Mini ROK: Powell on the edge

A couple of months after concluding 2018 on a winning note at the WSK Final Cup in Adria, Alex Powell (Energy Corse/Vortex) has added this weekend another important win to his growing tally. From third on the grid, Powell defeated Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/Vortex) after a fierce battle that saw the Jamaican get past the Emirati in the last lap of the Final to keep his advantage (0.6 seconds) on the way to the finish line. But Al Dhaheri later found himself penalized with five seconds and tumbled the order down to 8th position. Kirill Kutskov (Energy Corse/Vortex) inherited the second place to complete Energy Corse’s Sunday 1-2 in front of Coskun Irfan (Parolin/Vortex) who concluded on the podium an impressive weekend featuring the fastest lap time in Friday’s Qualifying, the leader’s seat after the Heats and another win in the Super Heat 1. Matteo De Palo (Parolin/Vortex) emerged as the highest-classified Italian driver after gaining five places on track to finish 4th ahead of Maksimilian Popov (Parolin/Vortex).

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OK Junior: Antonelli unreachable

Sunday’s final run felt quite easily into the pocket of Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/IAME) just like his weekend characterized by the Pole position on Friday followed by three Heats and the Super Heat 1 in the bag. At lights out, the young Italian put his Kart Republic chassis up front to keep the lead and claim his second Winter Cup win in two years, his very first success with the Rosberg Racing Academy that he joined at the end of 2018. Behind, Thomas Ten Brinke (FA/Vortex) was involved in an incident on Lap 2 with Theo Wernersson (Kosmic/TM) and Alex Dunne (Exprit/TM) that forced him and the Irish driver to retire (Wernersson was classified 8th). Ricky Flynn Motorsport teammates James Wharton (FA/Vortex) and Conrad Laursen (FA/Vortex) were quickly promoted to second and third but remained in that order as they couldn’t reach the leader close enough. Andrey Zhivnov (Kosmic/Vortex) crossed the line in 4th place with the top 5 completed by Artem Severiukhin (Tony Kart/Vortex).

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OK: Travisanutto seals the deal  

From 7th on the grid, due to some trouble during the Heats (14th in his last qualifying race), Lorenzo Travisanutto (KR/IAME) fought back on Sunday to clinch the victory, his second after 2017, in an always highly-contested Senior category. The FIA Karting World Champion made it a hard life for the Pole-sitter Joe Turney (Tony Kart/Vortex) that he overtook on Lap 3 following a yellow flag interruption of the Final. Once in the lead, Travisanutto kept his head down all the way to the finish despite one last attempt from Turney that allowed Dexter Patterson (KR/IAME) to take second place ahead of his fellow countryman. Fourth place went to Leandro Anderruti (KR/IAME) before a strong Harry Thompson (FA/Vortex) who recovered 10 positions to close-up to the top 5 ahead of Pedro Hiltbrand (CRG/IAME) who gained 16 places, Luigi Coluccio (BirelART/TM), Noah Milell (Tony Kart/Vortex), Gabriel Bortoleto (CRG/IAME) who came back from 33th on the grid, and Hugo Sasse (KR/IAME).

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KZ2: Abbasse holds on against De Conto

The gearbox-powered category of this year’s Winter Cup was won for the first time by French driver Anthony Abbasse (Sodikart/TM) who, despite starting from Pole position, had to fight hard against two former World Champions in the likes of Marco Ardigo’ (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Paolo De Conto (CRG/TM) to claim the final win. At the start, the Tony Kart driver pulled away first in the opening laps while the Frenchman was busy retaining De Conto then Giacomo Pollini (Formula K/TM) behind him. On Lap 8, Abbasse made his move on Ardigo’ before De Conto put a gear up and closed the gap for the lead. A “battle royale” that turned to the advantage of Abbasse who crossed the line 0.121 seconds in front of the CRG factory driver. Ardigo’ completed the podium ahead of Marijn Kremers (BirelART/TM), who came back from 14th on the grid, and Friday’s Pole-sitter Fabian Federer (Maranello/TM).

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Text: Guillaume Alvarez

Photos: Alex Vernardis / The RaceBox