Tony Kart on the bench test at Portimao
Our Racing Team takes part in the second round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series in Portugal, to prepare for the FIA Karting European Championship OK-OKJ which will be held in a few days on the same circuit
From Spain to Portugal: the Tony Kart Racing Team moves to the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, to attend the second round of the Champions of the Future Euro Series. On the Portuguese track, the Tony Kart Racer 401 T took to the track powered by the VTS (OK) and VTJ (OKJ) engines of Vortex Engines, the engine division of OTK Kart Group.
In OK, category with 92 drivers at the starting grid, our drivers are constantly at the top of the rankings. Standing among all is Thomas Pradier, author of a victory in the qualifying heats – on the occasion of the heat reserved for groups A and D – and the best positioned in the intermediate ranking on Friday evening. However, in Super Heat B on Saturday morning, he is innocently involved in an accident on the opening lap and thus forced to retire. From the back, Pradier performs a remarkable comeback of 17 positions during the final and takes a positive top-10 in view of the next rounds.
Jindřich Pešl also wins the qualifying heats, more precisely in heat C-E, but is less lucky than his teammate Pradier. Nevertheless, the Czech driver crosses the finish line of the final, one position ahead of our other "Senior" driver, Gino Rocchio, who stands out during the weekend with a second place as his best result in the qualifying heats. Oliver Rasmussen also does a fruitful job together with our staff.
In OKJ, just back from the success of the first round in Campillos, Ilie Tristan Crisan arrives in Portugal as championship leader. Since the qualifyings, the Canadian driver takes important positions in the standings: he is the third fastest driver in his chrono practice group, collects three top-3 placements in the qualifying heats and, finally, hits the victory in the second super heat on Saturday morning. However, the final is hard from the beginning: an unlucky start from the second-row forces Crisan to give up several positions on the first lap. In the following laps Ilie runs steadily in the top five, until, during the fifth lap, a collision prevents our standard-bearer to succeed.
In his first championship attendance, Mateo Rivals proves to give his best with the third fastest time in group 3 of the qualifyings. The French driver, despite being in his first season ever in the "Junior" category, plays a positive path between qualifying heat and super heat, until he secures a place on the starting grid of the final. Henri-Constant Kumpen and Nikita Ljubimov, two other rookies of the Racing Team, also attend the last race scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Finally, Julian Frasnelli, Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi and Oliveri Sini run precious kilometres in view of the European championship.
The Tony Kart Racing Team will still be at the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve, in view of the second round of the FIA Karting European Championship, reserved for the OK and OKJ categories, scheduled on next May, 1st –4th .
