The fourth meeting of WSK International Series was held at Mariembourg last weekend, with 167 pilots divided into 3 categories: KF1, KF2 and KZ2. Three weeks before the European Championship round, which will be held on this same circuit, this event offered an opportunity to prepare such an important meeting in race conditions. The importance of WSK has remarkably grown this year and pilots are more and more interested in their overall ranking position in this series. The "Fondation Julie Tonelli pour l'Enfance" is proud to be partner of this important championship.

Despite the assurances of some of our Belgian friends, the weather was not always indulgent on the Fagnes region, 40 km south of Charleroi. However, the unexpected appearance of the sun on Sunday afternoon quickly erased all the memories of rain and greyness of the previous days. As always in these cases, technical choices were both difficult and crucial. Races, especially in the final phases, were really exciting for the "mechanical sports" fans watching kart races at Fagnes. Pilots supporting Fondation Julie Tonelli had ups and downs.

After his success at Suzuka, Davide Forè dominated KF1 timed practice. His Maranello/Maxter kart was really unbeatable in the damp fresh weather, on Saturday morning. The fight became more intense but Davide always remained in the top 3. Everything seemed still possible at the start of the final, but a defective brake lever forced the Italian champion to reduce his pace and he finished 10th. Jean-Philippe Guignet's race was stopped by a chain problem, just when he was in the top 5 for the first time in the weekend. Several Tonelli pilots had to go through the repechage on Sunday morning. Florian Alfano, Alban Varutti, unfairly penalised after an accident during the race, Vittorio Mangili and Patrick Fontner, who did well anyway. Varutti managed to reach 11th position in the final. Gianni Gazzurelli showed the best performance in his career, with the 4th time in timed practice and access to the Super Pole. However, a problem with the transponder, which did not record the time, destabilized him. Then heats became difficult for him owing to the dry track and ended with a repechage and a non qualification. Jérémy Iglesias was often around 15th position, then ranked 17th in the final. No Super Pole for Armand Convers this time, but an excellent final result with the second step of the podium.

Sébastien Bailly could take part in the WSK in KF2 when a place became vacant. 20th after timed practice, Seb climbed to 8th position at the end of the heats and finished the race 9th in the final. Well placed after timed practice, William Benedetti did not perform well in the heats and withdrew in the final. Things did not go very well for James Thorp on Saturday, but the British pilot did not give up and finally conquered 10th position. Polish Karol Basz was not as brilliant as usual in the heats and then, after he withdrew during the pre-final, he managed to reach 22nd position.

Excellent result for Manuel Renaudie in KZ2, with the 3rd step in the final podium. Jonathan Thonon won the race, but unfortunately for this pilot - who had really tried to do his best in front of his public - his engine turned out to be non compliant. Norman Nato finished his race without other problems and scored some points thanks to his 5th position, right before Thomas Mich. Perhaps Joffrey Demanse had not the fastest kart, but he was constant in his performance and ended 16th. Very fast at the beginning of the meeting, 3rd in timed practice, Nicola Nolè then had a few problems and withdrew in the pre-final. Pierre Etienne Chaumat found it hard to find the right set-up on the particular track of Mariembourg. Benjamin Bailly took Enzo Zéfirini's place in WSK. Very fast but often involved in collisions, this promising Belgian pilot could not qualify. Despite all the difficulties of a return to karting after a period in motor racing, Benjamin seems to have all that is needed to achieve good results.