Jack Iliffe
- Sep 6, 2023
- 2 min read

Back in action: The Thrills and Spills of Franciacorta!

The summer break is over, and I was back in Italy for the first round of the WSK Euro Series at Franciacorta. Franciacorta is the scene of my next three races as we prepare for the FIA World Championship.

The WSK Euro Series started with two days of practice (Wednesday and Thursday), after which we had the pace to be in the fight but with a bit of time to find.

Qualifying was all about timing. I used my opening laps to get a good track position, but I had to deliver on my final lap. My lap felt good, and I placed P4 in my group, P11 overall out of 103 drivers.

After lunch, we got straight into heat racing. Friday saw us compete in two heats.

In Heat E-F, I started P3 and had a good start, getting to second, then fell down to 4th and climbed back to 3rd.

My second heat of the day, Heat B-E, was a bit of a struggle, I started P4 and finished P8.

On Saturday, we needed a straightforward and steady day, sadly, that would not come to pass. In each of my Saturday heats, I started P4, on the off-pole side and due to the nature of the track, the outside row would lose a few positions by the second corner, and I had to work hard to climb back up the order.

In Heat C-E, I had a steady race and made my way back to P4, but was awarded P3 after penalties.

In my second heat, Heat D-E, I had a great start and got up to 3rd by the end of the first lap, but I couldn’t hold the position and finished P7.

In my final heat, Heat A-E, I fell to P7 at the start and fell further back to P10. On lap 4, there was an accident, and the race ran under caution for 5 laps before finally being red flagged.

After the qualifying heats, I was P9 overall, and I started pre-final A in P5.

The pre-final was tough. I started P5, got up to P3 at the start and fell back to P10. I did not have the pace for my position. We were trying lots of things on the kart and with the engine to find the missing pace, but no luck.

In the final, we tried a different carburetor, and it unlocked more speed, but not enough. I started P10 and fell back to P15. A number of retirements promoted me to P9 before contact at the end of the race saw me fall and finish in P22. Frustrating, but that’s racing.

I want to say a massive thank you to Lorenzo Travisanutto, Mirco Anelli, Roberto Toninelli, Parolin Racing and GFR Engines for working to hard to give me competitive equipment. We'll come back stronger for the next one!

Next up is the RGMMC Champions of the Future at Franciacorta.

Results

https://www.wskarting.it/results.asp?yy=2023&r=1&c=16&s=WSK_Euro

Entries: 103

Final Results

FRIDAY

Qualifying: P11 (P4 in Group)

Heat E-F: P3

Heat B-E: P8

SATURDAY

Heat C-E: P3 (P4 before penalties)

Heat D-E: P7