he WSK Champions Cup got underway at the Adria Karting Raceway with the first round of season 2020 that marks the 15th edition of the event organized by WSK Promotion. The interest from constructors, teams and drivers has been important again as they are ready to fight for the first title of 2020 and at the same time to work at the preparation ahead of the rest of the new season. This is especially true for those teams and drivers at the debut and on new materials. A total of 170 drivers took part in this event that is open to categories Mini, OK-Junior and OK. The very young drivers of Mini are all set to put on an interesting show with 75 drivers challenging each other on the newly homologated FIA Karting chassis. Qualifying on Friday highlighted the names of the first protagonists of WSK Champions Cup, as did the initial heats run so far.

Antonelli on top in OK.

The young Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR-Iame-Bridgestone) posted the fastest time in the two OK qualifying session despite being at the debut in the higher category after dominating Junior last year. Antonelli completed his best lap in 48.643s and was followed by the Russian Nikita Bedrin (Tony Kart-Vortex) whose 48.756s was worth the second place as the British driver Taylor Barnard (KR-Iame) came third in 48.837s. The other Russian Kiril Smal (Energy-TM Racing) was also among the quickest with a 48.873s that placed him fourth, while the other Italian Cristian Comanducci (Tony Kart-Vortex) came to the fore posting the second time of the second session in 49.0

Badoer to the fore in OK-Junior.

Among the protagonists of OK-Junior, Brando Badoer (KR-Iame-Vega) posted the fastest time in the first session in 49.697s. He led the Pole Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (RK-TM Racing), who completed his best loop in 49.815s claiming the fastest lap of the second session. The third overall fastest time went to the Russian Artem Severiukhin (Tony Kart-Vortex) in 49.830s, while Badoer's teammate Emmo Jr Fittipaldi (KR-Iame) was second in the second session in 49.875s.

Foreign drivers shining in Mini.

The hard-fought Mini run three qualifying sessions. The Pole Maciej Gladysz (Parolin-TM Racing-Vega) posted the quickest time in the second session and claimed the pole position in 54.494s. The second overall fastest time was posted by his teammate from Russia Anatoly Khavalkin, in 54.914s, who was the quickest of the first session. The Dutch Rene Lammers, also on Parolin-TM Racing, went quickest in the third session in 55.125s, but was proceeded in the provisional classification by the Russian Dmitry Matveev's 54.576s  (Energy-TM Racing) and the Pole Jan Przyrowsky (Parolin-TM Racing) that completed his best lap in 54.971s.

The initial qualifying heats.

The first qualifying heats of each category ended the racing day. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR-Iame) and the Dutch Thomas Ten Brinke (Kosmic-Vortex) topped OK's charts,  the Brit Arvid Lindblad (KR-Iame) and Giovanni Trentin (Parolin-TM Racing) OK-Junior's, while the Japanese Berta Kean Nakamura (KR-Iame) and the Russian Dmitry Matveev (Energy-TM Racing) led the pack in  Mini.

Heats will continue on Saturday, while the event will reach its conclusion on Sunday January 26th with the live streaming of the Prefinals, Finals B for Mini and OK-Junior and the Finals of the three categories.

The program at the Adria Karting Raceway

WSK Champions Cup 2020

Saturday, January 25th

9:00 - 10:25 Warm-up

10:30 - 18:00 Qualifying Heats

Sunday, January 26th Live streaming www.wsk.it

9:00 - 10:25 Warm-up

10:30 - 12:30 Prefinals

12:30 Finals B OKJ - Mini

14:00 Finals OKJ – Mini - OK