Photo: Hellofoto
The Champions of the Future season concluded at PF International with local knowledge coming to the fore.
On the senior OK class karts, Joe Turney was triumphant. He topped free practice, then beat the track record in qualifying but was not fastest as Noah Monteiro bettered him by 0.029s.
Rain made for tricky heats, with Turney and Freddie Lloyd winning five each. Turney twice won by more than 10s.
Salim Hanna Hernandez and Scott Lindblom each claimed two heats, and McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck won one on his senior karting debut.
Lloyd dominated the wet first superheat by 10.154s, and Fionn McLaughlin pipped Turney by 0.167s in the second.
Poleman Lloyd, Gus Lawrence (of the local PFI Karting team) and Matthew Higgins pre-empted the start signal for the final’s formation lap. On the actual start Lloyd nailed it to lead Turney and Lawrence, who traded places on laps four and six.
On lap eight, Lloyd pulled 0.983s clear as Turney made a mistake and Hanna dived past Lawrence. Turney rapidly closed back in, and on lap 15 took the lead at the second hairpin and never looked back.
Lawrence had regained third, but Hanna got back past. McLaughlin finished fifth, despite a clash with fellow Red Bull junior Scott Lindblom that put him out. Van Langendonck was sixth, and Higgins lost seventh to a penalty for an agressive move.
Pre-event points leader Thibaut Ramaekers was disqualified for a technical nonconformity, which helped Turney – who moved ahead of him before the final – take the title.
Van Langendonck impressively claimed the OK Junior crown despite not racing.
Noah Baglin led Ilie Tristan Crisan, title outsider Christian Costoya and James Anagnostiadis in qualifying. Filippo Sala and Anagnostiadis won three heats each, with the latter’s results his first points of 2024. Anagnostiadis became a Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior in July, but 28th in the CIK-FIA European championship has been the highlight of a lacklustre 2024.
Costoya kept his title hopes going with two heat wins, and Rocco Coronel doubled up too.
Anagnostiadis was dominant in the wet to win superheat one, and fellow Mercedes-AMG junior and Prema team-mate Kenzo Craigie won superheat two. Niklas Schaufler finished 10th to be Van Langendonck’s main title rival entering the final.
Costoya was eliminated on lap one in a clash, and on lap two Craigie, Sala and Scott Marsh passed Anagnostiadis. Marsh took the lead in a three-wide hairpin move on lap three, and Anagnostiadis overtook Sala on lap four.
Schaufler drove into Arjen Kraeling’s rear then had Harrison Mackie drive over the back of him on lap five, but did not lose 12th.
A double switchback move earned Craigie the lead on lap six, as a rapid Coronel leapt to third and Sala dropped to fourth after attempting to snatch first. Coronel then took second, which became first after Craigie ran wide on lap seven and sank to fourth.
Sala passed him too on lap 10, and Marsh reclaimed the lead on lap 13. It became a four-way fight again and he clashed on the back straight with Coronel (who had a penalty for an earlier clash with Craigie).
Sala took second from Coronel on lap 14 and chased the leader, but did not need to since he bunched up the field. Once again Sala’s attempt to take first left him fourth, and it was similar for Coronel and Craigie as Marsh put in a defensive masterclass to stay ahead of a lead group of 10.
Craigie was runner-up after Coronel’s penalty dropped him to seventh, just ahead of Anagnostiadis. Sala was third, and Schaufler finished 17th.
Results round-up
OK final (22 laps)
1 Joe Turney Kart Republic [Kart Republic] 20m14.010s
2 Freddie Lloyd Fusion Motorsport [Kart Republic] +1.100s
3 Salim Hanna Hernandez Prema [Kart Republic] +4.430s
4 Gus Lawrence PFI Karting [Tony Kart] +5.160s
5 Fionn McLaughlin VDK Racing [Kart Republic] +10.056s
6 Dries Van Langendonck Forza Racing [Exprit] +12.986s
7 David Cosma Cristofor Kart Republic [Kart Republic] +14.090s
8 Joseph Smith Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +14.138s
9 Jimmy Helias Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +15.312s
10 Olin Galli CRG [CRG] +15.640s
Fastest lap: Smith 54.634s
OK Junior final (19 laps)
1 Scott Marsh Tony Kart [Tony Kart] 18m20.982s
2 Kenzo Craigie Prema [Kart Republic] +0.381s
3 Filippo Sala Ricky Flynn Motorsport [Lando Norris] +1.016s
4 Jarrett Clark Forza Racing [Exprit] +2.733s
5 Kit Belofsky Fusion Motorsport [Kart Republic] +3.215s
6 Arjen Kraeling Kart Republic [Kart Republic] +4.615s
7 Rocco Coronel Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +5.236s
8 James Anagnostiadis Prema [Kart Republic] +5.418s
9 Devin Walz Forza Racing [Exprit] +5.793s
10 Joel Pohjola Tony Kart [Tony Kart] +7.042s
FL: Roman Kamyab, 56.427s