The International karting week after the Covid-19 emergency has been a good participation success and produced a lot of spectacle in the two final rounds of WSK Super Master Series held at the Adria Karting Raceway. The presence in this long week started on Monday, June 29th has been great in this event that followed a new format. A total of 182 drivers ran round three that ended on Saturday and 186 the closing round of the series on Sunday, July 5th. They came from 34 different countries to compete in the four categories KZ2, OK, OK-Junior and MINI.
The finals of the third round on Saturday defined the main protagonists of the WSK Super Master Series and the values shown were confirmed in the final round on Sunday. The 2020 titles went to Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) in KZ2, Nikita Bedrin (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) in OK, Arvid Lindblad (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega) in OKJ and Dmitry Matveev (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing-Vega) in MINI.
The Races – Prefinals
In the first of the two KZ2 prefinals, the news regarded the retirement of some strong contenders like the Italian Matteo Viganò (Leclerc by Lennox/BirelArt-TM Racing-Vega), who had claimed the podium on Saturday. Prefinal-A went to Riccardo Longhi (BirelArt Racing/BirelArt-TM Racing-Vega). Prefinal-B saw the Finn Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) winning again. In OK, the Russian Nikita Bedrin (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) won Prefinal-A again and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Bridgestone) alike in Prefinal-B. Prefinal-A of OK-Junior was won by the American Ugo Ugochukwu (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Bridgestone), Prefinal-B by the classification leader from Britain Arvid Lindblad (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega). Mini’s Prefinal-A went to the Dutch René Lammers (Baby Race/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega), while the Japanese Kean Nakamura Berta (Team Driver Racing Kart/KR-Iame-Vega) won Prefinal-B from the Russian classification leader Dmitry Matveev (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing-Vega).
The Races – Finals
KZ2 victory and title to Simo Puhakka. The Finn Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) did not have too many problems to win the final races and secure the WSK Super Master Series 2020 title finding his way past the previous leader from Italy Giuseppe Palomba (BirelArt Racing/BirelArt-TM Racing-Vega), who closed the race in fourth place and was second in the Championship. On the podium next to Puhakka were the Italians Fabian Federer (SRP Racing Team/Maranello TM Racing-Vega) and Palomba’s teammate Riccardo Longhi (BirelArt Racing/BirelArt-TM Racing-Vega). The fifth-place went to the other BirelArt driver Alex Irlando.
Race classification: 1. Puhakka; 2. Federer; 3. Longhi; 4. Palomba; 5. Irlando; 6. Renaudin; 7. Pex Stan; 8. Albanese; 9. Nomblot; 10. Gustafsson.
Championship classification: 1. Puhakka points 295; 2. Palomba 267; 3. Federer 195; 4. Longhi 176; 5. Irlando 169.
Nikita Bedrin wins OK. In OK the Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Bridgestone) and the Spaniard Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) were among the front runners, but the Russian Nikita Bedrin (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) slid in among them and soon after the start he had clear way. Antonelli was involved in an incident that made him lose several positions, while Hiltbrand suffered from rib pain and retired early on. Bedrin did not have too many problems to dominate the race and this victory earned him the title. Behind him, United Arab Emirates’ driver Jamie Day (Leclerc by Lennox/BirelArt-TM Racing-Bridgestone) secured P2 in the closing stages overtaking the Brazilian Rafa Camara (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing-Bridgestone). The Brazilian Matheus Morgatto (Parolin/Parolin-TM Racing-Bridgestone) was fourth and led the Brit Joe Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Bridgestone) and the Italian Luigi Coluccio (Kosmic Racing Dep/Kosmic-Vortex-Bridgestone).
Race classification: 1. Bedrin; 2. Day; 3. Camara; 4. Morgatto; 5. Turney; 6. Coluccio; 7. Ten Brinke; 8. Barnard; 9. Gray; 10. Vant Hoff.
Championship classification: 1. Bedrin points 311; 2. Antonelli 280; 3. Hiltbrand 254; 4. Turney 243; 5. Bernard 222.
Ugochukwu wins the OKJ race, Lindblad the title. The American Ugo Ugochukwu (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-Vega) won the closing final of the long week of OKJ in Adria. He always kept the lead and was followed by his teammate Alfio Andrea Spina. The championship was won by the other KR Motorsport driver, the Brit Arvid Lindblad, who was third in the race and confirmed his place on top of the classification since the second round in Lonato. Behind the three KR Motorsport drivers, the Pole Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (BirelArt/RK-TM Racing-Vega) was fourth and led the other KR driver from Russia Miron Pingasov and the British driver Maxwell Dodds (Parolin Racing Kart/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega).
Race classification: 1. Ugochukwu; 2. Spina; 3. Lindblad; 4. Kucharczyk; 5. Pingasov; 6. Dodds; 7. Slater; 8. Badoer; 9. Pasiewicz; 10. Cepil.
Championship classification: 1. Lindblad points 398; 2. Pasiewicz 260; 3. Badoer 248; 4. Spina 246; 5. Ugochukwu 243.
Good win for Nakamura in MINI, as Matveev takes the title. The young Japanese Kean Nakamura Berta (Team Driver/KR-Iame-Vega) won the closing final of WSK Super Master Series in MINI after shining in several occasions. Nakamura secured a strong win at the end of a nice race in which he found his way past the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Energy Corse/Energy-TM Racing-Vega) at the last lap. The second place of the latter was anyway enough for taking the title. The third place went to the Pole Maciej Gladysz (Parolin Racing Kart/Parolin-TM Racing-Vega). The American James Egozi (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) was fourth and the Slovenian Mark Kastelic (Team Driver/KR-TM Racing-Vega) fifth.
Race classification: 1. Nakamura; 2. Matveev; 3. Gladysz; 4. Egozi; 5. Kastelic; 6. Hideg; 7. Apicella; 8. Saeter; 9. Lammers; 10. Peebles.
Championship classification: 1. Matveev; 2. Nakamura; 3. Gladysz; 4. Skulanov; 5. Lammers.
Next round: the opener of WSK Euro Series from July 8th to 12th at the International Circuit Napoli in Sarno.
Complete results are available at www.wskarting.it.