KF2 & KF3 World Cup Qualifying
Tweetpress release
The KF2 and KF3 World Cups were down to the nitty-gritty on Friday afternoon at the Zuera circuit in Spain. Qualifying Practice and the first Qualifying Heats are on the schedule for the 81 drivers in KF2 and the 88 competitors in KF3. Although certain favourites were in the line-up, some also experienced their first disappointments. But the weekend is only just beginning …
In bright sunshine, with hardly a breath of wind and temperatures close to 30°C, the weather did not affect Qualifying Practice on Friday afternoon. All the Drivers had practically identical conditions in which to start their campaigns. Top speed and strategy on a track, where slipstreaming so important, should indeed play a role.
Above: Dennis Olsen, fastest in KF2 qualifying at the World Cup in Spain
pic - CIK/KSP
KF2: the battle of the greats begins
Ahead of first Practice for this KF2 World Cup fought at Zuera, it was a brave person who dared to make a definite prediction of the result. Qualifying Practice would only confirm expectations: it would be a battle of the greats beneath the Spanish sun! During Qualifying Practice, 60 Drivers were within one second of each other… the Norwegian Dennis Olsen (Energy-TM) was fastest, just 31 thousandths of a second ahead of the Briton Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG-BMB), recent winner of the KZ2 World Cup (second division for gearbox karts). The Dutchman Max Verstappen (CRG-TM) and the Italian Felice Tiene (CRG-BMB) were only 71 and 98 thousandths behind.
The European Champion Ben Barnicoat (ART GP-Parilla) completed the Top 5, ahead of the Italian Matteo Vigano (Top Kart-Parilla), the Spaniard Carlos Gil (Tony Kart-Vortex), always formidable on home soil, the Briton Sam Snell (Energy-Parilla), the Pole Igor Waliko (LH-BMB) and the amazing Russian Pavel Rudakov (Tony Kart-BMB). But Denmark’s Nicklas Nielsen (Kosmic-Vortex), Italy’s Antonio Fuoco (Kosmic-Vortex), Monaco’s Charles Leclerc (ART GP-Parilla) and Britain’s Tom Joyner (LH-BMB), were other victory candidates just outside the Top 10.
Other Drivers to watch are the Finn Niklas Tiihonen (FK-Parilla) in 16th place, the Frenchman Anthoine Hubert (FK-Parilla) in 19th, the Spaniard Pedro Hiltbrand (FA Kart-Vortex) in 20th and the Italian Flavio Camponeschi (Tony Kart-Vortex) in 24th position. At this stage of the competition, some already know that the task will be difficult, particularly the Pole Karol Basz (Birel-BMB), back in 42nd and the Italian Damiano Fioravanti (Tony Kart-Vortex) in 55th position, to name just two.
The first three Qualifying Heats held late on Friday brought no major upsets, with victories going to Dennis Olsen, Felice Tiene and Nicklas Nielsen.
KF3: Stroll fastest
The Canadian Lance Stroll (Zanardi-Parilla) has often shown good speed without so far achieving the desired result, in CIK-FIA competition for the KF3 category (for 13-15 year-olds). In Zuera, the protégé of the Ferrari Driver Academy, although not yet 14 years old, still made a strong impression by posting the fastest time of all 88 Drivers present. It was a great start to the weekend, making him one of the men to watch on the Spanish track. In all events Stroll deprived the local Guillermo Russo (FA Kart-Vortex) of pole position on his home soil, but the Spaniard was nonetheless one of the pleasant surprises in Qualifying, as were the Italian Lorenzo Travisanutto (Tony Kart-Vortex), the representative of the United Arab Emirates Thomas Michael Bale (FA Kart Vortex) and the Brazilian Vitor Baptista (CRG-BMB).
In 6th place, the European Championship runner-up, Spain’s Alex Palou (CRG-BMB) was the best placed of the favourites. The Top 10 was completed by the Frenchman Bryan Elpitiya (Zanardi-Parilla), the Russian Nikita Sitnikov (Tony Kart-BMB), the Spaniard Arturo Melgar (FA-Vortex) and the Briton Daniel Ticktum (Zanardi-Parilla). Among the favourites, in 12th place was the two-time European Champion George Russell (Intrepid-Vortex), two places ahead of the Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci (Intrepid-TM). If we can talk of a mixed result for the Italian Luca Corberi (Kosmic-Vortex), knocking on the door of the Top 20, disappointment was all the more bitter for the American Santino Ferrucci (Energy-TM) and the Croatian Martin Kodric (FA Kart-Vortex), two Drivers who have consistently been among the leaders in the European campaign but who on this occasion had to be content with 48th and 57th positions.
Following Qualifying Practice, each Driver contested the first of his five Qualifying Heats. Lance Stroll, Luca Corberi, with a fine fight-back, and Vitor Baptista began with wins whilst among the more unfortunate in their first Heat was Britain’s Callum Ilott (Zanardi-Parilla), who was involved in a collision, after his 18th place in Practice, and one to watch at the start of the weekend.
On Saturday, the Qualifying Heats will continue for both categories during an extremely busy day (with 19 Heats in all) to determine the 34 Finalists for Sunday’s two World Cup competitions!
