OK: Mini’ enters the winners’ circle

Gabriele Mini’ (Parolin/TM) has left little room to suspense this Sunday by mastering the OK Final from start to finish to claim his first win in the 2019 WSK Super Master Series, a competition he previously won twice in 60 Mini (2017) and OK Junior (2018). Thanks to a good start, the Sicilian jumped ahead of the Pole-sitter Dexter Patterson (winner of the Prefinal B) at lights out to pull away in the lead. Behind, the Scot quickly found himself surrounded by his opponents and felt down to P5 in the opening lap. But his Final’s debut wasn’t as complicated as Juho Valtanen’s (Kosmic/IAME) who missed the first corner to fall down the order (23rd overall). An unfortunate conclusion for the Finn whose remarkable weekend had seen him cumulate wins in the Heats and in Sunday morning’s Prefinal A.

As Mini’ controlled his gap, Pedro Hiltbrand (CRG/IAME) and Joe Turney (Tony Kart/Vortex) moved up the order to battle for second place ahead of Dino Beganovic (Tony Kart/Vortex), Patterson and Lorenzo Travisanutto (KR/IAME) getting closer to the top 5. At the halfway point, Patterson started his charge passing Turney then Hiltbrand two laps from the end to keep second place 1.045 seconds behind Mini’. The Parolin driver offered himself his first taste of victory in the Super Master Series this season with Patterson and Hiltbrand surrounding him on the podium, the latter making his maiden appearance of the year with CRG. Taylor Barnard (KR/IAME) crossed the line in 4th before his fellow countryman Turney, Travisanutto and Beganovic followed by Mattheus Morgatto (Tony Kart/Vortex), Joshua Dufek (KR/IAME) and Kirill Smal (Tony Kart/Vortex), all last three being promoted after Kas Haverkort (CRG/TM) and Luigi Coluccio (BirelART/TM) faced front fairing penalties that pushed them back to 11th and 17th respectively. Click here to check the full classification.

Click here to check the OK ranking (after three rounds) from now on led by Dexter Patterson (239) in front of Lorenzo Travisanutto (201), both split by just 38 points before the fourth and last round of the series, in two weeks time, in Sarno.

301,Antonelli kimi Andrea(ITA),Rosberg Racing Academy(KR/IAME/VEGA), La Conca, 10 March 2019. WSK Super Master Series, © 2019, Vincent Franken /FM Images

OK Junior: Antonelli opens his Super Master’s tally

The Junior Final has once again delivered an exciting spectacle where the winner’s trophy slipped from hand to hand during a good half of the 16 lap-race. In the end, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/IAME) became after Mini’ in OK the second first winner of the day in this year’s WSK Super Master Series. From fourth on the grid, the Rosberg Racing protege built his race to the halfway point where he got past Marcus Amand (KR/IAME) to put himself out of reach and let the opposition fight for the remaining podium steps. Pole-sitter (and Prefinal A victor) Arvid Lindblad (Exprit/TM) had a good start before struggling against Amand and Prefinal B’s winner Nikita Bedrin (Tony Kart/Vortex), the three battling wheel-to-wheel for each centimeter. But Sunday’s hero was named Thomas Ten Brinke (FA Kart/Vortex) who bounced back from a distant 23rd starting position to connect with the leader just a handful of laps from the chequered flag. Lapping sometimes half a second faster than the drivers in front of him, the Dutchman kept his head down to overtake Lindblad and Bedrin and conclude his impressive recovery charge in second place! Bedrin completed the podium ahead of Lindblad who had the upper hand on Amand after one last showdown where the two slightly touched wheels in the penultimate lap. Further back, Jamie Day (Exprit/Vortex) crossed the line in 6th followed by Laurens Van Hoepen (FA Kart/Vortex), Brando Badoer (Parolin/TM), who briefly appeared in the top 3 in the early part of the Final, Christian Ho (FA Kart/Vortex) and Samuli Mertsalmi (Tony Kart/TM). Click here to check the full classification.

The Final B of the class was won by Karol Pasiewicz (Luxor/LKE) for 0.393 seconds in front of Jonathon Weywadt (Exprit/TM) and Marcel Kuc (Parolin/TM) coming in third. Click here to check the complete results.

Click here to check the OK Junior ranking (after three rounds) where Andrea Kimi Antonelli has extended his lead (215 points) on Thomas Ten Brinke keeping the second place now with the same score as Nikita Bedrin (154) before the closing round of the Series in Sarno.

501,Powell Alex(JAM),Energy Corse (ENERGY/TM/VEGA), La Conca, 10 March 2019. WSK Super Master Series, © 2019, Alexandros Vernardis / The RaceBox.

60 Mini: Powell fights his way to victory

The last Final of Sunday smiled upon Jamaica’s Alex Powell (Energy/TM) who fought his way through the field to claim his first win in this year’s WSK Super Master Series (as Mini’ and Antonelli!). The recent Lonato Winter Cup winner came back from 8th on the grid to edge Ean Eyckmans (Parolin/TM) out of the lead three laps from the chequered flag. The Belgian driver, who had started from Pole position following his earlier win the Prefinal B, still kept the Jamaican under pressure to cross the line just 0.058 seconds behind him in an exciting finish! Further back behind, Friday’s fastest man (and Prefinal A victor) Coskun Irfan (Parolin/TM) emerged from a fierce group of three other drivers to step on the final podium, keeping at bay William Macintyre (Tony Kart/Vortex), who finished on top of Saturday’s provisional classification, Maksimilian Popov (Parolin/TM) and Maciej Gladysz (Parolin/TM). Arjun Akshay (Parolin/TM) maintained himself in 7th position ahead of Keanu Al Azhari (Parolin/TM), Oleksander Bondarev (Tony Kart/TM), who recovered nine places in the course of 10 laps, and Francesco Marenghi (Tony Kart/TM) closing up the top ten. Leader in the points after South Garda, Rashid Al Dhaheri (Parolin/TM) climbed up the order from 20th on the grid to finish 12th (click here to check the full classification).

The Final B of the 60 Mini class went to Yaroslav Trukhin (Energy/TM) in front of Petr Ageev (IP Karting/TM) and Matteo De Palo (Parolin/TM). Click here to check the complete results.

Click here to check the 60 Mini provisional ranking (after three rounds) where Belgian Ean Eyckmans (227) has taken the first spot thanks to his win in the Prefinal B and his second place in Final. Al Dhaheri (189) still remains a close runner-up with two wins but will have to watch over his shoulder for the return of Powell (185) who now edges him by two points.

The closing round the WSK Super Master Series will take place on the Circuito Internazionale Napoli of Sarno from March 21st to 24th. An event that you’ll be able to follow through our coverage via a special page providing Live Timing and Live Streaming as well as daily reports and complete results.

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Text: Guillaume Alvarez

Photos: Alex Vernardis / The RaceBox