Parolin Motorsport took a double win at the first round of the WSK Euro Series at Viterbo in Italy from 14th-17th May with Christian Costoya in OK and Elton Hedfors in Mini. Costoya took advantage of the excellent conditions to take a clean sweep at all stages of the event while Hedfors moved up from 6th in Qualifying to win his heats, Prefinal and the Final.

Peerless result for Costoya

Costoya had no serious rival in the OK category at Viterbo, leading every racing lap in a rare display of perfect synergy between driver, team and equipment. He finished the Final over three seconds ahead of his closest rival and is already 32 points ahead in the series standings. His team-mate Qarrar Firhand made strong progress throughout the weekend and finished 14th in the Final. 

Hedfors takes his first international win

In Mini Group 3 Hedfors qualified 3rd in his group, 6th overall, and then made his mark on the heats, moving up to take the lead in each one to head the intermediate classification. He was then unbeatable in his Prefinal and the Final to take the top of the podium by 0.750s. 

Leo Laitinen qualified 4th overall but problems in two heats left him down in 16th overall. His comeback started with 3rd in Prefinal B then he gained seven places to 6th in the Final. Danila Verba continues to improve each time out with a highlight of 3rd in Prefinal A before finishing 17th in the Final after dropping back in the early-race battles. In the Under 10 category, Zayne Burgess took 6th in his first WSK event after running consistently in the top ten. 

In OK-Junior, Bruno Blanco finished 9th in the Final after taking 4th in his Prefinal while Giacomo Giusto and Juan Garciarce more than held their own in the highly competitive class. 

Albert Tamm and Gioele Girardello from Modena Kart took 2nd and 3rd in OKN-Junior with Lenni Makinen of LA Motorsport joining them in the top ten.

Meanwhile, in the European Championship for KZ2 at Valencia in Spain, Kimi Tani (LA Motorsport) finished 5th in the Super Heat and Anatoly Khavalkin (Modena Kart) was a strong contender in the heats but both fell prey to racing incidents in the Final. 

“The results this weekend are an overwhelming vindication, with two wins in OK and Mini and a double podium in OKN-Junior for our partner team,” said Marco Parolin. “I’m also pleased to see great progress from drivers like Verba, Burgess and Blanco and I think it shows the team’s dedication to continuous improvement in all aspects of racing.”

Next time on track will be the third round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series from 28th-31st May, also at Viterbo, before the European OK and OK-Junior Championship at Viterbo the following week.

Although the first round of the Champions of the Future Shifters series at Valencia was marked by a dispute between some KZ drivers and FIA Karting, the KZ2 drivers from the Modena Kart and LA Motorsport teams showed flashes of brilliance and above all prepared well for next weekend’s European Championship round, also taking place at Valencia. 

Kimi Tani (LA Motorsport) was an excellent 4th in his group in Qualifying and was a top six runner in the heats before his Final chances were hampered by an accident in the Super Heat. Meanwhile Anatoly Khavalkhin (Modena Kart) also qualified well and gained places in the heats before a remarkable rise in the Super Heat was wiped out by a penalty. 

Marco Parolin offered his perspective on the weekend’s events 

“This Champions of the Future competition will certainly be remembered for a long time for non-sporting reasons. As far as the technical part is concerned, we approached this competition with the aim of preparing ourselves as well as possible for the upcoming European Championship round. Certainly the feeling with the Dunlop tyres was not the best and I can say that the team worked well, taking small steps in the right direction. However, our KZ drivers decided not to take part in the Final autonomously and not in line with the team’s vision. I understand their frustration at having to race with a tyre that does not perform up to the standards of an elite category (as the lap times compared to other categories show), but I do not agree with their form of protest, as it was unlikely that the responsible bodies could find a solution in a matter of hours. In addition to this, I think it was a lack of respect towards the organiser of the race, who gave us the opportunity to prepare for the European Championship by organising a race with just under 80 drivers. Having said that, I am convinced that the subject deserves attention and that we are trying to find the best solution for the survival of this category at international level, but in the right way and above all with an awareness of what is possible in the short term. I conclude by noting the decision of our drivers not to take part in any competition that will use Dunlop tyres, as written in their letter of protest. KZ is a very costly category, not only economically, but above all in terms of energy, time and human resources: the driver is the protagonist, but behind the scenes there is a huge amount of work involving many people, and forcing a driver to race with no motivation does not seem right and goes against our philosophy. Instead, we will continue with our commitments in the KZ2 and KZ Master categories as scheduled.”

While the KZ2 drivers are taking part in their European Championship at Valencia this coming weekend, the OK and OK-Junior drivers will be racing in the WSK Euro Series at Viterbo in Italy as part of their preparation for their next European Championship round in early June.

The Parolin Motorsport team came away from Portimao in high spirits after a win in the headline OK class for Christian Costoya in the FIA Karting European Championship, backed up by convincing performances from the other drivers.

An almost flawless run for Christian Costoya at Portimao started with the fastest lap in Timed Qualifying and went on to become the only driver with three wins in the rain-hit heats. In the Super Heat, after a rain shower, discretion was the better part of valour and Christian came home 2nd, knowing that he had done enough to secure pole for the Final. He led from lights to flag in the feature race after a perfect start. Running on a fully dry track, he was never seriously challenged after dramatic incidents in the pack. 

Beau Lowette marked his new maturity as an international driver, gaining 33 places between Qualifying and the heats to 21st then charging through the field to 3rd in the Super Heat behind Christian. This gave him 11th on the Final grid but unfortunately he was the victim of a first lap incident and couldn’t finish. Efim Derunov just missed out on a Final place after gaining positions at each phase.

In OK-Junior Priam Bruno qualified well into the top third of the grid and continued to move forwards, taking 9th in his Super Heat then coming home 10th in the Final (18th after a spoiler penalty), while Giacomo Giusto was unlucky to fall victim to another first lap incident in the Final

Marco Parolin said: 

“I’d like to congratulate the whole team for their focus and resilience in the difficult conditions this weekend, with the track conditions changing from minute to minute, and it’s very satisfying to see all that work culminate in a win. Well done also to Beau Lowette, who put himself on everyone’s radar with his Super Heat P3, while Priam Bruno kept moving forwards for his best result so far in his first Junior season.” 

Costoya goes into the next European round at Viterbo in Italy at the beginning of June as Championship leader by 23 points, with WSK and Champions of the Future events during May to prepare.mpionship will take place this weekend at the same track of Portimao with Qualifying starting on Friday.