European Championship – Genk: Ugochukwu poleman in OK

The 74 OK drivers participating in the first round of the European OK Championship took part in Qualifying Practice late on Friday, alternating with the OK-Junior. The Belgian track remained dry most of the time, but the changing skies produced a short shower during the second session and upset the situation.

In the first session, the times dropped below 53” from the third lap and Joe Turney (Tony Kart/Vortex) managed to save his tyres to be the fastest – 52”090 – on his sixth lap. Three drivers followed within 5 hundredths of him: Ugo Ugochukwu (KR/Iame), Rafael Camara (KR/Iame) and Tymoteusz Kucharczyk (RK/TM). Turney’s fastest lap was later cancelled for going beyond the limits of the track, which were marked in some places by plastic tabs in the kerb. Ugochukwu regained pole position. Marlon Hernandez (KR/Iame) set an excellent 5th time, Yannick De Brabander (Praga/Iame) finished 7th and Florian Rousseau Ricci (KR/Iame) 16th.

The rain changed the situation when it started to fall during the second session. Driving and strategy were turned upside down. Luigi Coluccio (Kosmic/Vortex) was at ease from the start on slick tyres on a slippery track. He took advantage of the less wet conditions in the first few laps to set a new benchmark time of 1’10”043 ahead of Ariel Elkin (KR/Iame) and Nikola Tsolov (KR/Iame). Those who had taken their time to challenge were no longer able to improve. However, conditions improved at the end of the session with the return of the sun and Arthur Rogeon (CRG/Iame) finally set the fastest lap of 1’09”631 on his last run. Behind Coluccio, Elkin and Tsolov, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (KR/Iame) was 5th and Rintaro Sato (Kosmic/Vortex) 6th. Evan Giltaire (KR/Iame) finished 9th and Romain Andriolo (Sodi/TM) 13th.

Back to normal, or almost, for the third session with good performances from the fourth lap. Arvid Lindblad (KR/Iame) was the fastest in 52”237 on his fifth lap. Tuuka Taponen (Tony Kart/Vortex) followed at 64 thousandths on lap 6, while Brando Badoer (KR/Iame) was 3rd at 0.144”. Martinius Stenshorne (Birel ART/TM) and Nikolas Pirttilhati (Exprit/TM) completed the top five of the session with James Wharton (Parolin/TM) in 7th place and Hugo Besson (KR/Iame) in 11th.

The fourth session saw Andrey Zhinov (Tony Kart/Vortex) get back into the swing of things on his third lap. Matheus Morgatto (Birel ART/TM) came close to the top times on lap 5 and improved to 52”357 on the following lap. He was 0.179 seconds faster than Zhinov, with Juho Valtanen (KR/TM) following in 3rd place at 2 thousandths, and Norton Andreasson (Tony Kart/Vortex) and Ruben Moya Lopez (CRG/Iame) completing the top five.

Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP