On Form Travisanutto wins WSK Euro Series in OK
28 drivers contested the top class of the WSK Euro Series, with the world’s top drivers competing under the lights of the Adria circuit. It was shaping up to be a 3 way battle between championship leader Lorenzo Travisanutto, 2nd place Dino Beganovic and the dominant Dexter Patterson, who had a perfect run last time out at South Garda.
The early signs showed that it wouldn’t be a repeat performance for Patterson, as he could only manage 3rd fastest in qualifying, only 0.104s behind pole sitter Gabriele Mini’. Rosberg Racing’s Taylor Barnard was 2nd, just 0.039s slower than the Parolin driver. Beganovic would be 4th fastest which championship leader Travisanutto would start down in 24th! Other drivers to watch were Kirill Smal in 5th and Harry Thompson in 8th, both really quick drivers who could play a part in the championship fight.
Smal would quickly find his pace in the races, finishing 3rd in heat 1 and winning heat 2 and 3 to take pole for Pre-Final A. Mini’ would win the first of the weekend’s heats, while finishing 2nd and 7th was enough to give him the top spot for Pre-Final B. Barnard would run within the top 6 through the 3 heats, finishing 3rd while Thompson would have a similar set of results, matching his countryman on points in 4th. Patterson would slip down the order to 5th, while Travisanutto recovered to 7th. The championship challengers were split by an impressive Kai Askey in 6th. Beganovic would struggle in the final heat, finishing 14th, leaving him 9th in the standings. Travisanutto was still in the driving seat of the championship, but now just 2 points separated Beganovic and Patterson for 2nd.
The Pre-Final went the way of Mini’ sealing the win by 2.4 seconds ahead of Smal with Travisanutto picking up a further 40 points for finishing 3rd. Barnard was between his former team mate and Beganovic who had to settle for 5th, just ahead of Thompson. Patterson’s title chances would come to a grinding halt, as he failed to finish the Pre-final, making it a 2 horse race for the title. That pushed Travisanutto’s lead up to 41 points, meaning a top 4 finish would be enough for the title, even if Beganovic took victory.
Mini held the lead as Travisanutto and Beganovic charged up the order to 2nd and 3rd by the end of the opening lap. Beganovic wouldn’t have it easy, as pressure from a recovering Smal would see him drop to 4th as the Russian fought back to the front. Patterson was already on the move, up to 21st with just 3 laps in the book. Beganovic was still falling, having lost out to Harry Thompson, he also lost out to Barnard, dropping him down 6th before Dilano Van T Hoff dropped him to 2nd.
Then there was a sliver of hope for Beganovic, as Travisanutto lost out to Smal. The Italian world champion clearly thinking of the title, didn’t defend too hard from the charging Russian. Meanwhile, Patterson was now up to 16th, with Francesco Pizzi as his next target. Another charger was Dilano Van T Hoff, who was now up to 4th behind the reigning world champion. Van T Hoff bides his time, waiting for the perfect moment, before throwing his Forza Racing machine down the inside of Travisanutto, dropping him into the clutches of his former team mate Barnard. Patterson would have his fantastic run ended when contact with Jace Denmark Gessel would see the pair of them out of the race.
For the entire race, Gabriele Mini’ was untouchable, taking the win by 2.7 seconds ahead of Kirill Smal. Van T Hoff would take an impressive podium as Travisanutto finished 4th to seal the championship. Beganovic finished down in 8th, giving Travisanutto the title by 61 points. After his DNF, Patterson just held on to 3rd in the standings, 2 points ahead of race winner Mini’ in 4th.
