CIK-FIA OK European Championship, Sarno – Saturday report

Written by Alessandro Roca.
 
After the fastest lap in qualifying practice, the OK rookie Theo Pourchaire (Kosmic-Vortex) took home two wins and a second place, duelling with his more expert teammate Karol Basz (Kosmic-Vortex). Tony Kart’s drivers won the other heats: WSK Super Master Series winner Clement Novalak (Tony Kart-Vortex) doubled the win, while Paavo Tonteri and David Vidales (Tony Kart-Vortex) won one heat each.
 
OK reigning world champion Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart-Vortex) will not race the final race: he made a mistake in the qualifying practice, being forced to start the heats in the middle of the group. The results are two penalties for the dislodged front bumper and a difficult European championship to race. Problems also under the Chiesa Corse’s team: Tom Joyner and Lorenzo Travisanutto (Zanardi-Parilla) are struggling in the back of the group.
 
RESULTS
 
Pedro Hiltbrand (Tony Kart-Vortex)
 
“I lost my front bumper twice during the heats, I’ll see the final from the grandstand… The problem was a my mistake in qualifying, the rest is a consequence of fighting in the middle of the group.”
 
Karol Basz (Kosmic-Vortex)
 
“It’s a little bit harder than last week, but the speed is good and we’re improving session by session. As OTK group we’re really close each other. With these tyres you need to have a complete different driving style because it’s easier to make mistakes. With regards to the set-up, in my opinion it doesn’t change too much, but you’ve to find your personal balance: compared to Bridgestone now I’ve more grip on the front and less on the rear. In the end these tyres are faster!”
 
David Vidales (Tony Kart-Vortex)
 
“I feel good, we did a good weekend since now, but tomorrow is a new day. With Lecont tyres we’ve more grip in the middle of the corner, you can carry more speed. This week, compared to the last round of the WSK, we’ve more grip and laptimes are quicker.”
 
Lorenzo Travisanutto (Zanardi-Parilla)
 
“We’re trying to understand these tyres which are really different from Bridgestone, but with only two chassis it’s difficult to test different solutions. Using different tyres from WSK and the European championship doesn’t help at all! Moreover if you’re in the traffic, now is full of young and unexperienced drivers and you took penalties for front bumpers for stupid contacts, while side contacts, which are more dangerous, are not penalized.”
 
Clement Novalak (Tony Kart-Vortex)

“We started the 2017 well with the WSK title, but ther’s still a lot of work to do. The grip with these new tyres is a lot more than Bridgestone through the middle to the exit of the corner, but obviously with the grip tyres degrade quicker so you’ve to look after them a little bit more.”