OK: Travisanutto’s recovery, Thompson unlucky

In the OK Final that opened the afternoon, Lorenzo Travisanutto (KR/IAME) reminded everyone why he’s the reigning World Champion. Seventh on the grid, the HTP Kart Team driver quickly recovered positions to edge the top 3 in the opening laps before taking the lead on lap 14 from a strong Dexter Patterson (KR/IAME). From then on, the Italian driver increased the gap from his closest chasers to cross the finish line 1.9 seconds clear from Harry Thompson (FA Kart/Vortex). Already unlucky in the recent Champions Cup’s Final, the British driver produced a superb effort on a dry track to climb from 24th on the grid to second in the penultimate round of the 20-lap race. Unfortunately, a 5-second penalty for incorrect positioning of his front fairing, as a result of contact during his recovery charge, dropped him back to 5th.

“I need to thank the team, first, for their trust in me but also for the work they’ve done between the Prefinal and the Final,” declared winner Travisanutto on the podium. “I had not done my job so far but everything worked well in the Final and I could finally do my job. Then, it was just about managing until the end, thank you!”

Prefinal A’s winner Kas Haverkort (CRG/TM) inherited the second spot ahead of Dexter Patterson, back on a podium that he fought he had lost on lap 19 when his attack for P2 had opened the door for Thompson. Fourth at the flag was Champions Cup winner Taylor Barnard (KR/IAME) who made up seven places before Luca Griggs (Exprit/Vortex), Dilano Van’t Hoff (Exprit/TM) who couldn’t fight for the lead despite a terrific start, Franck Chappard (Redspeed/IAME) back from 22nd on the grid, Dino Beganovic (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Sami Meguetounif (Tony Kart/Vortex). Despite a podium in the Prefinal B, Gabriele Mini’ (Parolin/TM) quickly disappeared after two laps due to mechanical troubles (click here for the full results). In the current standings of the OK class after Round 1, Travisanutto leads four points in front of Haverkort with Patterson in third place (click here for the full standings).

201,Travisanutto Lorenzo(ITA),Htp kart team(KART-REPUBLIC/IAME/BRIDG), Adria, 3 February 2019. WSK Super Master Series, © 2019, Alexandros Vernardis / The RaceBox.

OK Junior: Chaves Câmara inherits crazy Final’s win

The 16 laps of the Junior Final delivered one of the best races of the weekend in Adria with battles happening at every level and uncertainty prevailing until past the last corner of the race! The first place kept juggling between three drivers for most of the race as Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/IAME), winner of the Prefinal A, had the best start in front of Pole-sitter – and Prefinal B winner – Rafael Chaves Câmara (BirelART/TM) and William Silverholm (Tony Kart/Vortex) who went past the Brazilian in the opening laps. The battle went on until lap 13 when contact between Silverholm and Antonelli let Câmara through for the lead. Josep Marti Sobrepera (Tony Kart/Vortex) chose that same moment to close the gap and even get the upper hand in the penultimate lap. Back in second, Silverholm kept pressuring and went for the move a few corners away for the flag before Sobrepera hit one of his wheels and sent him off to retire! Crossing the line in first position, the Spaniard was eventually sentenced with a 10-second penalty for what the marshals had considered being a “bad manoeuvre“.

Rafael Chaves Câmara was declared winner of the day ahead of Robert De Haan (Energy Corse/TM) and Thomas Ten Brinke (FA Kart/Vortex) who recovered ten positions to get on the podium, with Marcel Kuc (Parolin/TM) coming home in 4th, Arvid Lindblad (Exprit/TM) in 5th, followed by the unfortunate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 6th, Ugo Ugochukwu (FA Kart/Vortex) in 7th, Friday’s overall Pole-sitter Paolo Ferrari in 8th, James Wharton (FA Kart/Vortex) 9th after charging through the field from 32th on the grid, and Marcus Amand (KR/IAME) who also gained a impressive number of places (20) to close up the top ten (click here for full results). In the provisional Series classification, Chaves Câmara sits on top with already a good mattress of points ahead of De Haan and Ten Brinke (click here for full standings).

In the Final B that preceded, Laurens Van Hoepen (FA Kart/Vortex) offered himself a consolation win before Vinicius Tessaro (Parolin/TM) and Miron Pingasov (FA Kart/IAME).

336, Chaves Rafael Camara, (BRA), BirelArt Racing(BIREL-ART/TM-RACING/VEGA), Adria, 3 February 2019. WSK Super Master Series, © 2019, Alexandros Vernardis / The RaceBox.

60 Mini: Al Dhaheri’s perfect score 

In the 60 Mini Final that led to the conclusion of the event, Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/TM) didn’t lose time to recover from 8th on the grid to get himself in the lead as soon as lap 3. From then on, the driver from Abu Dhabi managed his gap to win the Final for Parolin. If the name of the winner became quite clear early on in the race, the battle for second place caught everyone’s attention as Ean Eyckmans (Parolin/TM), who briefly appeared in front, and Dmitriy Matveev (Energy Corse/TM) fought wheel to wheel until the very last corners. The Belgian driver eventually took second place in front of the Russian before the latter found himself penalized (+ five seconds for front fairing) and sent back to 9th overall.

Another Russian, Maksimilian Popov (Parolin/TM) recovered the third place ahead of Jamaica’s Alex Powell (Energy Corse/TM) who came close to the podium before a little push sent him “rally-crossing” on the straight finish line. William Macintyre (Tony Kart/Vortex) completed his first ever weekend in the WSK Series with a good 5th place before British driver Coskun Irfan (Parolin/TM) in 6th. Despite a good start from Pole (thanks to his win in the Prefinal B), Francesco Marenghi (Parolin/TM) finished in a disappointing 7th ahead of Kirill Kutskov (Energy Corse/TM) who, surprisingly, couldn’t keep his winning momentum of Saturday (leader of the Heats) and Sunday morning (winner of the Prefinal A). Dmitriy Matveev and Maskim Orlov (Parolin/TM), who came back from 19th on the grid, completed the top ten (click here for full results). In the Series standings, the victory gives Al Dhaheri the provisional lead ahead of Eyckmans and Kutskov, split by five points (click here for full standings).

In the Final B of the class, recent Champions Cup winner Andrea Filaferro (Tony Kart/TM) took the win with Nikola Tsolov (Tony Kart/TM) and Daniel Krausz (Parolin/TM) second and third respectively.

518,Al-dhaheri Rashid(ARE),Parolin racing kart(PAROLIN/TM-RACING/VEGA), Adria, 3 February 2019. WSK Super Master Series, © 2019, Alexandros Vernardis / The RaceBox.

The next round the 2019 WSK Super Master Series will take us to the South Garda circuit of Lonato on February 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Live Timing, Live Streaming and everyday reports will be available on this website.

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Text: Guillaume Alvarez

Photos: Alex Vernardis / The Racebox