Christian Costoya claimed his first podium of the 2024 season on the second race weekend, the WSK Super Master Series at Lonato. Temperatures remained cold, but the weather was fine. The number of drivers had increased since the WSK Champions Cup and the competition was really intense on the 1200 m of the famous Italian track. Christian Costoya made a remarkable comeback in 3rd place in the OK-Junior Final after his unfortunate retirement in the Prefinal. Zac Drummond confirmed his current excellent form by again finishing 7th in OK after a formidable 22-place recovery. The Parolin Motorsport Minis were also very competitive, as shown by Gioele Girardello’s 9th place and Bruno Priam’s 11th. Modena Kart also put in a strong performance in KZ2, with Maksim Orlov finishing 4th.
“It was another good weekend for Parolin Motorsport at Lonato,” Marco Parolin. “The good impressions from the WSK Champions Cup were confirmed. The team can be confident in the technical base developed for 2024 and development is continuing on all fronts to remain in a good position for the future. Costoya is already one of the top Junior drivers and we must continue to provide him with equipment that matches his potential. The competition was very strong in OK and Mini. I’d like to congratulate our entire team for tackling this intense weekend with dynamism and efficiency, as well as our friends from Babyrace Driver Academy who used Parolin chassis for their two podium finishes, William Calleja in Mini Gr.3 and Lorenzo Di Pietrantonio in Mini U10. The performance of our KZ2 chassis in the Modena Kart Racing Team bodes well for the future, with Maksim Orlov finishing 4th in the Final with the fastest lap. See you in Cremona in less than two weeks’ time for Round 2 of the WSK Super Master Series”.
Christian Costoya started by setting the fastest time in Timed Practice out of 82 entries. He then put in some superb heats, but was forced to retire in Prefinal A despite being in 2nd place with the fastest time. His determination to make up nine places in the Final gave him the deserved reward of 3rd place at the finish.
Qarrar Firhand, in 20th place, once again put in a very convincing performance, but his run in the heats was delayed by a retirement. Efim Derunov also showed good form, climbing to 21st place, while Alexander Chartier made up a lot of ground to qualify, unfortunately without being able to complete a single lap in the Final.
The potential is there in OK, as demonstrated by Zac Drummond’s unbelievable 22-place climb to 7th place. Ranked 3rd after the heats, Anatoly Khavalkin was weighed down by two retirements in the Prefinal and then the Final. Vivek Kanthan also retired in the Final. Jenson Graham, in 28th place, would have had a very decent weekend had it not been for a difficult Final and a fairing penalty before he came within a whisker of the Final top 10. Juan Diego Garciaarce also finished on a positive note with a surprising 14-place recovery.
Maksim Orlov came agonisingly close to the KZ2 podium with the Modena Kart team after a Final gain of six places in which he set the fastest lap, less than two tenths off the top three, which was made up of seasoned KZ drivers. There were also convincing performances from Menyhert Krozser in 18th place and Miguel Costa, who rounded off a promising first weekend in KZ2.
Gioele Girardello finished 9th in a hard-fought Mini Final, while Bruno Priam made up four places in Prefinal A, setting the fastest lap before finishing in sight of the top 10.
Parolin Motorsport returned to action last weekend at the first round of the 2024 international season, the WSK Champions Cup, held in cold weather at the Lonato circuit. Three categories were on the programme for the official Parolin team, with the return of KZ2 scheduled for a later date. Christian Costoya was very competitive in OK-Junior, among the contenders for victory. Anatoly Khavalkin also came close to success in OK. The team’s final score after the various ups and downs of the race was one top five and three top 10s, but more importantly, the technical level of Parolin / TM Racing 2024 is already very interesting.
“We have achieved most of our objectives for our return to competition,” said Marco Parolin. “It’s not easy to draw definitive conclusions after an event held in temperatures close to 0°. However, this phase was necessary for our drivers to get back into shape. In spite of everything, we were able to see that the 2024 equipment was more than equal to our ambitions and we’re looking forward to continuing our development work from next week at the first round of the WSK Super Master Series, again at Lonato. The weather is expected to be less cold and the field will be bigger.”
Zac Drummond had a good result in OK despite some setbacks. Qualifying in 2nd position, he missed his first Qualifying Heats before winning the next one. After finishing 3rd with an excellent time in the Prefinal, he made up further places in the Final to finish 7th. Anatoly Khavalkin could count on some very good heats in the top three to put him among the favourites. Unfortunately, over-enthusiasm in the Prefinal broke his momentum and he had to settle for 11th place in the Final.
Christian Costoya put in a magnificent performance in the OK-Junior class. 3rd in Qualifying, he won three of his four Qualifying Heats. He secured his dominant position by finishing 2nd in his Prefinal. Outpaced at the start of the Final, the young Spaniard fought bravely to finish 5th. Indonesian Qarrar Firhand achieved the best result of his career in his first experience with Parolin, finishing in the top 10. A better result was also achieved by Canadian Alexander Chartier, who finished 15th on the finishing line, having been placed 18th because of an incorrectly positioned front fairing.
In the Mini Gr.3 category, Priam Bruno got the year off to a good start with his 6th place finish, while Gioele Girardello climbed to 14th.