Espagne Zuera 05.10.08 WSK - International Series

With the last round of the 2008 season, held at Zuera (Spain), also came the end of the first year of partnership between "Fondation Julie Tonelli pour l'Enfance" and the WSK international series. This experience was mostly positive, as proven by the warm welcome given to the Foundation by Luca De Donno and his team. Everybody agreed that the WSK organisation represented a reference model and this is the truth, indeed. The "Fondation Julie Tonelli pour l'Enfance" can only express its satisfaction with this cooperation, which brought the Foundation great visibility in international karting, and would like to take this opportunity to thank Luca De Donno wholeheartedly.

The end of 2008 WSK at Zuera saw the presence of less pilots than during full season, which is only natural when ambitions are less intense and there are less means available. Nevertheless, competition was strong in all categories. After the performances shown during this round, Nyck De Vries certainly deserves a special place. Nyck is a peculiar character: under a childish appearance, he hides an extraordinary maturity. When you meet him, you immediately think about Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince. Always in the company of his dad and his sister, the young Dutch driver also spends a lot of time with his team manager Dino Chiesa and quietly listens to his advice. When he does not race, he can often be seen on the circuit, to give a hand to the other Zanardi drivers. Always smiling and friendly, Nyck is never aggressive, either on the track or in the paddock. But people do respect him. At Zuera, he needed to dominate his opponents in order to conquer the championship and this is exactly what he did, in a perfect way, by winning both the pre-final and the final in KF3.

The only representative of "Fondation Julie Tonelli pour l'Enfance" in KF1 at Zuera was loyal Florian Alfano, whose season was not easy at all. At the beginning of the year, he had high hopes after excellent performances in the PDB Racing Team. But his engine proved to be less and less reliable with the passing of time and he had to fight in the anonymity of the pack on several occasions. After starting 7th in the long final (35 km), he lost five places following a collision and then came back in 6th place. Owing to the intense competition he found in a pack full of determined opponents, he finished 8th.

In KF2, Belgian Sami Luka was in excellent shape: 6th after timed qualifying, 5th after the heats and 3rd in the pre-final. Once again bad luck ruined his plans during the final and his engine did not allow him to take the start. After leaving Maranello for PCR, Spanish driver Luis Miguel Villalba made sparks fly in his homeland. After some problems in the heats, he went through the repechage and finally got to the final phases. Then he showed his full potential by climbing up 17 places in the pre-final and reached the 3rd step of the podium in the final: well done! The arrival in the WSK of Portuguese Frederico Duarte on a Topkart/Comer is worth mentioning.

Frenchman Kevin Petit continued his training at the top, but did not qualify in KF3. Michelle Gatting made a bad start with a 51st place in timed qualifying. But the Danish young girl recovered ground during the race and crossed the finishing line in 15th place. Finally European champion Aaro Vainio did not win as easily as expected, after a series of race mishaps that compromised his performance, especially in the pre-final. He conquered 16 places in the final and finished 14th.