FIA Karting European Championship KZ, KZ2 e KZ2 Masters rd 1, Alcañiz: Finals – The winners are Senna Van Walstijn (KZ), Daniel Vasile (KZ2) and Anthony Abbasse (KZ2 Masters)

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Sunday on the Motorland Aragón circuit in Alcañiz (Spain) also goes to the archives and the curtain falls on Round 1 of the FIA Karting European Championship KZ, KZ2 and KZ2 Masters. The afternoon finals saw the victories of Senna Van Walstijn (KZ), Daniel Vasile (KZ2) and Anthony Abbasse (KZ2 Masters).

KZ: Great success for a masterful Senna Van Walstijn

Tyres: Dunlop

When he is able to express all his determination, Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart – Sodi – TM Kart) becomes even stronger. The winner of the Super Heat started well from the second spot on the grid and already during the first lap he invented a masterpiece overtaking against poleman Viktor Gustavsson (CRG – CRG – TM Kart). The Sodikart driver knows that he must immediately break his rival's pace if he wants to win and so he does, taking the reins of the race and never letting them go again. The young Dutchman triumphed in style, also thanks to impeccable management of his tyres.
An excellent Danilo Albanese (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) makes room on the podium, capable of gaining a position right from the start to climb to third place. The reigning European champion overtook Gustavsson on the second lap to chase Van Walstijn and proved to be the fastest on the track. Hundredth after hundredth, the representative of the KR Motorsport team closes the gap that separates him from the leader, going from seven tenths at the start to just two at the end of the 11th lap, but he is unable to launch the attack. Albanese then suffered a less incisive final phase of the race compared to his Dutch opponent and therefore had to settle for the silver medal, also setting the fastest lap.
Third place goes to a surprising Lorenzo Travisanutto (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Kart), who stages a spectacular comeback of seven positions. The winner of the 2021 FIA Karting International Super Cup KZ2 and two-time OK world champion thus obtains his first podium in the premier class and demonstrates his competitiveness.
It was a bittersweet fourth place for Viktor Gustavsson, who appeared less incisive in the final compared to other stages of the weekend. The reigning world vice champion and 2022 world champion responds to Travisanutto's attack to defend the podium, but his Italian rival is clever in counterattacking immediately and takes back third place.
The weekend ended on a positive note with Stan Pex (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), fifth, and the winner of the 2016 CIK-FIA International Super Cup KZ2 and OK world champion in the same year Pedro Hiltbrand (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Kart), sixth thanks to an extraordinary comeback of 16 positions.
The top ten is completed by Giuseppe Palomba (Sodikart – Sodi – TM Kart), seventh and slowed down on the second lap by a contact with Stan Pex himself, the winner of the 2019 FIA Karting International Super Cup KZ2 Emilien Denner (Sodikart – Sodi – TM Kart ), eighth, Jorge Pescador (Club Kalikart – KalìKart – TM Kart), ninth, and the reigning European vice-champion and 2020 world champion Jeremy Iglesias (CRG – CRG – TM Kart), tenth.
They saw their place in the top ten slip away following a contact on the last lap while dueling the two-time world champion Paolo De Conto (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Kart), who was then demoted from 14th place to 17th by a penalty of five seconds due to the nose cone being in the wrong position, and the 2022 European KZ2 vice-champion David Trefilov (Maranello SRP Factory Team – Maranello – TM Kart), even retiring.
Another great protagonist of the weekend, the 2022 European KZ2 champion Tom Leuillet (Tony Kart Racing Team – OTK – Vortex), exits the scene on lap 12 while another great protagonist of the weekend is competing for a top ten finish.

Results

Championship standings

KZ2: Masterpiece by Daniel Vasile with a stroke of genius

Tyres: Dunlop

If anyone thought that the result of the KZ2 final was easily predictable, they probably hadn't taken into account a Daniel Vasile (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Kart) capable of overturning every prediction. Thanks to a cat-like sprint from the third spot on the grid, the reigning European vice-champion manages to overtake both riders on the front row and take the lead of the race.
The subsequent maneuvers of the young Romanian are even more decisive and spectacular when he is called upon to respond to the attacks of Matteo Spirgel (CPB Sport – Sodi – TM Kart), who breaks the deadlock on the fourth lap. In a series of overtaking and counter-overtaking, the bearer of the Birel ART Racing team expresses all his competitive aggressiveness and keeps the reins of the race, "supported" also by the interference of his teammate Artem Severiukhin (Birel ART Racing – Birel) in the same brawl ART – TM Kart), skilled in taking advantage of the duel between the two to get into second position.
Although Spirgel then manages to get back into second place and once again beat Vasile's bumper, the latter defends himself impeccably in the final laps and thus achieves his first FIA Karting success.
After having also dominated Super Heat A, Friday's poleman must therefore settle for the silver medal. Despite the final success eluding him, Spirgel achieved his first FIA Karting podium at the end of a very high level weekend.
An extraordinary Maksim Orlov (Modena Kart – Parolin – TM Kart) climbed to third place, thus completing a comeback of 12 positions. After having extricated himself admirably from the frenetic brawl of the first laps and having risen to fourth place during the 11th lap, the driver of the Modena Kart team manages to close the gap of over a second and a half that separates him from the leading trio and to overtake Severiukhin just a few meters before the checkered flag to stage a photo finish. Orlov beats his rival by just 31 thousandths and thus celebrates an unexpected podium.
Double disappointment for Severiukhin, who was then disqualified due to the intervention carried out on his kart before the grid.
Matteo Zanchi (Zanchi Motorsport – Birel ART – TM Kart) makes up ground, fourth thanks to a comeback of 13 positions, Kasper Schormans (CPB Sport – Sodi – TM Kart), fifth, Paavo Tonteri (CRG – CRG – TM Kart), sixth , Marek Skrivan (IPK Factory Team – IPK – TM Kart), seventh, Albin Stureson (Johan Stureson – OTK – TM Kart), eighth and thanks to a comeback of 17 positions, and Robert Kindervater, ninth at the end of a comeback of ten positions.
However, Iaroslav Shevyrtalov (Maranello SRP Factory Team – Maranello – TM Kart) loses a few positions compared to the start, closing the top ten, while the winner of Super Heat B Timo Jüngling (CPB Sport – Sodi – TM Kart) slips further back in a race characterized by intense brawls, finishing in 21st place and still setting the fastest lap.
Tim Locati (CPB Sport – Sodi – TM Kart) was demoted from seventh place to 12th by a five-second penalty due to the nose being in the incorrect position.

Results

Championship standings

KZ2 Masters: Icing on the cake for an imperturbable Anthony Abbasse

Tyres: Dunlop

They try to stop him, but they can't. After also imposing himself in the Super Heat, in the final Anthony Abbasse (Sodikart – Sodi – TM Kart) started “cautiously” from pole and was overtaken by Davide Forè (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Kart). Friday's poleman kept his cool and on the fourth lap took the lead again thanks to a surgical overtaking move against the multiple world champion. The French driver then managed the race masterfully, withstanding the pressure of his Italian rival and crossing the finish line in first position to celebrate an extraordinary success.
Davide Forè therefore has to settle for second place. Despite making a strong start from second place on the grid to take the reins of the race, the winner of last year's FIA Karting International Masters Super Cup had to give in to Abbasse's pace and was also forced to defend himself from the attacks of Kristijan Habulin (TBKART Racing Team – TB Kart – TM Kart). After immediately responding to the Croatian opponent's overtaking, the Birel ART Racing team bearer continues to put pressure on Abbasse, but loses some ground in the final laps and finishes the race seven tenths behind the Sodikart driver.
Kristijan Habulin is another of the absolute protagonists of the weekend, which ends with a bit of a bitter taste. The standard bearer of the TBKART Racing Team sets the fastest lap of the race on the third lap and proves to be extremely incisive in the first phase of the final, while he is less effective in the second half and is in fact caught up by Thomas Mich (Thomas Mich – Birel ART – TM Kart ). Habulin defends himself admirably from his French rival, but Mich decides to attempt the attack anyway at the last corner of the last lap and hits his Croatian colleague, also causing him to lose another position in favor of Riccardo Nalon (Erre Esse Motorsport – Parolin – TM Kart).
Mich crossed the finish line in third place, but the Birel ART rider was then relegated to tenth position by a five-second penalty, received for having caused contact with Habulin. The bronze medal is thus inherited by an excellent Riccardo Nalon (Erre Esse Motorsport – Parolin – TM Kart), who is able to recover from seventh on the grid and thus celebrates his first FIA Karting podium.
Fourth place therefore goes to Habulin, followed by Alessio La Martina (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), fifth, Jeroen Bos (SP Motorsport – KR – TM Kart), sixth, Andrea Spagni (KCS Di Mancino Antonio – Birel ART – TM Kart), seventh, Roberto Profico (Tony Kart Racing Team – OTK – Vortex), eighth, and Brice De Gaye (Brice De Gaye – CRG – TM Kart), ninth.
The 2004 Super ICC world champion and manager of the Cremona Circuit kart track Ennio Gandolfi (Tony Kart Racing Team – OTK – Vortex) ended the weekend on a positive note, 11th.

Results

Championship standings