium in P3 and proceeded the third Birel Art driver Alex Irlando. The fifth place went to the French Jean Nomblot on Sodikart-Tm run by Team CPB Sport, who led the Finn Simo Puhakka on Tony Kart-Vortex.
OK. Category OK saw 85 drivers at the start, several of which put their name forward to the win and exchanged on top of the charts, but the Brit Joseph Turney came out as the winner on Tony Kart-Vortex, after being among the protagonists of the category since the beginning of the weekend in Lonato. Turney won the final leading his teammate at Tony Kart and two times-world champion Lorenzo Travisanutto, who took the lead in the initial stages of the final. The third place went to the young Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR-Iame/KR Motorsport), who is at his maiden season in OK after the successful campaign in Junior last year. The fourth place went to the Dutch Robert De Haan (Energy-Tm/Energy Corse) who led the central part of the final.
OK-JUNIOR. The fight for the final victory in OK-Junior involved a lot of the 84 entered drivers as there were several changes on top of the classification until when the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (KR-Iame/Rosberg Racing Academy) managed to gain some ground in the closing stages and to cross the finish line as the first. His main rivals eventually were the Pole Karol Pasiewicz (Tony Kart-Vortex/Tony Kart Racing Team) – who was disqualified due to an irregularity in the position of the front fairing – and Brando Badoer (KR-Iame/KR Motorsport) who was handed a penalty in the heat of the closing lap. The second position went therefore to Freddie Slater (Kosmic-Vortex/Ricky Flynn Motorsport), while the other Brit Arvid Lindblad (KR-Iame/KR Motorsport) managed to get P3 after holding the lead in several occasions.
MINI ROK. Mini Rok (64 drivers) witnessed a domination of United Arab Emirates’ Rashid Al Dhaheri on Parolin-Vortex, who kept the lead all the way to the flag followed by the two Russian teammates Dmitry Matveev and German Foteev that ended in the order on Energy-Vortex. The Pole Maciej Gladysz (Parolin-Vortex) run a solid race ending fourth and proceeding the Norwegian Marcus Saeter (Energy-Vortex/Asd Revolution) and the Thai Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Parolin-Vortex/Baby Race).
Complete results: www.southgardakarting.it