• Info: South Garda Karting
  • Photos: Alex Vernardis / The RaceBox, South Garda Karting

The Lonato Winter Cup delivered once again a spectacular and highly-competitive event at the South Garda Karting of Lonato where more than 300 drivers from all over the world gathered all weekend to fight for one of the most prestigious trophies in international karting.

The weekend’s Finals were particularly exciting with wheel-to-wheel battles happening sometimes until the races’ last meters. The Italian Giuseppe Palomba (Birel ART/TM), in KZ2, the Brit Joseph Turney (Tony Kart/Vortex), in OK, the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (KR/IAME), in OK-Junior, and the young driver of the United Arab Emirates Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/Vortex), in Mini ROK, took the final wins in front of some prestigious guests including Alfa Romeo F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi and Moto GP Aprilia driver Andrea Iannone.

OK: Turney storms his way to victory

There was more than one candidate for victory amongst the 85 drivers of the OK class, last weekend at Lonato. Joseph Turney (Tony Kart/Vortex) proved once again to be one of them by victoriously emerging out of a hard-fought Final where he recovered from 11th to first. His teammate Lorenzo Travisanutto (Tony Kart/Vortex) made it 1-2 for Tony Kart after leading the field in the early part of the race. The young Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/IAME) was classified in third place while the fourth position went to the Dutchman Robert De Haan (Energy Corse/TM) who also led midway through the Final. Nikita Bedrin (Tony Kart/Vortex) completed the top-five following penalties given to Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Taylor Barnard (KR/IAME), both pushed back to ninth and 10th respectively.

Final classification (Top 10):

  1. Joseph Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team) 22 laps
  2. Lorenzo Travisanutto (Tony Kart Racing Team) + 0.840 seconds
  3. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR Motorsport) + 1.355
  4. Robert De Haan (Energy Corse) + 1.584
  5. Nikita Bedrin (Ward Racing) + 4.083
  6. Luigi Coluccio (Kosmic Racing Department) + 6.374
  7. Kirill Smal (Energy Corse) + 6.561
  8. Ludovico Edoardo Villa (TB Kart) + 6.613
  9. Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart Racing Team) + 7.552
  10. Taylor Barnard (Rosberg Racing Academy) + 7.878
Photo: South Garda Karting

OK-Junior: Stenshorne takes the win against strong opposition

The fight for victory in the OK-Junior category involved several contenders taking turns at the front of the pack until the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (KR/IAME) gained ground in the last laps and crossed the finish line in first place. His main antagonists turned out to be the Polish Karol Pasiewicz (Tony Kart/Vortex), later disqualified for intentionally replacing his front fairing, and Brando Badoer (KR/IAME), also penalized after the race. The Brit Freddie Slater (Kosmic/Vortex) was, therefore, promoted to second place ahead of his countryman Arvid Lindblad (KR/IAME). Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (RK/TM) came home in fourth place, followed by Akshay Bohra (KR/IAME).

Final classification (Top 10):

  1. Martinius Stenshorne (Rosberg Racing Academy) 18 laps
  2. Freddie Slater (Ricky Flynn Motorsport) + 2.975 seconds
  3. Arvid Lindblad (KR Motorsport) + 3.072
  4. Tymoteucz Kucharczyk (Birel ART) + 3.330
  5. Akshay Bohra (TB Racing) + 3.488
  6. Alfio Spina (KR Motorsport) + 5.683
  7. Cristian Bertuca (Birel ART Racing) + 5.753
  8. Brando Badoer (KR Motorsport) + 5.899
  9. Artem Severiukhin (Ward Racing) + 5.901
  10. Matteo De Palo (KGT Motorsport) + 6.107
Photo: South Garda Karting

Mini ROK: Maiden Winter Cup win for Al Dhaheri

The Mini ROK Final was dominated from start to finish by the young UAE driver Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/Vortex) despite the Russians Dmitry Matveev and German Foteev (both on Energy Corse/Vortex) chasing him during 12 laps. The Pole Maciej Gladysz (Parolin/Vortex) finished fourth ahead of the Norwegian Marcus Saeter (Energy/Vortex) and the Thai Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Parolin/Vortex).

Final classification (Top 10):

  1. Rashid Al Dhaheri (Ippoliti Fausto) 12 laps
  2. Dmitry Matveev (Energy Corse) + 0.326 seconds
  3. German Foteev (Energy Corse) + 0.394
  4. Maciej Gladysz (Parolin Poland) + 1.838
  5. Jan Przyrowski (AV Racing) + 2.321
  6. Marcus Saeter (ASD Revolution Motorsport) + 2.453
  7. Aditya Wibowo (Baby Race Driver Academy) + 2.862
  8. Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Baby Race Driver Academy) + 3.014
  9. Yaroslav Trukhin (Energy Corse) + 3.920
  10. Adam Hideg (Baby Race Driver Academy) + 4.333
Photo: South Garda Karting

KZ2: Palomba leads Longhi for a Birel ART 1-2

Out of 68 drivers at the start of the competition, it was Giuseppe Palomba (Birel ART/TM) who eventually obtained victory in an exciting Final where the Italian defeated his teammate and KZ Vice-World champion Riccardo Longhi (Birel ART/TM) in the closing laps. For Palomba, this win in the Winter Cup was his second consecutive for the Factory team of Lissone after his success in the 2019 WSK Open Cup. The French Jérémy Iglésias (Formula K/TM) crossed the finish line in third place, ahead of a recovering Alex Irlando (Birel ART), another Frenchman Jean Nomblot (Sodikart/TM), from CPB Sport, and the Finn Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart/Vortex).

Final classification (Top 10):

  1. Giuseppe Palomba (Birel ART Racing) 22 laps
  2. Riccardo Longhi (Birel ART Racing) + 0.510 seconds
  3. Jérémy Iglésias (Formula K Racing Team) + 1.974
  4. Alessandro Irlando (Birel ART Racing) + 3.674
  5. Jean Nomblot (CPB Sport) + 3.965
  6. Simo Puhakka (Tony Kart Racing Team) + 5.869
  7. Alexander Dahlberg (Energy Corse) + 6.639
  8. Jean Luyet (D.E.L Motorsport) + 6.839
  9. Hubert Petit (CPB Sport) + 8.190
  10. Adrien Renaudin (Sodikart) + 8.522

Find out more about the full classifications of KZ2, OK, OKJ, and Mini ROK.

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