The season started in Adria during the WSK Champions Cup last February and it ended on the same circuit nine months later with the WSK Final Cup. RFM has maintained a very high level of competitiveness for all its drivers throughout the twenty or so international events and the Final Cup was no exception with Freddie Slater 3rd on the OK-Junior finish line before being penalised, Enea Frey’s strong progression into the top 10 and Maxim Rehm’s superb performance in his first OK race.
Although often cloudy, there was no rain on the familiar track of Adria from November 19th to 21st, and only the cool temperature sometimes reduced the grip of the track. 72 drivers, including several rookies, competed in OK-Junior and penalties were frequent during the meeting.
Freddie Slater was soon into the action, setting the 3rd fastest time in Qualifying while his team-mates were slightly behind. Twice winner in the heats, he lost time in the fourth and was 8th on Saturday evening. He then went back to 2nd place with the fastest time in his Prefinal before fighting for the victory in a very lively Final. He dropped back to 6th with four laps to go, but came back to 3rd on the line. A double penalty unfortunately deprived him of the podium.
Enea Frey showed himself to be both fast and confident during an impressive comeback from 50th place in Qualifying. He regained 26 positions at the end of the heats, took another six places in the Prefinal and finished his very good performance in 9th place in the Final, the first of the RFM drivers. His other team-mates were not as successful in the heats. Dion Gowda was losing ground, especially after a retirement. He qualified thanks to a nice eight-place improvement in the Prefinal and came back to 8th in the Final before dropping back in the closing laps. He finished only 21st with a spoiler penalty. The young Belgian Thomas Strauven, who is not very experienced, managed to qualify for the Final and finished 28th.
Delayed by two retirements in the heat, Salim Hanna nevertheless made it to the Final thanks to an 11-place gain in the Prefinal, but he only completed three laps in the decisive race. Michailidis Vasileios-Gravriil started from 20th place in Qualifying and managed a good 4th place in one of his heats. Unfortunately, he had to retire in the Prefinal when his qualification was in sight. A Mini driver at the beginning of the year, Filippo Parmeggiani didn’t have an easy task for his first race in OK-Junior. He only reached the finish of two out of five heats.
Maxim Rehm quickly found his place among the 40 OK drivers for his debut in the category. 16th under the time limit, he progressed through the heats and qualified despite a retirement in the Prefinal. He started last in the Final, but showed great confidence by regaining 12 positions to 22nd place with the 3rd fastest time of the race.