Turney, Martinese and Gasparovic win in sunny conditions at Val d’Argenton

The weather played an important role in the running of the FIA Karting Val d’Argenton Event. After the changeable and wet weather of the first two days, the sun shone on Sunday and all the races took place on a dry track. Joe Turney (GBR) continued his domination of the OK class to the Final, as did Iacopo Martinese in OK-Junior. Jakub Gasparovic (SVK) won the first 2024 Final of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy.

Extremely variable weather conditions on Friday and Saturday during Practice and the Qualifying Heats provided particularly demanding conditions for the 213 participants from over 60 nations from all five continents racing in France for the second Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – OK & Junior and the first FIA Karting Academy Trophy Competition of 2024. The Maxxis rain tyres, used for the first time in FIA Karting, were put through their paces and completed their mission perfectly. Nevertheless, the competitors put on their slicks tyres on Sunday with relief to finish in the sunshine.

The qualities required to achieve a good result at Val d’Argenton were very broad, for both drivers and teams. The ranking of the European Championship evolved without being upset by the weather and there were strong comebacks throughout the Competition as well as during the Finals.

CIK-FIA President Akbar Ebrahim honoured the French Competition with his presence alongside the drivers and teams.

Impressive domination by Turney in OK

Super Heat A of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – OK confirmed the supremacy Joe Turney (GBR-KR/IAME/Maxxis) had in the wet weather on a dry track, while Salim Hanna (COL-KR/IAME/Maxxis) won Super Heat B. Turney then led the Final from start to finish, taking a thoroughly deserved victory which moved him into the lead of the provisional Championship standings. Lewis Wherrell (GBR-Exprit/TM Kart/Maxxis) was the only driver able to keep pace with the leader, just 5 tenths of a second behind after 24 laps. Matheus Morgatto (BRA-Birel ART/TM Kart/Maxxis) was third after a penalty dropped Gabriel Gomez (ITA-CRG/IAME/Maxxis) to fourth. David Walther (DNK-OTK/Vortex/Maxxis) rounded off a very convincing run among the frontrunners in fifth place. From a French factory, Andy Consani (FRA-Sodi/TM Kart/Maxxis) achieved his best result in sixth place. Aaron Garcia (ESP-KR/IAME/Maxxis), with a wild-card for the occasion, put in a solid performance to finish seventh in the Final. Less buoyant than in Spain, Louis Iglesias (FRA-CRG/IAME/Maxxis) nonetheless managed to stay in the top five of the Championship thanks to his eighth place in the Final. Salim Hanna and Fionn Mclaughlin (IRL-KR/IAME/Maxxis) completed the top 10 in the Final.

Provisional standings for the Mondokart.com 2024 FIA Karting European Championship – OK after Competition 2:
1- Joe Turney (GBR) – 173 points
2- Gabriel Gomez (ITA) – 160 points
3- Lewis Wherrell (GBR) – 130 points
4- Matheus Morgatto (BRA) – 119 points
5- Louis Iglesias (FRA) – 94 points

OK team rankings after Val d’Argenton
1- CRG (ITA) – 258 points
2- KR Motorsport (ITA) – 193 points
3- Tony Kart Racing Team – 139 points
4- Forza Racing (GBR) – 130 points
5- CL Racing Team (ITA) – 119 points

Junior: Martinese shines like never before

Iacopo Martinese (ITA-KR/IAME/Maxxis) continued his magnificent run in Competition 2 of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – Junior right to the end. Unbeaten until Sunday morning, he strategically conceded second position in Super Heat A to Dries van Langendonck (BEL-Exprit/TM Kart/Maxxis), while Roman Kamyab (GBR-LN/TM Kart/Maxxis) won Super Heat B. Martinese didn’t hold out for long against Christian Costoya (ESP-Parolin/TM Kart/Maxxis) at the start of the Final, no doubt preferring to take it easy on his tyres. He quickly regained the lead with enough in reserve to counter Van Langendonck’s final attack on the way to the finish line. Rocco Coronel (NLD-KR/IAME/Maxxis) made an incredible 16-place comeback to finish third ahead of Costoya and Kamyab. Martinese moved up from 18th to 3rd in the provisional Championship standings in one fell swoop.

Provisional standings for the Mondokart.com 2024 FIA Karting European Championship – Junior after Competition 2 :
1- Dries van Langendonck (BEL) – 162 points
2- Christian Costoya (ESP) – 142 points
3- Iacopo Martinese (ITA) – 120 points
4- Roman Kamyab (GBR) – 110 points
5- Sebastian Minns (GBR) – 84 points

OK-Junior team standings after Val d’Argenton
1- Ricky Flynn Motorsport (GBR) – 252 points
2- KR Motorsport (ITA) – 211 points
3- Forza Racing (GBR) – 180 points
4- Parolin Motorsport (ITA) – 142 points
5- DPK Racing (ESP) – 140 points

Gasparovic and Allemann neck and neck in the Academy Trophy

On Sunday morning, the 50 participants in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy discovered dry racing at the wheel of their one-make Exprit/Vortex/Maxxis karts in the last two Qualifying Heats. Nikolaos Karagiannis’ (GRC) win gave him pole for the Final, while Dan Allemann (CHE) moved back up to fourth position with his victory. The first lap of the Final eliminated seven Drivers from the start, including Karagiannis, second-placed Lilian Soares (FRA), Sacha van’t Pad Bosch (NLD) and Erik Poulsen (SWE). Allemann was in the lead for 12 of the 20 laps of the race, but Jakub Gasparovic (SVK) seized the opportunity to take victory a few metres from the finish line after an 11-place comeback. After the application of a number of penalties, Wian Boshoff (ZAF) regained second position (+13 places) ahead of Allemann, Andrea Marsella (ITA) was fourth and Aleix Pinera Rusinol (ESP) fifth.

Provisional standings for the 2024 FIA Karting Academy Trophy after Competition 1 :
1- Jakub Gasparovic (SVK) – 55 points
2- Dan Allemann (CHE) – 55 points
3- Wian Boshoff (ZAF) – 46 points
4- Andrea Marsella (ITA) – 38 points
5- Aleix Pinera Rusinol (ESP) – 36 points

Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – OK & Junior calendar
Competition 3: 20th to 23rd June 2024, Slovak Karting Center, Slovakia
Competition 4: 1st to 4th August 2024, Kristianstad, Sweden

FIA Karting Academy Trophy calendar
Competition 2: 20th to 23rd June 2024, Slovak Karting Center, Slovakia
Competition 3: 1st to 4th August 2024, Kristianstad, Sweden

The Val d’Argenton results can be found on the official FIA Karting Championship app for mobile devices and on the www.fiakarting.com website.

Follow the evolution of the International Karting Ranking (IKR) after the Val d’Argenton Competition.

FIA Karting – Press Release / Photo © KSP

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