The Parolin Motorsport team has taken up residence in the south of Spain in preparation for the upcoming OK and Junior World Championship. The last meeting of the Champions of the Future by RGMMC series was a very important preparation event for the Italian team’s OK-Junior drivers. The performance of the Italian team was very noticeable, especially thanks to the victory for Enzo Deligny.
“It’s good for the mentality of the whole team to show such a high level of performance a week before a world event,” explained Marco Parolin. “Like all the teams, we have only recently encountered the Campillos circuit, but our preparation has proved to be effective. In a category with almost 100 participants, four of our OK-Junior drivers performed very encouragingly among the best. Enzo Deligny had been getting closer to victory for several races and I am delighted that he has done so in Spain. It is a very positive result for him and for the team. Maksim Orlov, Anatoly Khavalkin and Matias Orjuela were also very competitive and I hope that their performance will reflect on the whole team. We have some time to learn from this event, both for the equipment and the drivers, so that we can do even better at the World Championship.”
Enzo Deligny was immediately at ease on the Spanish circuit’s steep terrain and he drove a faultless race at the front. Very solid heats, in which he obtained two best laps, allowed him to return to the top five on Saturday evening. He confirmed this by finishing 2nd in the Prefinal before driving a superb Final. He started well and took the lead from lap 5 and then distanced his rivals to win with a 1.6” lead and another fastest lap.
Maksim Orlov was also in a position to get an excellent result. Twice winner in the heats, he was 2nd in this Qualifying phase. After a great fight in the Prefinal, he unfortunately had to retire immediately after the start of the Final. Matias Orjuela showed very convincing speed from his 7th position in Qualifying. Once in 2nd and twice in 3rd place, he finished 9th in the heats. An incident delayed him shortly before the end of the Prefinal, but he made up 10 places in the Final.
Anatoly Khavalkin had to deal with a distant 39th place during the heats. He still made up 12 places, but a retirement lost him all the benefit of his efforts in the Prefinal. Undiscouraged, he went back to work in the Final and reached a rewarding 12th place after a 23-position climb.
Guillaume Bouzar, René Lammers and Eric Gené encountered various setbacks along the way during the heats and could not make it to the Finals despite their potential.
In OK, Jesse Carrasquedo showed interesting competitiveness by regaining five places during the heats despite a retirement. The Final stages were more complicated for the Mexican. Arnur Shabdar was a little bit far back after Qualifying to be able to make it to the Final.