Zuera, Spain - WSK Championship

After the World Cup at Alcaniz around one hour south of Zuera, the WSK racing had to be good to match what took place the previous week - and to be honest it was!

Not only was it hotter with clear blue skies and blazing sunshine, but the on-track action at Zuera was just as frantic. Just ask Ignazio D'Agosto after the Formula KF2 pre-final... he was one mighty unhappy chap.

Where happy chaps are concerned though look no further than Bas Lammers. He was awesome a couple of months ago at Wackersdorf in Germany, and he was awesome again today in Formula KZ2. On the grid for the pre-final just minutes before the start I asked Bas if he could win today from row four, sat on grid 8? "Of course," he said with a grin, "it will not be a problem for me." I thought he might be joking - he wasn't, and he won quite comfortably!

As for the final later in the afternoon, he led the first lap from pole, dropped to 2nd on lap 2 afetr CRG's Rick Dreezen took the lead, and then fell behind his Intrepid team-mate Jeremy Iglesias on lap 10. Final lap and Bas was still 3rd with one corner remaining with Dreezen just ahead. He pounced and took 2nd place with 100 metres to go, only for Iglesias to celebrate (!) before he passed the chequered flag, leaving Bas to sweep past to win by 0.090s! The pic shows what is now coming to be the 'Bas Jump' after he has won.

Karting Magazine will carry a full report in the November issue due out on the second Wednesday in October.

Form book just went out the window...

For 17 of the 18 laps the World Cup final progressed more or less as expected, with several place changes for the lead taking place between Matteo Vigano, a tardy starting Brandon Maisano, and Felice Tiene, with no one showing an advantage over their opponents. Smarrazzo though was struggling in the early laps and had dropped to 9th place.

Holding station in 4th place was David Da Luz (Zanardi-Parilla), but he later admitted he did not have the pace to pass the three ahead of him. The final lap changed all that when Vigano pulled into the pits to retire, leaving Maisano and Tiene to make contact at turn 4 in a move that gave Tiene a 3s penalty. From the dust and confusion emerged a 'shocked' Da Luz, leaving the Portuguese driver to take the World Cup victory. A recovering Tiene was behind him, but with the penalty, Vandoorne from grid 15, and who had been 9th two laps from the finish, was promoted to 2nd place, with the Italian resident Australian youngster, Mitchell Gilbert (Kosmic-Vortex), an equally shocked 3rd overall.

Incredible..!

Awesome - Brandon Maisano

As pre-finals go this one really was quite "awesome". From grid 12, after a heat DNF, Brandon Maisano drove his LH-Maxter as though it was turbo-charged, making up 5 places on the first lap alone, taking the lead before the end of lap 10 with 2 laps remaining. He then eased open a one and a half second gap as his pursuers, and early leaders, fell over each other in confusion.

After swapping positions throughout, Tiene finally slipped past Vigano in the dying moments of the race, with Smarrazzo all over the back of Vigano as they crossed the finishing line, with less than 0.6s between the three of them. A cracking final is now expected, due in less than two hours, where it remains to be seen how much life Maisano took out of his Dunlop tyres in his titanic drive!

For the British contingent, Chris Lock suffered and fell rearwards, but European Champion Jordan Chamberlain kept his cool, and from grid 10 made his way forwards to finish in 6th place, just over 4 seconds adrift of Maisano. He has not got the Frenchman's pace, but a podium remains a real possibility for the Williams Motorsport driver.

Finals now pending...

Only the two finals now stand between the 34 qualifiers and the Formula KF2 World Cup, where Matteo Vigano has taken pole position for the pre-final, ahead of Felice Tiene and Aniello Smarrazzo. The other hot-shot, Brandon Maisano, had a bad result in heat 3, so he is back on grid 12 with a lot to do to beat his three main rivals.

Over in 'Brit-land' European Champion Jordan Chamberlain is on grid 10, which is a respectable place for Jordan to be and allows he the chance to move towards the top six for a good final grid position. Chris Lock has also done well and has qualified on grid 18, although rather him than me in this mid-pack!

As the on-track temperature started to rise, British driver Josh Fielding was heading towards qualification until a shunt took him out of the final heat, although seeing his aggressor on the other side of the track proved a little too much for Josh. Fortunately an alert Spanish marshall came to a quick decision, proved equal to the task, and brought a charging Josh crashing to the ground, before he did something to his opponent that would have earned the wrath, and potential ban, from the officials.

Sunday morning...

First blood to Matteo Vigano in the opening qualifying heat this morning, with Felice Tiene (above) taking honours in the second of today's final three heats, with the third and last race due out at 11.30am (local time).

British pride has so far been carried by Ben Cooper and Jordan Chamberlain, who both looked quick in the last heat, although Lock, Fielding, Carter, and Blundell have a lot to do to recover from any trials and tribulations experienced yesterday.

The driver parade is scheduled for 13.00 this afternoon, with the pre-final due out at 15.15, and then the main final at 16.50.

KF2 World Cup - another update...

Crikey, this guy is looking good! Italian Tonykart driver Aniello Smarrazzo had looked quick earlier this morning, but he has certainly kept his pace alive throughout the first day. The final qualifying heat of the day went his way quite easily, as he romped home to an impressive two second win over no less a driver than Felice Tiene...

Ben Cooper had found his feet in the last heat as well, until the last lap board appeared when his exhaust "popped" as he crossed the start/finish line, and his race was over when well placed. So at last Shaun Carter had something to cheer about as first Brit home in 12th place, just ahead of Chris Lock. It has been a trying day for Shaun so he needed a good result to sleep on, before the final qualifying heat tomorrow morning.

On current evidence I'll have edge my bets - Vigano, Smarrazzo, Tiene, or Maisano? If anyone other than one of those four lifts the World Cup tomorrow afternoon, something will have gone badly wrong in all four camps!

KF2 World Cup (update no. 3...)

The temperature is rising, heading towards the late 20 deg C area, as Matteo Vigano heads towards the first corner at the start of one of this afternoon's qualifying heats. Vigano is already marking himself out as a potential World Cup winner, as he becomes the first driver of the event to win two of the qualifying heats.

Back in the pack on the outside of this photograph is British driver Ben Cooper on his Tonykart-Vortex. Ben avoided the incidents as he came through to finish in a commendable 6th place, and only 1.4s adrift of the winner. He needed a good result though after the problem he suffered in the first heat.

KF2 World Cup (update...)

Cracking stuff from Brandon Maisano of team CRG, who won the first heat this afternoon on his Dunlop shod LH-Maxter, in fine style. Maisano is one of those rising stars in karting who is always there, or thereabouts, in major karting events, so it is no surprise to find he is at the front in the World Cup qualifying heats.

Both British drivers Chris Lock and Jordan Chamberlain were in this heat, with Lock taking 11th place within six or so seconds of the winner, although Chamberlain appeared to be in difficulties after his first heat success, finishing down in 15th place. Shaun Carter though was still in the wars with a DNF after just 9 laps being added to his first heat exclusion result.

Formula KF2 World Cup, Alcaniz, Spain

Today I am live from the impressive new 5.2km Formula 1 standard circuit at the Motorland facility of Ciudad del Motor de Aragon near Alcañiz, where the equally impressive kart circuit stands in its shadow at an enormous 1,700 metres in length. Warm and sunny conditions are on hand to greet the 80 drivers from 18 nationalities, who had been selected for the 2009 CIK-FIA World Cup, possibly the main Formula KF2 event of the year.

The first heat has just finished where the Italian diver Matteo Vigano (see pic above), competing with the MGM Racing team, took an easy win on his Birel-Parilla outfit.

The top British driver was European Champion Jordan Chamberlain, who won the European title at Essay in France recently. Jordan brought his Williams Motorsport entered Tonykart-TM machine home into 5th place just over four seconds behind the winner, which bodes well for the young British ace.

More to follow as the weekend progresses.