The first race of the season for the Tony Kart Racing Team was at South Garda Karting for the first round of the WSK Super Master Series, with our official driver Sebastiano Pavan achieving the podium finish in the OK category. Furthermore, first place was also achieved for the Rookie chassis in the MINI Gr.3 U10 class.

After the winter break, the Tony Kart Racing Team came back in action for the first round of the WSK Super Master Series at the South Garda Karting track in Lonato del Garda. The Tony Kart Racer 401 RR delivered a podium place in the OK category, driven by the Vortex VTS engine, and also on the track were the KZ2 and OKJ categories, respectively with the VTZ and VTJ units of the “engine division” of OTK Kart Group. The Tony Kart Rookie, together with the Vortex VTM, is the protagonist in the MINI Gr.3 and MINI Gr.3 U10 categories.

In OK, Sebastiano Pavan was constantly in the top positions across the weekend. He achieved the second-best time in group 1 of the qualifying practices and the fastest lap in the warm-up on Saturday morning. Sebastiano then achieved two victories in the three scheduled qualifying heats and first position in Prefinal B on Sunday morning, which resulted in him starting on the front row for the final in 2nd position. Despite a less favourable line on the starting grid, which made Sebastiano move back slightly in the running order, in a couple of laps, Sebastiano managed to get back to second position. From then, a battle of the hundredths of a second with the race leader commenced. At the end of the race, the Italian driver managed to eliminate the gap and took second position in the final. This is the third consecutive podium with the Tony Kart Racing Team for Pavan, after the silver medal in Round 1 and the victory in Round 2 of the WSK Final Cup 2023.

Kai Rillaerts had positive results in Lonato del Garda: fifth in his qualifying group, twice in the Top 5 in the qualifying heats and fifth in Prefinal A. Thanks to a mature performance, the Belgian finished the final among the best ten. Tiziano Monza showed off in the last race of the weekend and, with a good comeback of 10 positions, he also hit the Top 10 in the final. After fifth place in Prefinal B, Xavier Avramides finishes his first appointment with our racing team behind his teammate, Monza. Thomas Quince also takes part in the final, which therefore sees all five of our drivers classified.

In KZ2, Tom Leuillet is among our best representatives in the category. The French was fifth in his qualifying group and took fourth place as best result in the qualifying heats. Subsequently, Leuillet went close to a podium place and achieved the fastest lap in Prefinal A, and then in the final he placed in the Top 5. Marijn Kremers makes his official debut with our colours and after the best lap in the warm-up on Sunday morning, he finished in third position in Prefinal B. Thanks to a series of great overtakes, the Dutch driver finished in eighth at the checkered flag of the final, but a 5-second penalty for the front spoiler in the wrong position took him out of the Top 10. Francesco Celenta, also on his debut for the Tony Kart Racing Team, was forced to withdraw in the final. The Italian driver gained a total of 8 positions in the ranking at the end of the qualifying heats and he obtained first place in the warm-up on Sunday morning.

In OKJ, Sebastian Lehtimaki stood out in the qualifying heats with two victories, a second place and the fastest lap, to which the second position in Prefinal B was added. Thanks to these results, the Finnish driver started from the first row in the final, but a battle during the first laps of the race took him out of the fight for the top positions; nevertheless, Lehtimaki closed the race among the first ten drivers. At his first appointment with our sporting division, Joel Pohjola obtained fifth place as the best result in the heats and he went on to finish in the Top 10 in the final. Scott Kin Lindblom was very fast during qualifying on Friday when he registered the fastest lap in group 3. However, after two Top-3 results in the qualifying heats and the best time in the warm-up on Sunday morning, the Swedish was not particularly lucky in the final.

At the first race in the Junior category, Ilie Tristan Crisan conquered a Top-10 finish in Prefinal B and participated in the final. A contact puts Scott Marsh off the track, but until then he made a very good race. Even Maria Germano Neto had no luck, but she is already thinking about the next race meeting ahead.

In MINI Gr.3, Leonardo Gorski took second place as the best result in the heats, he then went on to finish in the Top 5 in Prefinal B and finished the final in the Top 15. At the start of the last race of the weekend, we also saw Oliver Sini, who finished Prefinal A among the top ten drivers. In the final of MINI Gr.3 U10, won by a Tony Kart Rookie, Achille Rea and Henri Kumpen battle hard and gain experience for the next events of the year.

Our Tony Kart Racing Team will take part in the second round of the WSK Super Master Series, scheduled in Cremona (8th – 11th February).

 Press Release © OTK Kart Group