Photo: KSP Reportages
Nicolas Todt’s protege Christian Costoya surged into the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship lead in round two at Algarve.
It was a superb event in the OK class for the factory Parolin driver, starting off by topping qualifying (with Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior James Anagnostiadis and Noah Wolfe leading the other groups) then winning three of his four heats.
Mercedes junior Kenzo Craigie, Zac Drummond and Wolfe all won two heats, but it was Kart Republic’s veteran Joe Turney who was closest to Costoya in the intermediate classification and Energy Corse’s Lev Krutoholov split Craigie and Drummond in fourth despite no heat victories.
Drummond passed Costoya then sprinted away to win a wet first superheat by a huge 7.839 seconds, with Beau Lowette right behind team-mate Costoya in third.
The track was drying for superheat B, and Krutoholov won in style. He passed Turney on lap one then left him for dust, and by lap five Wolfe had cleared Turney too but had no answer for Krutoholov. Lewis Wherrell finished third from 28th on the grid.
These results put Costoya and Krutoholov on the front row for the final, and the former led lights-to-flag. Krutoholov dropped down the order on lap one, and after Wolfe passed Drummond for second he pressured Costoya in the race’s first half before he began to edge away.
Daniel Kelleher beat Roman Kamyab and Thibaut Ramaekers in a photo finish for fourth, with Kamyab climbing 11 spots. Turney spun out.
Round one star Chiara Battig finished a penalised 24th, and her points-free weekend dropped her from fourth to ninth in the standings. Her best race result was fifth in a heat.
In the OK Junior class, the qualifying groups were each decided by less than 0.045s with Ferrari Driver Academy member Noah Baglin, Alpine Academy member Ilie Tristan Crisan and Dan Allemann topping the times.
Baglin converted pole into three heat wins, and Luka Scelles won three races too. Two victories was enough for Iskender Zulfikari to top the intermediate classification, and Williams F1 juniors Will Green and Dean Hoogendoorn were two-time heat winners too.
In superheat A, Arata Endo and Crisan leapt past Zulfikari straight away, with the poleman then swiftly ejected from proceedings. William Calleja ended up as the winner, after Endo was penalised for overtaking Zulfikari before racing had officially begun.
Green and Baglin fought through superheat B and finished one-two, with Scelles just behind before a bumper penalty handed Allemann third.
Scelles climbed from seventh to first on lap one of the dry final, moving to the front when the top four ran into each other, but on lap six fell to fourth and lost further places to finish eighth. Hoogendoorn took the lead from him and held it to the finish, with points leader Baglin second.
Green was demoted to sixth at first, recovered two places then retired on the last lap with Endo – who had briefly got ahead of Baglin – as contact was made with Crisan when he passed both.
Results round-up
OK final (20 laps)
1 Christian Costoya Parolin 19m05.654s
2 Noah Wolfe VAR by Birel +1.464s
3 Zac Drummond Fusion Motorsport +7.086s
4 Daniel Kelleher Kart Republic +8.443s
5 Roman Kamyab Ricky Flynn Motorsport +8.544s
6 Thibaut Ramaekers VDK Racing +8.661s
7 Dries Van Langendonck Prema +8.875s
8 Jensen Burnett Forza Racing +9.311s
9 James Anagnostiadis Prema +10.109s
10 Viktor Gustafsson GE.LU.MI.NI +12.021s
Fastest lap: Kamyab, 56.430s
Championship standings
1 Costoya 144 2 Anagnostiadis 121 3 Ramaekers 115 4 Drummond 102 5 Van Langendonck 100 6 Kelleher 84 7 Burnett 66 8 Wolfe 65 9 Chiara Battig 64 10 Thomas Pradier 46
OK-J final (17 laps)
1 Dean Hoogendoorn Prema 16m57.558s
2 Noah Baglin Prema +2.971s
3 Ilie Tristan Crisan Tony Kart +4.318s
4 Henry Domain Forza Racing +4.915s
5 Drew Walz Kart Republic +6.869s
6 Dan Allemann Ward Racing +7.246s
7 Antonio Pizzonia Neto Fusion Motorsport +11.754s
8 Luka Scelles Victory Lane +12.548s
9 Michael McGaughy Koski Motorsport +13.459s
10 Remigiusz Samczyk Fusion Motorsport +18.580s
FL: Will Green, 58.504s
Championship standings
1 Baglin 168 2 Hoogendoorn 149 3 William Calleja 111 4 Domain 102 5 Iskender Zulfikari 84 6 Crisan 81 7 Bosco Arias 75 8 Scelles 68 9 Allemann 67 10 Green 61