TONY KART RACING TEAM
1st Round of the WSK Series
International Track La Conca, from 14th to 16th March

TWO WINS IN KF1 WITH STEVENS AND GARY CATT
In the first round of the WSK Series on the Italian track La Conca, our drivers Will Stevens and Gary Catt led in the KF1 final. For our Racing Team is very important to start the season with this great and clear win in the WSK International Series (Fia Authorised).
Our drivers were in the first positions of the rating already in qualifying, later the wins arrived with Stevens’s and Ardigò’s rounds and then we reached the climax, winning both the pre-final and the final.

Our young driver Will is improving his technical and driving abilities in our Racing Team, which is earning lots of excellent results.
After the great wins and the titles gained in the last season in KF2,Will Stevens gained his first and prestigious win in the top category of karting, thanks to his Tony Kart-Vortex combination and moreover he gained the consequent leadership in the temporary rating.
The first race of the WSK series came up to everyone’s expectations and our team took part in this event with great pleasure.
The large spectator turnout assisted in making this a great show, everything was well organized, and the drivers on the track showed all their technical ability and competitive spirit.
As regards the regulations, the WSK championship suggests some interesting solutions, underlining the sporting and technical aspects.
The most difficult testing bench for manufacturers is the KF1 category; it is very selective and incites us to bring on the track new innovations and important technical developments.

KF1 -In superpole, in which the KF1 top ten challenge each other in only one qualifying lap, three of our drivers: Ardigò, Stevens and Catt took part.
Although Ardigò, Stevens and Catt chose not to use the new tyres, as some of our rivals did, they only missed qualifying by a couple of thousandths.
Our drivers had an impressive rhythm during all the rounds and the Tony Kart EVXX showing perfect balance; in fact Marco Ardigò and Will Stevens won three rounds out of three. The pre-final hadn’t many stage tricks, Catt and Stevens led it, while Marco fought for the third position, against Antonio Piccioni’s FA kart.
The final began with some excitement when Marco Ardigò tried to start his kart, it stopped with an electrical breakdown and our experienced driver had to go to the back of the grid.
However Ardigò had a great performance and finally reached the 9th position.
Will and Gary fought, alternating, for the first position until the 10th lap, after that Stevens drove faster and gained his first, and extremely deserved, win in KF1.
Also Matias Laine had a great performance and entered in the point area, the young Finnish driver had to start from the back due to two accidents occurred in the rounds. Matso showed all his potential, doing the best lap with 47’’822, he did an excellent performance.

KF2 - Also in KF2 our drivers had the possibility to win. Petri Suvanto did well in the rounds and start from the 3rd position in the pre-final. He overtook De Canto e Sargasso with FA Kart-Vortex and he led the group for the first laps.
Later our driver went back to 3rd position due to a small error, which cost him dear, in fact a rival knocked him out.
Oliver Rowland made the final exciting, he went up from the 30th position to the 5th one, and he exploited the potential of his kart in the best way and ran an excellent race.
The Italian driver Aniello Smarrazzo won with the FA Kart-Vortex.

Giacomo Aliprandi - Team Manager Tony Kart Racing Team “Will had an excellent race and we are satisfied with the result that Will reached. It is a deserved success, in spite of his young age Will is clever and follows all the Team’s instructions, he get on well with all the staff and the results prove this good relationship. Altogether I think that the result is positive, even if we will be soon on the track in order to prepare the next race and improve some aspects. In this first race we had to work hard in order to save the special tyres used in the KF1 until the last lap.”

Will Stevens- Tony Kart Racing Team driver, KF1 category “In qualifying I did two goods performances, with the second time and the third in the superpole. I liked this kind of rating, it is different. In the first round I started well from the second position and I won. I did the same in the second qualifying race. In the pre-final and final I fought with my driver-mates, in particular with Gary, and I won my first race in KF1. These results are positive also because we take points for the championship and also for the first final. Everything was perfect: chassis, engine and all the Team has collaborated to reach this result.”

Gary Catt-Tony Kart Racing Team driver, KF1 category “It has been a good championship start, I gained two second positions and I was always in the top positions of the rating. At the end of the final I checked the tyres, especially the rear ones. I’m very happy that my driver-mate, Will, gained the win, it is an important victory in KF1”

Matias Laine – Tony Kart Racing Team driver, category KF1 “In the final I started from the back and I showed to have a good speed. I fought and I recovered some positions”.

Marco Ardigò- Tony Kart Racing Team driver, category KF1 Q) You experienced the new superpole formula, what do you think about it? “It’s interesting, you don’t have the time to get warm and everything is already finished, however we did well also in this situation. We chose to use the same tyres that we used in qualifying, because we believe that it wouldn’t be a good idea to use new tyres. However, altogether, I find this formula interesting.”

Oliver Rowland- Tony Kart Racing Team driver, category KF2 “ I tried to gained position for all the week-end, in fact during the rounds I had different accidents and also in pre-final I had a contact and I started really from the back. I’m satisfied at the end, because I reached the 5th position with a lot of overtaking.”

Petri Suvanto- Tony Kart Racing Team driver, category KF2 “It’ a pity that the race went in this way because it started well, with two wins in the rounds and a good technical situation, for this reason I was hoping to do well. In the pre-final I led the race for some laps; I was fighting for the first position when I had to retire because someone touched me violently. It’s a pity because the material was perfect and this track is one of my favourite ones.”

RATING 2008 WSK INTERNATIONAL SERIES TOP FIVE TEMPORARY RATING WSK – category KF1 1 STEVENS WILL GB TONY KART / VORTEX points 38 2 CATT GARY GB TONY KART / VORTEX points 30 3 PICCIONI ANTONIO I FA KART / VORTEX points 19 4 TE BRAAK J. NL ZANARDI / PARILLA points 18 5 ARDIGO MARCO I TONY KART / VORTEX points 16 Tutti con gomme Bridgestone   2008 WSK INTERNATIONAL SERIES TOP FIVE TEMPORARY RATING WSK– category KF2 1 SMARRAZZO ANIELLO FA KART / VORTEX points 37 2 DE CONTO P. BIREL / PARILLA points 28 3 HARVEY JACK GB BIREL / PARILLA points 26 4 FOSTER-JONES ROBERT GB FA KART / VORTEX points 18 5 LUCIANI MIRKO I TONYKART / TM points 16 6 GRÓMAN ZDENEK CZ MARANELLO / PARILLA points 13 7 ROWLAND OLIVER GB TONY KART / VORTEX points 11

PHOTO by GREGORY HEIRMAN for TONYKART www.fotofotmulak.com