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.