This is your guide (results can and will alsbo be posted here) for the Senior Class (non gearbox) in karting.
I'll start with a season guide for OK Senior, the major championships (which are the WSK, which stands for World Series Karting: they also organise the Formula Regional Europe, and FIA Championships.
Major championships (for OK Sr & OK Jr) are:
- FIA World Championship Karting (one weekend)
- FIA European Championship (4 weekends, I consider this more important as the World Championship)
- WSK Super Masters (4 rounds)
- Champions of the Future (4 rounds, this is organised by the same promoter as the FIA rounds)
- WSK Euro Series (2 rounds, it used to have more rounds)
- WSK Champions Cup (traditional opening round of the season, used to be at Adria but that circuit went bankrupt).
- Trofeo delle Industrie
- WSK Final Cup (2 rounds, the traditional end of the season)
- South Garda Winter Cup (prestigious event at Lonato)
- LeCont Trophy (organised by tyre manufacturer LeCont in december at Valencia)
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The two best chassis, for several years in a row now in OK, are produced by the Kart Republic and the OTK (Original Tony Kart) Group.
Kart Republic has two brands: Kart Republic and Alonso Kart but they're completely identical. Recently they also restarted the DAP brand, Antoine Venant is driving in those coulours in Mini U10.
Most F1 teams place their juniors with Kart Republic, owned by the legendary Dino Chiesa.
OTK has the following brands: Tony Kart, Lando Norris & Exprit in OK / OK Jr. and they run the Gillard & Redspeed, Kosmic and Eos brands in IAME & Rotax.
Tony Kart is a close partner of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
When I mention the age it will be the age that they either have already of will become later this year. That's because I only know the birth year of most karting drivers and not their exact birthday.
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FACTORY TEAMS OK:
TONY KART: easy recognisable with their green-white livery. The green of Tony Kart is in karting just as legendary as the red of Ferrari in F1.
During the silly season they suffered a massive loss when their lead driver and one of the most experienced drivers in the field, Joe Turney, was lured over to arch rival Kart Republic. On top of that they lost their other lead driver Tuukka Taponen who moved over to Italian F4 with Prema as he joined the Ferrari Academy after he won their shootout. They also lost their OK Jr World Champions Enzo Tarnvanichkul to Kart Republic since Red Bull placed him there.
- Luigi Coluccio (Italy, 20) moved over from the Kosmic factory team last year when OTK decided to stop the Kosmic factory entry in order to promote their new Lando Noris brand instead.
He only won one finale last year but has already won one in Sarno in 2023, the combination of experience and agression makes him always a threat.
- James Egozi (USA, 16) like Eddie Cheever he's an American based in Rome. Looked highly promissing in OK Jr but had a slightly underwhelming OK debut last year.
Was part of the pre selection for the Ferrari Junior Driver shootout that Taponen won.
This year he has been very consistent and he is comfortably leading the WSK Super Masters.
- Jan Przyrowski (Pol, 15) A rookie in OK Senior. Last year when Red Bull picked his then team mate Enzo Tarnvanichkul to become a Red Bull Junior I personally thought Red Bull made a mistake.
Przyrowski had been the more consistent performer over the year as Enzo and was usually also quicker as the Thai but since Tharnvanichkul won the world title that gave him more hype.
Both are talents but I still have the feeling that they picked the less consistent one, time will tell if Red Bull made the right choice. Both have been very quick this year but if you look at their results then Przyrowski is still clearly more consistent so my opinion hasn't changed so far.
- Sebastiano Pavan (Ita, 16) As an Italian team it made sense to add another Italian. Pavan had a very strong season last year on the Italian scene.
Driving for the Kart Republic satelite squad Team Driver he finished 3rd overall in the Italian IAME championship (which was dominated by his older and very experienced team mate Danny Carenini) winning in Franciacorta but he also win the Trofeo delle Industrie and came 6th in the WSK Champions Cup and 3rd at the Trofeo Andrea Margutti.
Enough to earn a chance at a top seat (and a pre selection for the Ferrari shootout) but he will face much stiffer oposition this year.
- Arthur Poulain (Fra, 16) Whilst Pavan earned his seat on the Italian national scene, Poulain earned it in the IAME Euro Series where he was the only driver to fight Belgian star Elie Goldstein for the title, losing out in the end but he fought until the last race.
Whilst Coluccio, Egozi & Przyrowski are the team leaders, Poulain has already managed a 3rd in the Champions of the Future final in Valencia.
- Zoe Florescu Potolea (Rom, 15) Coming over from Birel ART in OK Jr., I guess she serves as Tony Kart's effort to also support a female driver. She's always been a backmarker to be honest although she did reach a final in Sarno this year, finishing 34th and last (with two drivers as a DNF that race so not last classified).
- Jakub Rajski (Pol, 18) I never understood this hopeless driver managed to grab a seat at an absolute top outfit like Tony Kart. It's a complete mistery to me. He already was a Tony Kart factory driver last year and drove for Kosmic in 21. It can only be explained by money, he must be a pay driver with a huge budget behind him.
During the three previous seasons he only managed to reach a final once....(in which he was 28th). He shouldn't be in a seat that many drivers would dream of having. Doesn't deserve it (neither does Florescu actually).
https://www.tonykart.com/staff.php
Livery:
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KART REPUBLIC: easy to spot: their colours are white with a red (close to orange) dragon prominently on the front of the kart. They also run the Sauber Academy team which has the Sauber colours (black & white mostly), the Mercedes juniors (in Argenti grey livery) and since this year also the Prema karting team (in red & white Prema livery).
Livery, notice the dragon wings on the front & side :
Joe Turney (GB, will turn 22 in June) He was their biggest oponent last year in the fight for the European title so this transfer is a major coup. One of the best karting drivers in the world and a fabulous overtaker who is able to fight back from the back of te grid if necessary. Turney als does some racing in the US this year for Kart Republic, always nice to sell some more karts there with a star driver. He has already proven his value by winning both Valencia rounds.
Despite winning the European Championship round in Valencia he is only 3rd in the standings though, behind Gabriel Gomez (CRG) and René Lammers (Parolin) since he scored less points in the heats & prefinal as them.
Dmitry Maveev (Rus, 15) This is a bit of a mistery since he hasn't entered an event since Februari and he was supposed to be one of Kart Republic's lead drivers.
Matveev was a star in the Mini category winning the WSK Super Masters title and continued his fine form in OK Jr, driving for Kart Republic's satelite team Koski Motorsport. He won at Zuera & Portimao last year and did the final 3 rounds last year in OK Sr, switching to the factory team resulting in 2nd overall, behind Turney (then still Tony Kart).
This year he was very quick but unlucky. South Garda Winter Cup: 5ht in qualy, 10th in the Final. WSK Champions Cup: pole position but just 33rd in the final. He also did the IAME Winter Cup: again pole but just 15th in the final.
Since then he hasn't done a single race. Matveev is from Siberia but despite his Russian nationality (with the war in Ukraïne) he is a popular driver amongst his colleagues & journalists and he speaks good English.
He might be injured, I have no idea why he hasn't raced since the 5th of Februari.
Thomas Strauven (Bel) This is another surprise. During the last round, in Valencia, he suddenly moved over from Ricky Flynn Motorsport (an OTK team) to Kart Republic. Possibly to replace Matveev in the line-up?
Ricky Flynn is a top team but they always have been way better in OK Junior (where they frequently won titles) as in OK Senior for some reason. This probably was the motivation for Strauven to jump at the opportunity of Matveev's open seat.
Strauven's strong season in IAME Euro Series in 2021 earned him a chance at top team Ricky Flynn last year plus had has a 3rd in the Rotax Max Grand Finals (in Mini) and a 2nd at the IAME International Games on his CV so he came with strong credentials.
He couldn't fill in the gap of Freddie Slaters superb '20 season in Juniors but as a newbie on this level (WSK / FIA) he was often very quick. In particular on the FIA events he did well: twice 4th in Portimao, a 5th and a 9th in Franciacorta in OK Jr. and 2nd in the LeCont Trophy in OK in december.
The year started dissapointngly in the first two Super Masters round but in Sarno he was a strong 4th. His debut for Kart Republic went quite well: 12th in Valencia but he showed good fighting spirit that weekend.
Luka Sammalisto (Fin, 15, turns 16 in November) Good midpack driver who can be quick on occasion. Starts his seconde full season in OK Sr, was 19th & 11th in the two Valencia rounds. Best results last year were an 8th in Franciacorta and a 9th in Lonato during the WSK Open Cup. Usually reaches the final but tends to finish in the second half of the field. Made his KZ2 shifter debut at the South Garda Winter Cup, finishing 15th.
Lucas Fluxa (Spa, 15) Brother of Lorenzo (F. Regional Europa Prema driver) & Luna (Mercedes Jr in OK Jr., from the famoux Fluxa familly based in Mallorca, one of the richest families in Spain who build their capital in the shoes & hotel business.
In OK Jr. it looked like Lucas might be the most promissing one from the Fluxa family. He had a pretty strong campaign last year with a win at Lonato, a 2nd at Kristianstad, a 4th at Franciacorta and a 5th in Portimao and in November 2021 he had also won the WSK Final Cup at Adria.
He adapted quite well to OK Sr when he made the switch last year on Oktober but this year it's going terrible for him, he's off the pace and didn't even reach the finals in his last 3 rounds.
William Go (Phil, 15) Earned a seat at Kart Republic last year after showing himself in the IAME Asia Cup where he was 2nd overall behind Akshay Bohra (now in F4). Initially struggled a lot but showed his potential in the Academy Trophy round at Genk where he was 2nd behind Arthur Dorison. After that things improved: 13th at Kristianstad, 9th at Cremona, 18th at Franciacorta, 15th at Sarno and a marvelous 3rd at Lonato behind Przyrowski (Tony Kart) & Lammers (Parolin).
He switched to OK Sr. and this year he has been incosistent but he did reach the final at the Champions Cup (14th) and Franciacorta 22nd).
Lenn Nijs (Bel, 15) Will have to miss his best friend Douwe Dedecker (Bel) as his team mate this year. Douwe suffered a heavy shunt back in October last year breaking his ribs and took a while to recover from that and they decided to extend his recovery and stop with karting (he was supposed to do another year of karting this year) and put him straight away in a single seater instead, they didn't want to risk a new injury. Douwe will be doing British F4 with Virtuosi this year.
Nijs was promoted to the Kart Republic factory squad in 2022 after showing fighting spirit in a smaller private team.
He didn't dissapoint in the way that he was almost always able to qualify himself for the Finals last season but he rarely drove in front except in Zuera (Spain) where he was 4th overall and quickest Kart Republic driver all weekend.
This year he moved to OK Sr. and it's the same pattern: he's a reliable driver to count on to reach the final but he rarely drives in front.
Malo Bolliet (Fra, 18) He was a surprise addition when he was added to the OK Sr. KR line-up last year since he hadn't really shown that much. He often struggeld to get in the finals but then surprised at the biggest race of the year by not only qualifying for the final but finishing a nice 18th at the World Championship. He's already quite experienced at Senior level and this year that shows: he reached the final in all 5 events he entered this year with a carreer best of 5th at the IAME Winter Cup. He never was a frontrunner though and likely won't be this year either.
Luviwe Sambudla (Z-Afr, 15)
Ghazi Motlekar (Moz)
PREMA
Kean Nakamura-Berta (Jap, / Svk)
Alex Powell (Jam)
Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Tha)
Yuanpu Cui (Chi)
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PAROLIN (ITA):
René Lammers (NLD)
Anatoly Khavalkhin (Rus)
Maksim Orlov (Rus)
Miguel Costa (Bra)
Iwo Beszterda (Pol)
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ENERGY CORSE (ITA)
Tomass Stolcermanis (Lva)
Jules Caranta (Fra)
Martin Molnar (Hun)
Ryan Vincent (USA)
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SODIKART (FRA)
Nathaniel Tye (GB)
Adam Hideg (Hun)
Andrea Dupé (Ita / Fra)
Louis Leveau (Dnk)
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CRG (ITA)
Gabriel Gomez (Bra)
Olin Galli (Bra)
Ronnie Stefani (Ita)
Simone Bianco (Ita)
Francisco Macedo (Por)
Nico Lahnalahti (Fin)
Mattia Colnaghi (Ita)
Mark Dubnitski (Est)
Filippo Fiorentino (Bra)
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Birel ART (ITA / FRA):
Matheus Morgatto (Bra)
Joel Bergström (Swe)
Maksymilian Angelard (Pol)
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IPK (ITA) - FORMULA K (ITA)
Emanuele Olivieri (Ita)
Leon Hedfors (Swe)
Eemeli Koivisto (Fin)
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PANTANO (ITA):
Peter Stiller (Ita)
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FALCON (NDL):
Ludvig Fransson (Swe)
Hoang Dat Sawer (Vnm)
Maxim Haroutounian (Ndl)
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RICKY FLYNN MOTORSPORT (GB) - LANDO NORRIS (ITA):
Maciej Gladysz (Pol)
Dante Vinci
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FORZA RACING (GB) - EXPRIT (ITA):
Gustaw Wisniewski (Pol)
Nicolò Cuman (Ita)
Mark Kastelic (Svn)
Vasileios-Gavril Michailidis (Gre)
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DPK RACING (ESP) - ALONSO KART (ITA)
Kirill Kutskov (Rus)
Kiano Blum (Aut)
Aleksandar Bogunovic (Svn)
Nacho Tunon (Esp)
Shimo Zhang (Hkg)
Adrian Ferrer (Esp)
Mathilda Paatz (Deu)
Eloi Gonzalez (Esp)
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POST / LIST TO BE CONTINUED LATER
Edited by William Hunt, 05 April 2023 - 02:40.
