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Birelart ends the weekend in Lonato with improved performance

The fourth round of the WSK Super Master Series is in the books for the Birelart drivers, with improved performance and useful work by the whole team ahead of the European season.

KZ2 – Ider battles for the top five
Another important weekend for the KZ2 drivers and for the development of the new Birelart-IAME technical package. Qualifying sessions ended in the top ten for both Bertuca and Wolfe, with the second and third fastest times of the session, Hiltbrand and Ider, the latter among the protagonists of the weekend. Good progress for the Italian driver with three heats in a continuous battle for the top five positions. This positive trend was also confirmed by his second place in Sunday's pre-final and sixth place in the final. It was a competitive but unlucky weekend for Bertuca, who won the first heat and finished second, but was slowed down by a forced retirement in the final, which he then closed with a comeback. Wolfe and Hiltbrand had similar results, finishing second and recovering more than ten positions between the pre-final and final, confirming their competitiveness. The solid performances of Knopjes, Pigaev and Ritonen are also worth mentioning.

OK Senior – Sala leads the Senior comeback
Filippo Sala (CL Racing Team) ended the weekend in Lonato on a high note, continuing his positive streak. Three consistent heats with the potential to attack the top three positions, just like in the pre-final with third place and five positions improved, followed by a top ten finish in the final. Cocchianella made a positive season debut in his first race with Birelart, showing good progress. Da Silva and Rousseau were also in contention, hampered by a not ideal qualifying session but both able to recover more than ten positions in their heats. Fourth fastest time in qualifying for Mazzola, with Sharp (VAR by Birelart) and Ivannikov also in the fight.

OKJ – Spencer and Legenkyi improving
The Lonato event marks another useful step in the early season for the OK Junior drivers. Oleksandr Legenkyi (CL Racing Team) completed his weekend in a consistent manner, always finishing in the top ten with good recoveries during the heats and in the final. Spencer was also back on track, battling in the middle of the pack and making two consecutive comebacks of ten positions in Saturday's heats, as was Julia Angelard, who improved by thirteen positions in her third heat, one of her best results.

Mini – Mujis, Torchia and Zholner in the final
The Mini Birelart category saw both confirmed drivers and new arrivals immediately take centre stage. Cees Muijs once again proved himself to be among the best in the category with a third place in the heats and a front row start in the final, which was unfortunately marked by a few too many collisions at the start. Zholner made a good debut with the Racing Team, immediately part of the top ten. Torchia also performed well in Mini U10.

Marino Spinozzi, Mini Class Team Manager: “The weekend in Lonato was a bit complicated, but we fought until the end. In the Mini Gr.3 we didn’t have an ideal qualifying, which forced the drivers to recover during the heats. Muijs was fast right away, with top-five performances in the heats. In the final there was some contact that compromised what could have been a good result. We also had some new entries racing with us, many of them at their first appearance in a big event. They all showed good speed and the ability to improve session after session. Zholner was one of the most interesting, managing to finish tenth in the heats and in the prefinal, qualifying for the Mini final. Overall, we are satisfied with everyone’s performance. In the U10 class, Torchia did well, putting together a good qualifying session and some competitive heats. He is learning a lot and continues to confirm himself as one of the best drivers in the series. It was also the seasonal debut for the OKN-J drivers, all of them at their very first experience, which was certainly a valuable learning opportunity”.

Jordon Lennox, Direct Drive Team Manager: “We close the Lonato weekend with more useful work done by the team. In qualifying we weren’t able to be immediately competitive, but overall we had the opportunities to stay at the front, for example with Mazzola, Sala and Ivannikov. As always, the heats were very competitive for everyone and there were some useful results, although Mazzola unfortunately lost some positions due to a few race contacts. There were definitely improvements compared to the last race. The same goes for the Junior category, with big steps forward from Legenkyi and also Spencer, who was back on track with us. All of them showed good speed. Now we focus on Franciacorta to close out the WSK and prepare for the FIA European Championship season”.

Riccardo Longhi, KZ Team Manager: “We started quite well in qualifying with Hiltbrand, Bertuca, Wolfe and Ider. Some issues slowed down both Hiltbrand and Bertuca, and Wolfe also had a few race incidents. This cost them some positions on the starting grid for the final, but they were all able to recover places during the race. We are happy with Ider’s weekend. He was always among the best, considering the heats and also his second place in the prefinal and top ten in the KZ2 final. For the others it was definitely a useful weekend, with step-by-step progress and improvements in their performance. Overall it was a positive WSK round, where we could have fought for podium positions, which will be the goal for the next race weekend”.

The final round of the WSK Super Master Series will take place next week at the Franciacorta Karting Track from 20 to 22 March 2026, the last race before the European season.

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