On June 28-29, the final round of the WSK Euro Series Championship took place in Adria, Italy, where SMP Racing junior driver Nikita Bedrin earned the bronze medal in the OK-J class.
The last, fourth round of the season included qualifying and pre-final races, qualifying heats and a night race. Alongside Nikita Bedrin, another SMP Racing junior driver Kirill Smal took part in the competition: he competed in OK category.
In the final race, Nikita Bedrin started from tenth position and gained five places, overtaking rivals ahead, but was forced to retire from the race on the penultimate lap due to contact with another driver. Nikita scored enough points to take third place in the overall standings in the OK-J class in the WSK Euro Series Championship and the Italian Karting Championship.
The race was not easy for Kirill Smal as well. He started second, but in a great battle with rivals dropped down to fifth position. As early as the third lap Kirill managed to move up to second place again and keep it to the finish line.
"The round was very intense, and I am glad that I ended up being third in the championship," SMP Racing junior driver Nikita Bedrin said. “Fifty-five drivers participated in the qualifying session, we were all very close to each other, I was eighth only. In the three qualifying heats I managed to finish fifth, fourth and second, respectively, and according to the results I was classified fourth. I didn’t have a chance to fight for a win due to problems with the chassis setups. In the prefinal, I started second and finished sixth. We had good speed, but the battle turned out to be extremely tense, and literally in every turn we were switching positions with seven other drivers. In the final, I started tenth. Everybody had similar pace and was driving close to each other. I was able to move up to fifth position, but then there was contact with my rival, and I was forced off the track. Of course, I wanted to finish in this interesting race, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. In any case, it is an honor to be third in the overall standings of such a difficult WSK Euros Series championship.”
“We had a night race edition in Adria, and this is very unusual,” SMP Racing junior driver Kirill Smal added. “Twenty-seven drivers participated in our qualifying, and I was able to finish fifth. In the qualifying heats I finished third and two times first, so in the prefinal I started from pole position. We fought a lot with rivals and as a result I completed the race in second place. There was a lack of grip and the car slid. In the final, I started second, I lost some positions, but quickly managed to recover and return to second place. Then I just increased the gap from third place and finished with a big advantage. Nice to stand on the podium in such a difficult race."
Photos: WSK Euro Series.
