With the first competition of the WSK Champions Cup, the WSK Promotion karting season has begun.

Lonato (ITA), 27.01.2023

For the first appointment of 2023, WSK Promotion's karting events at the South Garda Karting circuit in Lonato are going to have a fantastic season start. The WSK Champions Cup will be the first event of the season. An outstanding debut event including the most significant international teams and a driver roster of the highest caliber of competition, from the most numerous and promising young drivers in the MINI category to the numerous winners of the higher categories. Over 320 drivers, from 51 nations and four continents, competed in this first race of the year, demonstrating the event's global reach.

Sons of Hakkinen and Kumpen at the start.
Numerous individuals from the world of motorsport are also present, including Mika Hakkinen, a two-time Formula 1 world champion, who is in Lonato to watch his two very young children, Ella and Daniel, make their karting debuts. Henri Kumpen is also among the great drivers' offspring. He is the cousin of Sophie Kumpen, a successful driver and mother of Max Verstappen, and the son of Anthony Kumpen, a former race car driver from Belgium.

The categories at the start of the WSK Champions Cup.
The tenth edition of the 2023 WSK Champions Cup in Lonato added the single-make categories X30 Junior and X30 Senior in addition to the regular categories MINI Gr.3, OKJ, OK, and KZ2. Another innovation is to the MINI Grade 3, which has been divided into the MINI Grade 3 Under 10 for the youngest drivers, those between the ages of 8 and 10, and the MINI Grade 3, which is available to those between the ages of 10 and 12.

The intense weekend has started with qualifying practice.
The rigorous WSK Champions Cup weekend in Lonato began with the qualifying practice on Friday, January 27, and the 18 qualifying heats that followed.
On Saturday, January 28, there will be an additional 22 heats and the first Prefinals for the categories MINI Gr.3, MINI Under 10, and OKJ.
The event will be streamed live beginning at 9:50 on January 29. The X30J, X30S, KZ2, and OK Prefinals racing action will be broadcast on wsk.it and Motorsport.tv. Following the much anticipated semifinals are the X30J (12:10), X30S (12:40), MINI Gr.3 (13:40), MINI U10 (14:10), KZ2 (14:40), OKJ (15:10), and OK (16:10). (15:40).

The pole positions of qualifying practice.
MINI Gr.3. The American Keelan Harvick (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) took first place in the MINI Gr.3 class in Session-2, the Swiss Riven Esteves (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) took first place in Session-1 in 52.925 seconds, and the American Ilia Berezkin (Team Driver/KR-Iame) took first place overall in Session-3 (52.766s).

MINI Under 10. Henri Kumpen (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega), a student from Belgium, won the first session of the MINI Under 10 race in 53.222 seconds. Another Belgian, Antoine Sylva Venant (Kidix/KR-Iame), finished first overall in 52.842 seconds.

OKJ. The fastest of all in OKJ was the Brit Lewis Wherrel (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM-Vega) in Session-1 in 47.501, while the Italian Filippo Sala (Sodikart/Sodi-TM) was the fastest of the second session in 47.734s.
OK. The two Sessions of OK saw the two front-men split by just 0.001s: Dmitry Matveev (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-LeCont) posted the fastest time in Session-1 (46.541s), while the Dane David Walther (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex) did the same in Session-2 in 46.542s.
KZ2. In KZ2 the Brit Freddie Slater (BirelArt Racing/BirelArt-TM-Vega) was the fastest of Session-1 in 45.593s, while his teammate Cristian Bertuca, had the upper hand in Session-2 with a best lap completed after 45.723s.
X30 Junior. The fastest of X30 Junior has been Alberto Fulgori Jr. (Fulgori/Kosmic-Iame-MG) in 50.038s, but he has been excluded from the classification due to a technical discrepancy. Fulgori has filed an appeal and the classification is therefore sub-judice. The second time was posted by Riccardo Ferrari (Zanchi Motorsport) in 50.183s.
X30 Senior. In the first Session of X30 Senior the French Pacome Weisenburger (Martins/Red Speed/Iame-MG) went quickest in 48.274s, Cristian Comanducci (PRK/Tony Kart-Iame) topped the charts of the second one instead.

The results of the initial qualifying heats held on Friday.
The best results in the first heats on Friday follow:
- In MINI Gr.3, the Turkish driver Iskender Zulfikari (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) and Romania’s Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (Team Driver/KR-Iame-Vega) are equal in terms of penalties;
- In MINI Under 10 Ukraine’s Oleksandr Legenkyi (Team Driver/KR-Iame-Vega);
- In OK-Junior the Brit Lewis Wherrel (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM-Vega);
- In OK the Hungarian Martin Molnar (Energy Corse/Energy-TM-LeCont);
- In X30 Senior Brando Pozzi (M2 Racing/Tony Kart-Iame-MG)

The program of WSK Champions Cup in Lonato.
Saturday, January 28: warm up at 8:00; qualifying heats at 9:50; Prefinals at 16:25.
Sunday, January 29: warm up at 8:20; Live Streaming from wsk.it and Motorsport.tv from 9:50 for Prefinals; Finals from 12:10: X30J (12:10), X30S (12:40), MINI Gr.3 (13:40), MINI U10 (14:10), KZ2 (14:40), OKJ (15:10) and OK (15:40).

Info, Live Timing, Live Streaming: www.wskarting.it/index.asp

WSK Promotion
Press Office
press@wsk.it

This is a summary of an article that can be viewed on the WSK official site here.