Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi moved to the Sweden-based Ward Racing karting team for 2024 after he dominated the Cadet classes in Australia over recent years. Last year he won the WSK Promotion Super Cup (under 10s) in Mini (Italy) and was back there this year to compete in the WSK Open Series.

The seventh edition was held at the Franciacorta Karting Track in the Province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. Over 250 drivers competed across various categories in the event, which featured MINI and KZ2 and introduced the KZ2 Masters for drivers aged 35 and above.

There was a strong turnout for the two new federal categories, OK-N Junior and OK-N, which made their season debut on the WSK Promotion calendar.

It had great participation from manufacturers, teams, and drivers which represented 42 nationalities. It was Seb’s debut in OKNJ as he had wait until he turned 11 years old, and he continued to use the green chassis and Vortex engines as he moved up from Mini.

The youngest in the field, he qualified second in his group, had the third overall fastest time, just 0.005 off pole, and would start each race fourth. For the final he was ninth on the grid. In one lap he was fifth, and shortly after picked up another two places.

However, his tyre pressures were a bit too high, and they overheated and slipped back to fifth. His team were pleased with the result, just needs to work on tyre preservation, something he has not had to do previously. They now prepare to return in a couple of weeks.

USF PRO 2000/USF 2000

In the US the USF PRO 2000 and USF 2000 series second rounds were held at the Nola Motorsport Park which is around 20mins from downtown New Orleans in Louisiana.

Lochie Hughes competed in the PRO series with Turn 3 Motorsport where three races were contested. He finished 19th in the first, 18th in the second and 10th in the third. He currently sits sixth out of 22 in the points standings. The series uses Tatuus chassis, and the engines are based on the Mazda MZR 2.0-liter powerplant built by Elite Engines.

USF 2000 uses the same chassis and engine which is less modified. The Australians in the field were Quinn Armstrong (DEForce Racing) and former Australian Formula Ford Series racer Xavier Kokai (VRD Racing). Armstrong scored two eighths and ninth while Kokai’s best result was 13th as he also had a 19th and an 18th.