Great success for the ROK Cup Winter Trophy, the opening round of the season 2024 for the mono-brand by Vortex, with a total of 204 drivers at the South Garda Karting in Lonato del Garda (Italy), divided into six categories. After two race days, these are the winners of the finals: Benjamin Westwood (Mini ROK), Lyuboslav Ruykov (Junior ROK), Andrea Giudice (Senior ROK), Claudio Pagliarani (Expert ROK), Alex Desario (Super ROK) and Marco Tormen (Shifter ROK).

Mini ROK
A total of 43 young drivers are competing for the first title of the season in the Mini ROK.
The qualifying practices on Saturday give the pole position to Achille Rea, author of the best lap time of 54.777 seconds in the second group. Momcilo Davoust is the first in group 1 (55.177 seconds) and, due to the combined ranking, he gets placed behind Rea. Third place for Robert Pulbere, ahead of Leonardo De Grandi, fourth, Alessandro Nanni, fifth, and Benjamin Poulsen, sixth. Seventh Jamie Ehrat, eighth Alberto Masotto, ninth Logan Billau and tenth Gustav Christensen. Followed by Victor Gorun, Liam Secall, Augustin Feligioni, Morgan Zammit Azzopardi, Giuseppe Noviello, Alexander Volkmer, Lorenzo Zucchetto, Elias Boullier, Alex Puligheddu, Paul Plattner-Geramb, Mikolaj Gawlikowski, Aleksander Pelikaski, Kacper Kluk, Jan Gardzielik, Andrea Carbone, Thomas Vike Nørve, Johannes Buchhammer, Arvid Svensson, Andreas Drugau, Dominik Wojcik, Jan Chojnacki, Daniel Hakkinen, Eduard Gaschler, Dawid Tyndel, Benjamin Westwood, Ferdinand Bock, Lina Salamanca, Stanislaw Grabowski, Ghazi Almekdad, Jessica Calleja, Anna Makolm, Ernest Molenda and Li Linghan.

Two victories and a third place in the qualifying heats allow Davoust to become the new leader of the ranking. Masotto also gets the same results as his French rival and, from the eighth place, he goes to second place. Despite a first place at the beginning, Rea drops to third place. Nanni wins a heat and is fourth overall, while Feligioni recovers from 13th to fifth. Pulbere, Gorun, Puligheddu, De Grandi and Noviello close the ranking of the top ten.

The last and decisive race of the weekend gives us a breathtaking show starting from the formation lap: Masotto ends up in a spin and starts again from the back; however, thanks to a further "formation lap", the Italian regains the second place on the starting grid. At the start, Davoust, Rea and Augustin are the leading trio while Masotto, unfortunately, gets involved in a contact with Zucchetto in the first corners which causes him to go back in the ranking. In a few laps, the fight for the lead gets involved many drivers; then there are four contenders: Davoust, Rea, Noviello and Westwood, the last one starting from the eighth row. In the last corners of the final lap, everything happens: Rea attacks Davoust, but Noviello tries to overtake both; Westwood wins on his rivals and triumph under the checkered flag. From the 19th place on the starting grid, Billau takes advantage of the fight of the leading group and he is third, behind the winner Westwood and Davoust, second. Noviello and Rea are fourth and fifth respectively.

Junior ROK
There are 54 drivers at the starting line of the Junior ROK, another great protagonist of the weekend.
In the two qualifying rounds, the fastest overall is Nicholas Marchesi with a lap time of 48.484 seconds. Giulio Mazzolini, first in group 1, is second with a lap time of 48.617 seconds. Guido Bruno Bidoli is third in the ranking, followed by Lyuboslav Ruykov, fourth, Riccardo Brangero, fifth, and Antoni Kosiba, sixth. Ettore Sanesi is seventh, Christian Romeo is eighth, Milosz Smuk is ninth and Filippo Pola is tenth. The ranking continues with Victoria Farfus, Federico Sbarellati, Oskar Hildebranski, Tomasz Cichoracki, Marlon Di Salvo, Marek Piorkowski, Nicolò Carrara, Ksawery Dudkowski, Enrico Pietro Villa, Julia Angelard, Ilias Mitaki, Amelia Wyszomirska, Maxim Becker, Angelo Pecoraro, Oskar Galan, Oliwier Chaopek, Andrea Savoldelli, Iven Ammann, Mateusz Wal, Ioan Tudor Jercan, Jan Michaleczko, Michal Czyzewicz, David Hustiu, Natan Rybczynski, Erik Poulsen, Jordin Mulungi Andersen, Borys Baaszczyk, Alan Jakobiak, Marcin Dokucki, Lena Pichler, Angelina Proenca, Leon Lenartowicz, Leon Larsen, Carlo Pongratz, Marek Lipkowski, Mikolaj Kornijczuk, Pietro Chiesini, Dragos Avasilcutei, Wincent Lewicki, Leonardo Tribioli, Felipe Melo Rabello, Andrea Saccà, Stefano Zamponi and Noah Antonsen.

The subsequent qualifying heats confirm the supremacy of Marchesi, who gets three victories out of three heats in total. Bidoli wins a race, gets two Top 3 and becomes the first chaser of Marchesi in the ranking. Kosiba and Ruykov both obtain a success and get placed third and fourth respectively. Fifth place for Brangero, with Sbardellati, Smuk and Carrara behind him. Mazzolini falls in the ninth position, ahead of Sanesi, tenth.

Marchesi doesn't waste the chance to start from the pole position: the current champion of ROK Cup Italia leads the final from the start, but Kosiba - who is in second place - attacks him after a few corners; the Pole takes the lead, while Marchesi also gives a position to Brangero, overtaking him before the end of the lap. However, Ruykov becomes the main protagonist of the race: first of all, he takes the second place from Marchesi, then he overtakes Kosiba for the leadership. In the final corners, Ruykov defended himself from Kosiba and gets the victory. Marchesi gets involved in a duel with Sbardellati for the third place, managing to precede his compatriot on the finish line. Mazzolini finishes fifth.

Senior ROK
Excellent numbers of participants also in the Senior ROK, with 45 drivers at the start.

Andrea Giudice opens the race during the qualifying practices, obtaining the fastest lap of 47.651 seconds. Danny Carenini, first in group 2, with a lap time of 46.750 seconds, follows in second position, while Samuele Di Filippo and Patrik Fraboni are third and fourth in the ranking respectively. Franciszek Lassota, fifth, precedes Maksymilian Rafalik, sixth, Lorenzo Bedetti, seventh, and Riccardo Cirelli, eighth. In the top ten there are Franciszek Czapla, ninth, and Riccardo Salemi, tenth. The ranking of the qualifying continues with Luca Perelli, Riccardo Ferrari, Colin Würthenberger, Christian Canonica, Kaloyan Varbitzaliev, Alex Laghezza, Alberto Bernardi, Luca Magnussen, Nicola Marini, Alessandro Giarratano, Ondrej Pikl, Daniele Galbiati, Colin Wazny, Zachary Brandon Taylor, Franciszek Cegielski, Antonio Parlapiano, Lukas Horcicka, Aleksander Ruta, Piotr Protasiewicz, Antoni Makuch, Riccardo Chiodo, Motlekar Ghazy Bin Faizal, Giovanni Polato, Samuele Sottile, Piotr Orzechowski, Richard Nebesky, Kacper Bonder, Emanuele Romanelli, Stefan Brotac, Ewa Banach, Riccardo Frontini, Luis Moser, Laura Siklova, Alicja Olesinska and Luca Luongo.

With two victories and a second place, Carenini takes the lead of the ranking at the end of the qualifying heats. Czapla gets a success and goes behind the Italian. Lassota is third, Di Filippo – who has a first place as his best result – is fourth while Fraboni is fifth. In Top 10 we find Salemi, Cirelli, Barbitzaliev and Bedetti, Giudice is tenth: the Italian finishes two heats ahead of everyone, but at the same time he gets a withdrawal in the heat reserved for groups A and C.

Carenini is perfect at the start of the final, immediately followed by the Polish Lassota and Czapla. The Carenini-Lassota duo soon starts to gain space on the rest of the group, with Salemi who precedes Di Filippo, Czapla and Giudice (the last one already at the sixth place). Among the four chasers, Giudice leads the way: the Italian gains the third position, then he closes the gap to Lassota and overtakes him. Giudice also does the same with Carenini: first he reaches him and then takes the lead from him during the 13th lap. With a total of 9 positions gained from the start, Giudice celebrates a good victory, and he goes on the podium with Carenini, second, and Lassota, third. Behind we find Bedetti, Fraboni, Czapla and Di Filippo. Salemi, unfortunately, withdraws halfway through the race.

Expert ROK
The Expert ROK, the category reserved for the "senators" of the ROK Cup, could not be missing in this first weekend of the new ROK Cup season.

Davide Forè takes the pole position in the qualifying practices on Friday, thanks to a lap time of 48.518 seconds, and he beats his compatriots Claudio Pagliarani and Andrea Moretti, second and third respectively. Sona Ptackova, the current champion of ROK Cup Italia, is fourth, with Andrea Sorbello and Alessandro Viganò immediately behind her. Paolo Baselli is seventh, Fabio Cretti is eighth, Luke Joshua Armstrong is ninth and Tino Donadei is tenth. Angelo Ardito, Pavel Müller, Marco Beretta and Marco Nannavecchia close the group.

At the end of the qualifying heats, the situation in the top three positions remains unchanged: Forè is in first place, thanks to two victories and a second place, while Pagliarani, with a success, and Moretti maintain their positions behind the polesitter. Viganò takes the fourth place from Ptackova, now fifth, and Armstrong gains the sixth position, ahead of Sorbello, Baselli and Cretti. Ardito, Müller, Donadei, Nannavecchia and Beretta complete the starting formation for the final.

Everything seems to be already decided in the last race of the weekend: Forè is immediately the leader after a few meters, followed by the Pagliarani-Moretti duo. However, the things change after just two laps: Pagliarani surprises Forè and he manages to overtake him. These two are the fastest drivers on the track and they remain close to each other for the rest of the race, while Moretti is unable to keep the pace of his compatriots. Thanks to an excellent race conduct and without making mistakes, Pagliarani precedes Forè at the end of the 18 scheduled laps, with just one second separating the two in the ranking. Moretti takes the lowest step of the podium, while Ptackova takes the fourth position. Viganò, who started fourth, does not finish the race.

Super ROK
There is space on the track also for the Super ROK, the best performing single gear category of the ROK Cup.

As the current ROK Cup Italia champion, Bartosz Grzywacz opens the weekend with a pole position in the qualifying practices on Saturday with 46.956 seconds. Domenico Cicognini, winner of the last edition of the ROK Cup Winter Trophy, is second, 60 thousandths behind his Polish rival. Brando Pozzi gets the third place, Federico Albanese fourth, the rookie Alex Desario fifth and Nicolò Coppotelli sixth. The Top 10 also includes Alessandro Cocozza, Alessandro Zini, Riccardo Martinello and Matteo Berruti. The ranking continues with Chiara Bolognini, Sachel Rotgé, Riccardo Cocozza, Simone Donchi, Lorenzo Poletti, Renius Jejdling, Mattia Bernardi, Edoardo Iacobucci, Luca Fiorenti and Lynn Neuhaus.

Grzywacz is perfect during the qualifying heats: the poleman gets a perfect series of three victories out of three scheduled races. Pozzi finishes in second place twice, he also gets the same position in the intermediate ranking. Desario stands out with two Top 3 and he is third, followed by Martinello, fourth. Cicognini and Albanese withdraw in the second heat and go down to fifth and sixth place respectively. Riccardo Cocozza, Bolognini, Alessandro Cocozza and Rotgé complete the Top 10.

The final on Sunday afternoon offers many surprises. Pozzi overtakes Grzywacz at the first corner and takes the lead ahead of the Pole, while behind, Martinello withdraws due to an accident. In the following laps, Pozzi and Grzywacz change positions many times, then Albanese and Cicognini join the battle. Among the four, Albanese takes the lead of the race starting from the fourth lap. With three laps to go, the ROK Cup Italia champion overtakes the Italian. Albanese does not lose time and, at the last corner of the final lap, he tries to overtake Grzywacz: the two get in contact, Pozzi manages to avoid Albanese and Desario, fourth, who takes advantage of the chaos to win on his debut in the category. Cicognini crosses the finish line in the second place but receives a 3-second penalty post-race for having caused an accident previously and he drops to fifth place. Grzywacz and Albanese then take the podium, with Riccardo Cocozza fourth. Pozzi is seventh.

Shifter ROK
Great challenges in the Shifter ROK, the ROK Cup category of the karts with a gearbox.

In the single session of the qualifying practices Marco Tormen is at the lead with the best time of 46.482 seconds. Mattia Limena and Marco Vannini are behind the poleman, in second and third place. Daniele Demartis obtains the fourth position, followed by Giacomo Maman, fifth, Marco Chiarello, sixth, and Jurse Kipras, seventh. There is space in the Top 10 also for Pietro Fioravanti, Samuele Leopardi and Andrea Zemin. Davide Cordera, Alessandro Buran, Elliott Shaw, Louis Binder, Gabriele Bensi, Roberto Manduchi, Riccardo Rigodanza, Manuel Daziano, Michal Bartoszuk, Victor Martin Odin, Massimiliano Pezzucchi, Adrian Labuda, Pietro Gobbi, Edoardo Mormorelli, Ferrando Giacomo Pegazzano, Riccardo Franciosi, Luigi Del Vecchio and Leonardo Saba complete the ranking of the qualifying.

No mistakes for Tormen in the qualifying heats: the Italian takes three victories out of three heats and keeps the lead in the ranking. Limena and Vannini are in second and third place, always on the podium in all the races. Good comeback from tenth to fourth position for Zemin, as well as for Buran from twelfth to fifth. Leopardi is sixth, Chiarello is seventh, Kipras is eighth. Demartis drops to ninth place, finally Manduchi enters the Top 10.

In the final, Tormen and Limena are the authors of two sprints from the first row and they start to fight after the first corners. The Italian duo immediately get a good margin over the rest of the group, with Buran third, Manduchi fourth, Kipras fifth, Leopardi sixth, Chiarello seventh and Vannini at the eighth place. The fight for the victory begins for Tormen and Limena: the first one tries in every way to gain space, but the last one remains stuck behind the leader of the race. However, during the 18 laps, Limena does not find the necessary space to take the lead and Tormen is the winner, author of a perfect performance. Behind them, Vannini manages to take his starting position and gets the cup reserved for the third place. Kipras is fourth, followed by Buran, Leopardi and Manduchi.