Photo: WSK Promotion
The 2025 WSK Super Master Series season kicked off with the announcement that Ilie Tristan Crisan had been signed to the Alpine Academy.
The 12-year-old raced on the OK Junior class of karts at La Conca this weekend, and finished fourth in the final.
He has been signed as a Formula 1 junior on “on a long-term deal, which will see him develop through karting and into cars”. That means he could remain in the Alpine Academy until 2028, when he would old enough to race in all Formula 4 series.
“This is an important milestone for me and a dream come true for any driver in karting,” said the Canadian. “Partnering with Alpine Academy is an important moment and a big step towards my future ambitions, and I’m ready to rise to the challenge. I can’t wait to learn from the best in this sport and achieve great results together throughout 2025 and beyond.”
Crisan is in his sophomore year on OK-J karts, having come sixth in the WSK Final Cup, 10th in the CIK-FIA European championship, 25th in WSK SMS and 40th in Champions of the Future in 2024. He is a factory Tony Kart driver this year.
His first event as an Alpine junior began by going third fastest in qualifying, behind Koski Motorsport’s Michael McGaughy, and Williams junior Dean Hoogendoorn who was driving for Prema.
McGaughy pipped Hoogendoorn to victory in ther first heat by 0.098 seconds, and Crisan dominated the next. Team Driver Racing Kart’s Valerio Viapiana was victorious in the third, and Crisan made it two out of two in the next one with another controlling display ahead of Hoogendoorn. He remained unbeaten in his third heat, this time beating McCaughy, and Prema’s Noah Baglin pipped Forza Racing’s Henry Domain and Hoogendoorn in the last heat.
The combined results put Crisan on pole for pre-final A, and he converted it into victory. It did not come easy though, as he lost the lead to Viapiana mid-race and had to reclaim it. Hoogendoorn won the other pre-final, beating Baglin to the chequered flag by a tiny 0.032s.
Crisan had the advantage of pole again for the final, but his race did not go to plan. He fell from first to fifth on lap 11 of 16, with Baglin assuming the lead. Although he then held it to the finish, he had a one-place penalty for causing an incident with Domain, and so McCaughy was victorious. Forza’s William Calleja was third, and and Crisan finished fourth.
On OK karts, Parolin’s Christian Costoya was fastest in qualifying then he, Prema’s McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck and Fusion Motorsport’s Zac Drummond each won two heats.
Van Langendonck comfortably won pre-final A, as DPK Racing’s Zac Green pipped Costoya to second, and Kart Republic’s Iacopo Martinese romped to pre-final B victory. Drummond passed Van Langendonck on lap three of the final to take a lead he would not give up, and Costoya also eventually overtook the Belgian.
Results round-up
OK final (20 laps)
1 Zac Drummond Fusion Motorsport 15m37.047s
2 Christian Costoya Parolin +0.445s
3 Dries Van Langendonck Prema +0.936s
4 Zac Green DPK Racing +1.312s
5 Iacopo Martinese Kart Republic +2.490s
6 Sebastiano Pavan Ward Racing +3.794s
7 Jacob Micallef Kart Republic +6.010s
8 Filippo Sala Forza Racing +6.999s
9 Roland Kuklane Kart Republic +7.058s
10 Makar Savelev Fusion Motorsport +8.628s
Fastest lap: Green, 45.974s
Championship standings
1 Drummond 67 2 Van Langendonck 60 3 Costoya 48 4 Martinese 47 5 Green 41 6 Pavan 37 7 Micallef 19 8 Sala 18 9 Savelev 14 10 Kulkane 12
OK Junior final (16 laps)
1 Michael McGaughy Koski Motorsport 12m50.112s
2 Noah Baglin Prema -0.583s
3 William Calleja Forza Racing +0.872s
4 Ilie Tristan Crisan Tony Kart +1.710s
5 Henry Domain Forza Racing +5.111s
6 Dean Hoogendoorn Prema +5.184s
7 Valerio Viapiana Team Driver Racing Kart +5.296s
8 Drew Walz Kart Republic +5.382s
9 Julian Frasnelli Tony Kart +6.098s
10 Augustus Toniolo Tony Kart +6.680s
FL: Baglin, 47.517s
Championship standings
1 McGaughy 67 2 Baglin 55 3 Crisan 55 4 Hoogendoorn 47 5 Viapiana 37 6 Calleja 33 7 Domain 28 8 Walz 18 9 Tobias Szecsenyi 15 10 Toniolo 11