Parolin Motorsport were highly satisfied with Oskari Walle’s 3rd place at the final round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series in OK-Junior in only his third international race, taking a Super Heat win on the way.

Although Christian Costoya was unable to score his usual superlative result in the Final after a mishap at the start, the team can be happy with his excellent Qualifying and heats results and his Super Heat win.

OK-Junior

Oskari Walle was at the sharp end immediately in Qualifying with 4th in his group, against much more experienced drivers, and he kept up the momentum with a peak of 2nd place in a heat. After starting his Super Heat 6th, he waited for his opportunity to move up to 3rd and then 2nd, before taking the lead two laps from the end and pulling away to win by a second. This promoted Walle to 4th on the grid for the Final and he went from strength to strength, taking 3rd after challenging for the lead and continually looking for any opportunity to move up. 

Juan Garciarce also qualified 4th in his group and scored a 2nd place in a heat, although his progress was slowed by racing incidents. He managed to qualify for the Final then gained no less than 12 positions. Priam Bruno also suffered in the heats but he made a strong recovery in his Super Heat, only for another incident to put a premature end to his Final. Alessandro Truchot also deserves a mention after qualifying 5th in his group and taking a 3rd in a heat, but two DNFs meant he couldn’t reach his potential.

OK

Christian Costoya started the weekend with 2nd overall in Qualifying, then took pole for Super Heat 2 with three wins in the heats. He won this by leading from lights to flag, but in the Final Costoya was pushed out wide at the start and dropped down the order. He had been working his way back through the field but a spoiler penalty after robust pack racing dropped him to 19th. Despite this, Costoya has finished 3rd in the title race, a testament to his consistency throughout the series. 

Team Manager Marco Parolin’s analysis

“The last round of Champions of the Future was a useful meeting to hone the last few things before the World Championship, and it was nice to climb on the OKJ podium with Walle, at his first race with the factory team. He impressed us with a consistent performance despite is little experience in the class. Besides this, the performances of our juniors were pretty competitive, marking a great improvement done throughout the season. In Senior, It was a shame for Costoya, who dominated the whole weekend but had to face some setbacks in the final – we are still investigating what could have possibly gone wrong as we lacked the usual pace he demonstrated all week long. Despite the unfortunate final, he still ended third in the series, confirming once again his outstanding seasonal shape.”

Heading for the World Championship

Parolin can now be confident in its preparations for the World Championship at Kristianstad this coming weekend, with indisputable evidence of speed in both the OK and OK-Junior categories.