In the first Super Heat, Italian Iacopo Martinese (Parolin / TM) surprised his team-mate and poleman Thibaut Ramaekers (KR / IAME) on the brakes at the first curve. Belgian Ramaekers lost a further two places in the following corners to Spaniard Christian Costoya (Parolin / TM) and Briton Zac Drummond (Parolin / TM). The two Cetilar Racing drivers and the two Parolin driver quickly pulled away, creating a gap on another very lively group. A superb duel ensued within the leading quartet, with constant changes of position.
As the laps went by, Costoya managed to lose ground on his rivals, helped by a tumultuous battle between Drummond, Ramaekers and Martinese. Costoya was the logical winner after 13 laps, ahead of Martinese, Drummond and Ramaekers. Gerasim Skulanov (Biel Art / TM) had taken advantage of the situation to come back and was even close to gaining further places. There was a sprint finish between American Vivek Kanthan (Parolin / TM), Swede Elliot Kaczynski (Tony Kart / Vortex) and Briton Roman Kamyab (LN / TM).
Penalties for Drummond (lane departure), who dropped to 10th, Kanthan (spoiler) and Kamyab (overtaking under yellow flag) altered the result. Frenchman Andy Consani (Parolin / TM) in particular benefited from this, recovering his initial 8th place.
Despite being on the outside, Monza took the lead in the first corner at the expense of Bondarev at the start of the second Super Heat. Schaufler made an excellent start from 6th position and moved up to 3rd ahead of Stepan Antonov and Lewis Wherrell.
A knife-edge duel then began, which also featured Belgium’s Dries Van Langendonck and Kirill Dzitiev. Halfway through the race, the picture suddenly became clearer, with three drivers battling for victory: Monza against the two Forza Racing team drivers, Wherrell and Van Langendonck. As the race director held up the “last lap” sign, Wherrell tried his luck against Monza, but the neck-and-neck battle allowed Van Langendonck to get through. This slowdown led to the return of the Bondarev-Schaufler-Dzitiev trio. Monza’s attempt to regain the lead meant that they were caught on the outside and the final result was turned upside down. Behind the opportunistic Van Langendonck, Schaufler finished in 2nd place ahead of Bondarev, Wherrell, Dzitiev and Monza.
When all the heats and super heats were added up, Martinese took pole position for the Final ahead of Costoya and Ramaekers, both with the same number of points.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photos © KSP