• Text: Guillaume Alvarez
  • Photos: Alex Vernardis

OK

Kirill Smal didn’t need long to feel at ease around the layout of Adria, putting himself and his Energy chassis amongst the fastest drivers of the OK class as early as Thursday’s Free Practices. The young Russian set the fifth-best lap performance in Qualifying on Friday, then fought hard for the win in his first heat race but couldn’t reach the chequered flag after bad luck interfered and forced him to retire past half distance.

Smal remained determined and took an eighth-place finish followed by a win in his last two heats on Saturday, then another fourth place in Sunday morning’s Prefinal A. Eight on the Final’s grid, he entered the Top Five halfway through the 20-lap race before pulling off two more overtaking moves to finish third. A post-race penalty given to one of his rivals ahead meant for Smal to be promoted one step higher in second place as a rewarding result for his maiden race with the Energy Corse Racing Team.

OK-Junior

Following a fruitful 2019 season in OK-Junior, this new campaign will see Robert De Haan stepping up to OK at the opening round of the WSK Super Master Series by the end of January. Prior to the change, the young Dutchman entered last weekend’s Champions Cup again in the Junior class. Seventh-fastest of his qualifying series, he progressively built on pace in his heats with Top Four-finishes and a win, followed by a sixth place in Prefinal A turned eighth due to a front fairing penalty. Coming to the Final, De Haan put himself straight in ‘attack mode’, going from 16th to sixth in the first few laps with strong podium hopes before a mechanical issue put an early end to his impressive run.

“My first and last race of the year in OK-Junior ended in a DNF at the WSK Champions Cup,” wrote De Haan on his social pages. “The weekend started very solid. Our speed was good in dry and wet conditions. Qualifying was not the result I hoped with a P13 overall, but I was able to start all heats from the third row. The pace in the heats was good but could be better. I ended all heats in the Top 4 and the Prefinal on P6. Due to a front fairing penalty, I ended up P8. My speed in the Final was very strong, I was on my way for the podium from P16 > P6 but the chain broke after I hit the curb. It was my last race in OK-Junior and hoped to end this on the podium. Next week, I will compete in OK during the First Round of the WSK Super Master Series!”

Mini 60

Dmitry Matveev was amongst Mini 60’s contenders at Adria, confirming his status of emerging talent after some already successful appearances in last year’s WSK Open Cup and Final Cup. Fourth-fastest in Qualifying, the young Russian showed good consistency in his heats all concluded within the Top-Four, including a win on Friday. He kept his momentum on Sunday by taking a dominant victory in a wet Prefinal A, which secured him a start on the Final’s front row. Despite losing a bit of ground in the opening lap, Matveev quickly fought his way back up to third position but couldn’t contain one of his rivals’ attempts near the race’s conclusion. He nevertheless crossed the chequered flag as a deserving fourth.

The Norwegian driver Marcus Saeter, driving an Energy Corse chassis for the private ASD Revolution Motorsport team, delivered one the Final’s most eye-catching recoveries from 28th 10th, two ranks before the Russian Kirill Dzitiev. His countryman German Foteev finished in 18th ahead of the Estonian Mark Dubnitski (Dan Holland Racing) while Russia’s Yaroslav Trukhin was forced to retire.

No time to rest for the Energy Corse Racing Team back next week for the First Round of WSK Super Master Series again taking place on the Adria Karting Raceway from January 31st to February 2nd.