Open battle in OK in Cremona. Match point for Bondarev in OKJ

The European Championship represents an important milestone for a kart driver, often more than a World Championship, also because the fact that it takes place over four rounds brings many more factors into play than a single round, and certainly reduces the 'surprise' effect. You only win a European with consistent results over all the races, driving well from start to finish: from qualifying to every single heat, to the Final, which paradoxically does not have the absolute value that one might think with the current points system, given that it is precisely called the Final but in terms of classification it’s a race like any other. Talking aside, a driver who wins a European OK or OKJ is a driver who deserves attention, because emerging from such a heterogeneous group of drivers with such a high level of performance and professionalism around puts him in a special spotlight, the one that the continental titles - drowned as they are in a calendar full of races that risk looking all the same - continue to have in the curriculum of a budding driver.

In Cremona the fight in the single-speed Top Class, still populated by very young drivers unlike in the past, is close and will keep us in suspense until the end: since its establishment in 2016, the OK category has never offered such a close duel like the one between Gomez and Lammers. In a category with an impressive technical balance – as many insiders say “in OK from first to last they all have the potential to win” – it will be nice to see a fight also between the constructors: CRG's KT2 powered by Iame engines and Parolin Le Mans with Tm. Obviously the fight is also open to the other potential competitors Powell and Stolcermanis and karting, however many ‘test races’ you can do on the very same track, remains an unpredictable sport right up to the last lap of the last race: put your feet up, get your popcorn ready and just enjoy the show. In OKJ the scenario seems less uncertain in the face of the great consistency of Bondarev who consolidated his advantage in the third round in Denmark and we would see him achieve an incredible result considering the ordeal of surgery and rehabilitation he underwent after the nasty crash in Zuera of 2022.

Provisional standings OK
1- Rene Lammers (NLD) - 208 points
2- Gabriel Gomez (ITA) - 202 points
3- Alex Powell (JAM) - 165 points
4- Tomass Stolcermanis (LVA) - 138 points
5- Joe Turney (GBR) - 89 points

 

1- Oleksandr Bondarev (UKR) - 206 points
2- Thibaut Ramaekers (BEL) - 164 points
3- Lewis Wherrell (GBR) - 139 points
4- Zac Drummond (GBR) - 122 points
5- Iacopo Martinese (ITA) - 117 points