Castrezzato, Franciacorta (ITA), 3.04.2024: Many protagonists at the Franciacorta Karting Track are already ready to compete in the first round of the WSK Open Series, with a significant lineup of drivers reaching 260 entries in the MINI, OKNJ, OKN and KZ2 categories.
Particularly crowded, as usual for a WSK event, is the MINI category with around 90 drivers, but the KZ2 also stands out with 94 competitors, several of whom will also compete in the new Masters category for drivers over 35 years old. The two new federal categories, OKN and OKNJ, also mark a great success, with a total of approximately 80 drivers.
MINI Gr.3 and Under 10 – The most competitive drivers of the season at the start.
All the strongest competitors from both youth categories are present in the MINI - Gr.3 and Under 10 categories, starting with the winners of the WSK Champions Cup 2024, Cristian Blandino (#559 Kalì Kart Racing/Kalì Kart-TM Kart-Vega) in the MINI Gr.3 and Niccolò Perico (#501 Energy Corse/Energy-TM Kart) in the Under 10, who also won the recent WSK Super Master Series. Among the most competitive are also some representatives from BabyRace, such as Lorenzo Di Pietrantonio, Mason Robertson, Alessandro Truchot, and Albert Tamm, while the Tony Kart Racing Team boasts the presence of Leonardo Gorski and Achille Rea. With BirelART Racing, David Moscardi shines in the U10 category, with Team Driver the two drivers Daniel Miron Lorente and Oleksandr Legenkyi, with CRG Jason Kosmopoulos, with KR Lucas Palacio, with Gamoto Nicola Stanley, and many other protagonists ready to stand out.
OKN - Over 40 drivers and a lot of protagonists.
The lineup of the OKN category at the first seasonal outing in a WSK Promotion race is excellent, with over 40 drivers not only from Italy but also from Turkey, Greece, Israel, Estonia, Poland, Sweden, the United States, Switzerland, Australia, France, and Slovakia. The champions of WSK from last year in OKN are present, including the Turkish driver Bati Ege Yildirim with Modena Kart on Parolin-TM Kart, the champion of the WSK Open Series and the WSK Euro Series, and Lamberto Ferrari, winner of the WSK Final Cup 2023, racing with FK Motorsport on IPK-Modena Engines. Among the top contenders are also Federico Rossi and Cristian Comanducci with PRK on Tony Kart-TM-Kart, Karol Pasiewicz with Novalux on Lenzokart-LKE, Antonio Apicella with PCR Factory on PCR-Iame, Gianmarco Cortopassi with Maranello Kart on Maranello-TM Kart, and Giovanni Toso with LGK on BirelART-TM Kart.
OKNJ – A lot of countries represented and favourite drivers.
About 40 drivers are also present in OKN Junior, with many nationalities confirming the category's interest and with several drivers coming from MINI. In addition to the good number of Italian drivers, there are also competitors from many other countries, including Greece, Slovakia, Monaco, the United States, China, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Lithuania, Great Britain, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Switzerland, and Bulgaria.
Among the top contenders here are Alex Molota with Firefly Racing Team on Gillard-TM Kart, Andrea Manni and Drew Walz with Forza Racing on Exprit-TM Kart, Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi with Ward Racing on Tony Kart-Vortex, Pietro Bagutti with Gamoto on Tony Kart-TM Kart, Giacomo Giusto with Modena Kart on Parolin-TM Kart, Ilia Berezkin with Monster K on CRG-TM Kart, Valerio Viapiana with Team Driver on KR-Iame, and Ludovico Mazzola with Jana Racing on Exprit-Vortex.
KZ2 – Big numbers and names. The Masters at the start too.
Great participation in KZ2 with over 90 drivers, which for the first time sees the addition of the Masters category in a WSK Promotion event, dedicated to drivers over 35 years old, where several champions from the recent past have immediately joined, such as Davide Forè racing with Galatsis Sotirios team on BirelART-TM Kart, ready to compete against other champions including Alessandro Manetti on Intrepid. However, the focus for KZ2 is on Cristian Bertuca with BirelART, winner of the recent WSK Super Master Series, and his teammates, Daniel Vasile and Pedro Hiltbrand, and the large number of high-caliber rivals, starting with Markus Kajak with Maranello SRP, the revelation of 2024 and winner of the WSK Champions Cup, his teammate David Trefilov, and then Senna Walstijn with Sodikart and his teammates Emilien Denner and Giuseppe Palomba, the young revelation Arthur Poulain with CPB Sport on Sodikart-TM Kart, some of the key components of CRG such as Paavo Tonteri, Andrea Dalè, Viktor Gustavsson, Jeremy Iglesias, and the Tony Kart drivers led by Tom Leuillet, Francesco Celenta, Marijn Kremers, as well as Modena Kart's representative Maksim Orlov, and many others of value. The KZ2 and KZ2 Masters will have separate qualifying sessions and races.
Media Coverage.
The Final stages with Live TV Streaming will be on April 7th with feeds from the Facebook page WSK Promotion, and at the websites of WSK, Motorsport.com, YouTube and Vimeo:
https://www.youtube.com/@WSKPROMOTION
The program of the WSK Open Series, Rd1 Franciacorta:
Thursday, April 4th: Free practice.
Friday, April 5th: qualifying practice from 11:30, heats from 14:00.
Saturday, April 6th: Warm up from 8:00, Qualifying heats from 10:00.
Sunday, April 7th: Warm up from 8:00, Live TV and Streaming of Prefinals from 9:20, Finals from 13:05.
The WSK Open Series Calendar:
1st Rd 07/04/2024 FRANCIACORTA / MINI – OKNJ – OKN – KZ2 – KZ2 Masters (from 35 years).
2nd Rd 11/05/2024 LA CONCA / MINI – OKNJ – OKN – KZ2 – KZ2 Masters (FINAL DAY SATURDAY)
Info: www.wskarting.it/index.asp
About WSK Karting
WSK Promotion established the international karting series back in 2006. Since then, the WSK karting championships have achieved ever-increasing participation levels, becoming the most prestigious showcase of international karting, which in recent years has exceeded 30,000 overall driver participants.
A goal achieved through the intense work of the whole WSK team, carried out with commitment, dedication and passion over these past 16 years.
And above all through the trust placed in them by the staff, federations, manufacturers, teams and the many drivers who choose the WSK races and championships to begin their career in karting and international motorsport.
Today the karting carried out in the WSK series proudly represents the starting point of current motorsport champions; in recent years almost the entire Formula 1 starting grid has been made up of drivers that grew up in WSK events.
Karting promoted by WSK goes beyond the track and behind the scenes. Through its videos, WSK Promotion takes fans backstage at each race and lets them in on the activity in the paddock, to fully relive all the excitement of every racing weekend.
Since its inception WSK Promotion has been committed to giving maximum visibility to its series for the fans and enthusiasts who, especially in this period, follow the races from home. Precisely for this reason it has all the technical infrastructure needed to be able to autonomously and remotely manage every live event.
