The busiest CIK-FIA Event of the year has finally crowned excellent winners in the four categories competing at the Belgian circuit of Genk. The Races were hard fought, but have shown great vitality on the part of the Competitors from over 40 countries. The Italians Ardigo and Dalè won both Pre-Finals and Finals in the KZ and KZ2 categories, as well as the Dane Nielsen in KF who took the advantage in the standings. The result was always uncertain in the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy, eventually won by the Japanese driver Ota.

Great success for the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy - Japanese victory for Ota

With 49 participants from 29 countries around the world, the first Competition of the 2014 CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy looked great at Genk. Drivers competed on one-make equipment provided by Parolin Racing Kart, a Parolin chassis and an FIM engine, equipped with Bridgestone tyres. Always correct, the Competition had several leaders before the winner was revealed. The Dutch driver Richard Verschoor proved to be the fastest in Qualifying from the British Ross Martin and the Brazilian Murilo Della Coletta. Verschoor confirmed his ascendancy in the Qualifying Heats with two wins, joined in second position by fellow Dutchman Rinus Van Kalmthout, while the Turkish Berkay Besler slipped into 3rd place ahead of Della Coletta. The situation changed during the Prefinal with victory for Besler ahead of the British Oliver York and the South African Bradley Lienbenberg. In the Final, the hierarchy changed again as the Japanese Kakunoshin Ota was soon in the lead after the first lap eliminated York and the Spaniard Xavier Lloveras Brunet. Van Kalmthout finally returned to second position ahead of Martin, recovering from 16th place and the fastest lap holder.

Van Kalmthout leads the provisional classification of the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy with 29 points, ahead of Ota on 25 points, Besler on 21 points and Martin on 16 points.

Faultless day for Dale in KZ2

The Italian driver Andrea Dalè (CRG-Maxter-B'stone) dominated the first Competition of the CIK-FIA European KZ2 Championship unchallenged. The poleman with a good lead in Qualifying, he was victorious in four Heats before winning Pre-final 1, then the Final ahead of his opponents with the fastest lap of the race. His main competitors were Marijn Kremers (Birel-TM-B'stone), 2nd in Qualifying and second in Pre-final 1, Jan Midrla (Birel-TM-B'stone), 2nd in the Intermediate Ranking and winner of Pre-final 2, and Andreas Sebastian Hansen (Tony Kart-Vortex-B'stone) 2nd in the Final. Fabian Federer (CRG-Maxter-B'stone) enjoyed a gain of seven places in the Final to mount the 3rd step of the podium, while Finn Kooijman (CRG-TM-B'stone) finished 4th and Simas Juodvirsis (Energy -TM-B'stone) 5th after regaining 24 places.

Dalè is naturally the leader in the standings of the CIK-FIA European KZ2 Championship, ahead of Hansen, Lundberg, Juodvirsis and Federer.

Ardigo triumphs in KZ

The fight was very close throughout the weekend in the KZ category. Arnaud Kozlinski (Intrepid-TM-B'stone) opened the scoring with the fastest time in Qualifying ahead of Jonathan Thonon (Praga-Parilla-B'stone) and Paolo De Conto (Birel-TM-B'stone). Rick Dreezen (Zanardi-Parilla-B'stone) joined Kozlinski the classification after the Qualifying Heats, while Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart-Vortex-B'stone) was third. Ardigo won the Pre-final from Thonon and Kozlinski. The twists did not end in the Final. Thonon immediately gave chase on the leader Ardigo, but a clash with Kozlinski prevented him from carrying out his aim. Dreezen took the opportunity to go second. Very fast, De Conto recovered from 8th to 3rd position but gave up after a breakdown with two laps to go. Ardigo was on the top of the podium followed by Dreezen. 3rd place went to Jordon Lennox-Lamb (CRG-Maxter-B'stone) ahead of Jorrit Pex (CRG-TM-B'stone) and Ben Hanley (ART GP-TM-B'stone). These five drivers are in the same order in the top 5 positions in the standings in the CIK-FIA European KZ Championship.

Nielsen escapes in KF

Winner of the Pre-final and Final at Genk, Nicklas Nielsen (Kosmic-Vortex-Dunlop) has a lead of 9 points over Callum Ilott (Zanardi-Parilla-Dunlop) who will play a role in the fight for the European title in the KF category. After taking pole position during Qualifying, Lando Norris (FA Kart-Vortex-Dunlop) had to retire due to a technical problem when victory seemed within reach in the Final. Winner of all his Qualifying Heats, Ilott was a formidable opponent for Nielsen in the two races on Sunday. The duel lasted until the finish line with a minimal gap between the two protagonists, to the benefit of Nielsen. A formidable finisher, Tom Joyner (Zanardi-Parilla-Dunlop) was on the 3rd step of the podium, while Alessio Lorandi (Tony Kart-Parilla-Dunlop), qualifying through the Second Chance Heat, managed to finish fourth. A newcomer at the front of the class, Hannes Janker (Zanardi-Parilla-Dunlop) was in the top five until the Pre-final.

Nielsen now has a total of 76 points in the standings of the CIK-FIA European KF Championship ahead of Ilott, on 67 points, Joyner and Norris on 53 points, and Kari on 48 ​​points.