Williams junior Hoogendoorn wins world championship in senior karting

Photo: FIA Karting

Williams Driver Academy member Dean Hoogendoorn won the CIK-FIA World Championship for OK karts at Italy’s La Conca circuit last weekend, relocated from Bahrain due to security concerns.

Hoogendoorn began the event by being fourth in qualifying group three, 0.195 seconds off poleman Bruno Blanco. Karting superstar Joe Turney was a lowly 16th.

Niklas Schaufler had topped Q1, pipping Noah Baglin by 0.065s and both Niccolo Cuman and Matthias Vandekerckhove by 0.068s. Zac Drummond denied Luke Kornder and Bosco Arias pole by 0.02s and 0.05s respectively in Q2, Nicola Frigg by 0.054s and Ilie Tristan Crisan by 0.076s.

Gilles Herman and Dan Allemann were joint fastest in Q4, and William Calleja was only 0.026s behind. Three others were within 0.1s of pole.

The 97-strong field also split up for 12 heats, with drivers contesting three each. Hoogendoorn was runner-up in his first, as Henry Domain climbed seven spots to win. Kornder was third, and Turney was fifth.

Hoogendoorn was victorious and Turney finished 11th when they raced again, then Hoogendoorn denied Blanco heat 10 victory by 0.052s as Turney made 11 overtakes on lap one and finished fourth. Louis Cochet starred, charging from 21st to sixth.

Blanco won his other heats. Egon Pedrotti won one, as did Baglin and Calleja who triumphed by 0.044s and 0.088s respectively.

Next were superheats, and Aston Sharp won the first ahead of Blanco as Jindrich Pesl rose 18 spots to third and Turney was fifth. Hoogendoorn dominated superheat B, victorious by 5.962s over Domain. Schaufler was shuffled down to sixth by Benjamin Manach, Drummond, Louis Baziret and 17th-placed starter Francisco Rocha. Herman resisted Crisan to win superheat C, with Perdotti third.

Those results put Hoogendoorn and Herman on the final’s front row, ahead of Blanco and Sharp. Turney, still chasing the world championship after many years and wearing an autographed racesuit as he made his likely OK kart send-off, started 14th.

A three-wide battle for second on lap one allowed Hoogendoorn to break clear and go unchallenged through the 24-lap race.

Blanco, Manach and Schaufler (from ninth) were his closest rivals entering lap two, as Herman dropped to eighth. Stern defending kept Manach behind Blanco, then Schaufler overtook both on lap three as Herman fell further to 13th.

Domain joined the fight as Blanco exited, and found room to rise two spots to second on lap five, 2.5s behind Hoogendoorn. The gap reduced, but once he was 0.388s behind on lap 17 the leader pulled away again.

Manach’s defending of third went wrong, as contact with Schaufler sent him bouncing off-track, then Turney tapped him before he cast Valerio Viapiana into the air in the space of a lap. He was 12th before retiring with damage.

The rapid Crisan inherited third and was safe thereon, while Vandekerckhove emerged in fourth and was alone until the battling Arias (from 13th) and Lev Krutoholov overtook him late on.

Schaufler was shuffled back to ninth, pipping Herman, and Drummond was seventh after a sliding lap 22 move on Calleja who then crashed out. Turney was eighth, and Allemann started 27th but finished 12th.

Final results (24 laps)