Baglin brings home world championship honours after 2024 near-miss

Photo: KSP Reportages

Ferrari junior Noah Baglin won the CIK-FIA World Championship for OK Junior karts yesterday, a year on from losing it on the last lap.

Williams junior Dean Hoogendorn pipped Benjamin Manach and Baglin to top spot in qualifying, then took four wins and two second places in the heats while Baglin had five wins and a third place. Turner Brown also made the podium in all of his heats, winning four.

Evan Purcell was the only other driver to win multiple heats, and the remaining victories went to Julian Frasnelli, William Calleja, Leonardo Gorski, Alpine junior Ilie Tristan Crisan, Luka Scelles and Martin Bertolaccini.

Superheat A took place on a drying track on Sunday morning, and the lack of grip caused chaos into the opening corner. There were 10 retirees there, including Brown and Bertolaccini. Lucas Bonhomme had the most violent crash, going over the rear of a kart then slamming into the tyre barriers.

Slow zones covered the first two laps, and Baglin led Leonardo Gorski for the restart. Michael McGaughy was in fifth, one of nine drivers to have already gained 10 or more places.

He overtook Luka Scelles, then eased past Juste Mulder a lap later. A failed attempt at overtaking Baglin led to Gorski dropping to fourth on lap seven, putting McGaughy into second ahead of Scelles.

Baglin flitted between managing the pace and bunching up the five drivers behind, then rain arrived on the last lap. McGaughy forced Baglin into defence at turn one and there was bumper contact, with Scelles slipping past into turn two.

McGaughy tried getting back past at turn four but he and Scelles went deep and Gorski reclaimed second. Mulder and Oskari Walle also got past Scelles, then Gorski had a wide moment and lost three spots. Baglin was way clear of McGaughy by the final corner, where Walle ran wide but held on ahead of Mulder and Gorski.

It was much wetter for superheat B, which Hoogendoorn led lights-to-flag. Calleja spun out of third on the formation lap, and on lap one there was lots of rubbing. Hoogendoorn romped away, and Purcell held second before Crisan passed him on lap two.

Valerio Viapiana took third on lap three, Williams junior Will Green demoted Purcell to fifth on lap four, and Andrea Manni won an entertaining fight between three Forza Racing drivers for sixth.

Brown and Calleja lined up sixth and 13th for the dry final, while McGaughy was 17th on the grid. The front row was flipped, as poleman Baglin opted to start on the outside of Hoogendorn.

It caught Hoogendoorn out, leading to two false starts as drivers following Baglin’s wheeltracks shot past. On the proper start Hoogendoorn still lost out to Purcell, while Calleja and McGaughy crashed out.

Purcell was on full defence, and Baglin was 1.622s ahead within a lap. He continued pulling away to win by 4.281s.

Viapiana jumped from eighth to fifth on lap one, and gained two more places on lap two. He overtook Purcell into the last corner on lap six, but Hoogendoorn got by at the same time so he remained in third while Purcell lacked pace and descended down the order.

Gorski later joined the fight for second, and on lap 12 Hoogendoorn lost places in successive corners. Feeling ambitious, Gorski then tried passing Viapiana but dived too deep and returned the place.

Hoogendoorn returned to the podium a lap later at turn seven, but could not find a grip advantage off-line after that to pass Viapiana. He made one failed lunge on lap 17, and was very unhappy with finishing third.

Crisan won a fight with Gianmatteo Roussea (who climbed 12 spots) for fifth, and penalties helped put Purcell and Brown 15th and 18th.

Final results (21 laps)