WSK World Series, Round 1
The results were unpredictable at the first round of the WSK World Series in Portimao, Portugal, on the weekend. The winners from the round were De Vries (Zanardi-Parilla SKF), Thonon (CRG-Maxter KZ2), Lock (Tony Kart-Vortex KF2) and Visoiu (Tony Kart-Vortex KF3).
Above: Super KF get a race start at Portimao
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press release
New challenges at the WSK World Series.
It was only the first round and yet exciting races took place. At the Circuito Internacional do Algarve, indecisive results in every class until the final race highlighted on several occasions promising talents to keep an eye on. That’s how the first event of the WSK World Series went off on the Portuguese circuit in Portimao. The chance of getting recovery is close at hand with the second round in New Jersey (USA), on August 1st.
Nyck De Vries launches his attack in Super KF.
Dutch Nyck De Vries (Zanardi-Parilla-Vega) did his best to arrive in the USA as Super KF leader. And getting over few technical hitches that slowed him down during the first heats, he managed to achieve his goal. In the Final, De Vries accomplished his recovery by passing Armand Convers (Kosmic-Vortex-Vega) who had been the leader until then. Therefore, thanks to the win in Portugal, De Vries is now at the top of the ranking, although only one-point lead over Convers, who showed to be consistent all over the weekend. A further protagonist of the day was English Gary Catt (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) who being clever at recovering from half formation managed to mount the podium in both the race and championship.
Thonon already shoots for KZ2 title.
It was a huge success for Thonon, since the Belgian driver has achieved both Pre-final and Final. However, his fellow citizen Rick Dreezen (Tony Kart-Vortex-Dunlop) first, and his teammate American Gary Carlton later, taking the lead in turn for a good part of the Pre-final, made life difficult for the driver from Waterloo. In the Final, after regaining lost ground due to a not easy start, Thonon caught up first with Italian Marco Ardigò (Tony Kart-Vortex-Dunlop) and then Dreezen. He finally was successful in overtaking Carlton only two laps from the post. At the end of the weekend, the Belgian driver is at the top of the ranking with a comfortable lead of 26 points over Dreezen and Carlton. A gap that Carlton intends to close at the upcoming home round in Millville.
Chris Lock is the first leader in KF2.
There was more than one surprise in the race for KF2 win. English Luke Varley’s victory in the Pre-final was followed in the Final by Italian Ignazio D’agosto’s recovery (both on a Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) that took the lead in no time. Pushing from the back, once on the wake of D’Agosto, Danish Nicolaj Moller Madsen (Energy-TM-Vega) launched his attack. Unfortunately, just when the Danish driver was attempting to overtake on a bend, they both went off track due to a touch. Such a hitch was to English Chris Lock’s benefit (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) who unchallenged headed for win, with his teammate Varley coming second. Jordan King (Birel-BMB-Vega) completed the podium with English colours since he concluded a consistent race with a third place. The first two drivers and their relative positions are confirmed in a short championship ranking where the only change is Yu Kanamaru (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) in third position.
Robert Visoiu, KF3 new leader.
Romanian Robert Visoiu (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) was victorious in the duel with Dutch Max Verstappen (CRG-Maxter-Vega) and he took the lead after covering only one-third of the Final. Verstappen was always hot on opponent’s heels, giving the impression of launching an attack before long. But in the last part of the race, the need to pick up a kart stopped along the track led to the neutralisation procedure. Therefore, under the yellow flags, the positions remained unchanged in the few laps left before the end. Thus, Visoiu established himself as leader ahead of Verstappen and Italian Damiano Fioravanti (Tony Kart-Vortex-Dunlop). The tree drivers retain the same top three places in the ranking.
