As Lando Norris had hinted, the new OTK chassis bearing his name was intended to equip the team with which he had enjoyed success in karting. So the LN/Vortex packages took to the track in the colours of Ricky Flynn Motorsport at Lonato for the first round of the 2022 season. Eight drivers, three in OK and five in OK-Junior, took part in the opening round of the WSK Super Master Series with the British team from 27th to 30th January. The first results of the year are very promising.
P2 for Freddie Slater, already competitive in OK
Three RFM drivers from the Junior class have moved up to the top category. Freddie Slater was particularly fast in his first OK race. 4th in Qualifying, he started by winning his first heat before moving up to 3rd overall. With the fastest time in his Prefinal, he moved up to 2nd place in the Final and drove a superb race to his first OK podium.
Maxim Rehm completed two good heats out of three to move up 13 places with his qualification in 24th position. He finally finished in 20th place despite two penalties for spoiler damage in the Prefinal and Final. Dion Gowda, who started 39th after Qualifying, made up 16 places in the Qualifying Heats and finished 30th in the Final with an unhooked spoiler. Thanks to RFM’s support and high performance equipment, these two young drivers are in a good position to quickly move up the rankings.
Bondarev gets noticed in OK-Junior
It was Enea Frey who carried the team’s hopes of success after a very successful start to the race. 3rd in Qualifying, the Swiss driver took three wins in the heats and was 2nd on Saturday evening. However he was less successful on Sunday and lost seven positions in the Final battle to finish 10th. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev, a new RFM recruit, followed a flawless upward curve. 14th in Qualifying, he came back to 3rd place in the heats and moved up to 2nd after his Prefinal. He continued his effort with determination in the Final and took the lead in the last corner. Unfortunately, a dropped spoiler dropped him back to 4th place.
Newcomer to the team, the Pole Maciej Gladysz showed his ambitions with a 4th place in Qualifying. 6th on the starting grid for the Final, he came out 31st in the first lap and managed to make up 10 places. A dropped spoiler sent him back to 26th place. The Colombian Salim Hanna started with 35th time and moved up in the heats, once in 4th and once in 3rd place. After a retirement in the Prefinal, he recovered 11 places to 20th in the Final. Finally, the young British driver Alfie Slater, Freddie’s brother, had to face a difficult situation for his first appearance in OK-Junior. Absent from the Qualifying, a retirement in Heat 1 and another one in the Prefinal prevented him from qualifying for the Final despite a very interesting fighting spirit.
Info Kartcom / Photos © KSP