Following the Champions Cup held last week, WSK Promotion is back on the track of Adria for the first of four rounds of the WSK Super Master Series. The championship starts with a great number of drivers in all four international classes: 115 in MINI, 93 in OKJ, 63 in OK and 71 in KZ2.

The usual qualifying sessions took place on Friday, to then carry on with the first qualifying heats, which will continue for the whole of Saturday and will end on Sunday morning for the MINI class.

KZ2: Viktor Gustavsson immediately on top

• Fresh winner of the WSK Champions Cup and reigning European champion in KZ2, Viktor Gustavsson (Leclerc by Lennox Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing) takes overall pole position with a best lap time of 47.691 in group 2. With a gap of just 12 milliseconds, Juho Valtanen (KR Motorsport – KR – TM Racing) is second in the same group (third in the overall rankings) and confirms himself at the top of the category after the podium achieved last weekend. Another confirmation comes from Adrien Renaudin (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Racing), fresh runner-up in the WSK Champions Cup, who finishes third always in the same group and fifth overall.


• Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), winner of the WSK Super Master Series in 2020, sets the fastest time in group 2, which earns him the second position in the overall rankings. Slightly less than 30 milliseconds behind is Francesco Celenta (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), who proves himself, again, extremely competitive with the fourth position overall. Riccardo Longhi (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing), reigning champion of the WSK Euro Series, finishes his first qualifying of the season in sixth place overall.


• A positive performance and improving compared to last week by Laurens Van Hoepen (Leclerc by Lennox Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing), who closes seventh in the overall rankings. A good debut with the new colours also for Alex Irlando (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing), who achieves eighth position. A slightly more challenging qualifying for his teammate, and reigning world champion, Jeremy Iglesias (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing), who sets the 14th fastest time in his first racing experience with the new team. The other CRG’s new entry, Jorge Pescador (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing), finds himself 19th.


• Danilo Albanese (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) and Leonardo Marseglia (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) close the overall top ten. Immediately behind are Giuseppe Palomba (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing), second both in the WSK Super Master Series and in the WSK Euro Series in 2020, Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) and Senna Van Walstijn (CPB Sport – Sodikart – TM Racing). Stan Pex (KR Motorsport – KR – TM Racing) completes the top 15, as he precedes Francesco Comanducci (Karting Club Cesano – TB Kart – TM Racing) and Matteo Vigano (Leclerc by Lennox Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing).


• Bas Lammers (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Racing), 28th in the overall rankings, and Fabian Federer (SRP Racing Team – Maranello – TM Racing), 35th, don’t shine as they usually do.

OK: first pole in the queen category of single-speed karting for Brando Badoer

• Brando Badoer (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) achieves his first pole position in OK with a lap time of 48.040 in group 1. With a gap of only 39 milliseconds, Ludovico Edoardo Villa (TBKart – TBKart – TM Racing) achieves an excellent second place in the same group, which earns him the third position in the overall rankings. The two Italians precede Ugo Ugochukwu (Sauber Orlen Karting Team – KR – IAME), who confirms himself at the top of the rankings with the fifth place overall.


• Arvid Lindblad (KR Motorsport – KR – TM Racing) is once again first in the second group and achieves second position in the overall rankings, with the second consecutive pole position (the first one achieved last weekend at the WSK Champions Cup) slipping away from his hands for just over half a tenth. He is followed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), runner-up in the WSK Champions Cup and reigning European champion, in fourth place overall, and by Tymoetusz Kucharczyk (Birel ART Racing – RK – TM Racing), who achieves another sixth position overall after the one of last week.

• The other two of the seven KR karts in the top ten positions in the overall rankings are those of Nikola Tsolov (DPK Racing – KR – IAME), seventh, and of the fresh winner of the WSK Champions Cup Rafael Camara (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), ninth.


• The two Tony Karts of Tuukka Taponen (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), eighth, and of Joseph Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), tenth, complete the top ten.


• Another disappointing qualifying for the reigning world champion Callum Bradshaw (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), who stands 26th in the overall rankings. Expectations are unfulfilled also by the pole-man at the 2020 world championship Matheus Morgatto (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing), only 40th, and by James Wharton (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), 45th.

OKJ: Freddie Slater is back on top

• Freddie Slater (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – Kosmic – Vortex), reigning world champion, takes pole position with a lap time of 49.690 in group 2 and puts a gap of more than a tenth between himself and the runner-up in the overall rankings, Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing). Following the victory of the WSK Champions Cup last week, the driver coming from the United Arab Emirates confirms himself at the top with the fastest lap time in group 3.


• The pole-man of last Friday, Maxim Rehm (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – Kosmic – Vortex), stands in third position overall. The German driver precedes the Tony Kart of Tigran Bunatyan (Team Komarov – Tony Kart – TM Racing) and the first KR kart in the rankings of Yuanpu Cui (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME).


• With the second fastest time of his group in 49.846, Manuel Scognamiglio (Gamoto – Tony Kart – Vortex) achieves sixth position overall. He is followed by other two chassis of the OTK Kart Group, driven respectively by Dion Gowda (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – Kosmic – Vortex) and by Harley Keeble (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), once again the first of the Tony Kart official drivers and coming from a third place at the WSK Champions Cup.


• The two KR karts of Sonny Smith (Sauber Orlen Karting Team – KR – IAME) and Dmitry Matveev (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) close the top ten.


• The runner-up in the WSK Champions Cup, Kean Berta Nakamura (Forza Racing – Exprit – TM Racing), stands in 12th position, preceded by Kirill Kutsov (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME).


• A bit of a disappointing qualifying for the young talent supervised by Mercedes, Alex Powell (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), only 50th. 

MINI: Gerasim Skulanov brings CRG in front of everyone

• After having seen the access to the WSK Champions Cup final fade away due to a 10-second penalty received in the prefinal, Gerasim Skulanov (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing) takes pole position with a lap time of 54.640 in group 1. Other two surprises complete the top three in the overall rankings: Zhenrui Chi (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME) and Kian Sharabian Fardin (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME), who both finished last weekend’s final in the midfield.


• An excellent fastest lap time in his group and fourth overall for Juliusz Ociepa (KRK Racing – Energy Corse – TM Racing), who didn’t shine in the last race. Emanuele Olivieri (Formula K Serafini – IPK – TM Racing), the pole-man of last Friday’s qualifying and runner-up in the WSK Champions Cup, closed a top five made up of five different chassis.


• Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME), sixth, and Elliot Kaczynski (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – TM Racing), seventh, confirm themselves at the top of the rankings.


• Jensen Burnett (Energy Corse – Energy Corse – TM Racing), Kilian Josseron (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME) and Franciszek Lassota (Parolin Poland – Parolin – TM Racing) close the top ten.


• With the third fastest time in his group and the 11th overall, Matic Presa (Leclerc by Lennox Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing) is again a protagonist of the class, after having won a qualifying heat last week and having been always among the fastest drivers. Slightly further back is Dries Van Langendonk (Birel ART Racing – Birel ART – TM Racing), who is 21st following the sixth position achieved in the final of the WSK Champions Cup.


• A bit of a disappointing qualifying for the winner of the WSK Champions Cup René Lammers (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME), only 25th, and for the third-place driver Tiziano Monza (Sauber Orlen Karting Team – KR – IAME), who finds himself further behind in 33rd position.

© Photo: Sportinphoto