Tamás Gender Junior will start his first full season in the OK Junior category at the first round of the prestigious WSK series, the WSK Champions Cup. The 12-year-old kart driver begins the season as a factory driver for Parolin Racing Kart, that used to enter Lewis Hamilton.
Tamás Gender Junior will start the 2023 season on the last weekend of January at the WSK Champions Cup in Lonato, Italy. The World Series of Karting, organized by Italian WSK Promotions, represents the highest level of karting, alongside the Champions of the Future and CIK-FIA races. This is testified by the fact that 75% of this year's Formula 1 field, 15 out of 20 drivers, have competed in at least one WSK race.
Over the years, subsequent F1 world champions have also made their mark in WSK, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg all doing so at the Parolin Racing Kart, where 12-year-old Tamás Gender Junior will start his first season in the OK Junior class this weekend.
The HUMDA-backed driver had already tried his hand at this category last year, beginning in November at the prestigious Trofeo delle Industrie. He did well, knowing that he had a busy training schedule this winter to build up his strength for the faster and more physically challenging OKJ karts.
"A big part of my winter training was kickboxing, even between the two holidays I trained every day to be as strong as possible for the start of the season in January. While school resumed on 9 January, I also tested in Lonato, Cremona and Franciacorta for a total of four days. It was only for a day at the latter because snow on the first day meant I couldn't go around the track," said the 12-year-old.
"It felt good to get back into karting and finally do something other than kickboxing. I've also missed the team and my mechanic, who I get on well with and we have a lot of jokes. After school started, unfortunately, a little illness came in between but despite that I feel prepared for my first race. My goal is of course to do my best and to achieve the best possible results with the team. I like the track in Lonato, especially the more technical parts, so everything is in place for a good start to the season."
The OKJ field will consist of 58 participants, so Tamás Junior will have to compete against 57 rivals from the qualifying rounds starting on 27 January. For the program and information on the WSK Champions Cup, which runs until 29 January, click HERE and for live results tracking, click HERE.
