ROK CUP Superfinal: The largest Romanian contingent ever

The famous South Garda racetrack at Lonato hosts the ROK world final, where among the over 300 karters there are no less than 27 Romanians.

The circuit in Northern Italy, on the shores of Lake Garda, hosts in mid-October (16-19) the elite reunion of the Vortex engine categories. In 25 years, this brand has transformed from an engine tuner into a manufacturer, then created the single-brand competitive environment that has been implemented for five seasons in our country as well. Romania is one of the 10 European countries with an internal ROK series, along with other strong countries such as Italy, Germany, Denmark or Poland.

2019 brought the first participations of Romanians to the prestigious end-of-year meeting, which takes place since 2003. Mihai Muncean was the only one who qualified for the final of a category (Shifter ROK), another 12 competitors taking part in the tough qualifying rounds in the Mini ROK (8) and Junior ROK (4) categories. The following year brought 18 Romanians to the ROK Cup Superfinal, half of whom reached the finals: David Dragan and David Cosma Cristofor (Mini ROK), Mario Pirvulescu, Mark Șipoș, Darius Babaioana and Tudor Tudurachi (Junior ROK), Mihai Muncean, Horia Roca and Alexandru Iancu (Shifter ROK). The best result was obtained by Muncean - 12th place in the final.

In 2021, five rounds of the ROK Cup Romania took place within the Romanian Karting Masters, on the circuits near Bucharest, Prejmer and Târgu Secuiesc, comprising the Micro, Mini, Junior and Senior categories. Later, in the International Karting Masters, we had the Vortex single-brand classes again in two meetings, the third one being scheduled to draw the curtain at the end of October. The numerical and value increase of the categories has been obvious from year to year, and the notoriety of the world final now brings the total to 27 Romanians that will attend the Lonato event - more than ever at WSK or CIK-FIA events.

At the same time, this is the occasion of a valid comparison between the Romanian kart drivers, since some of them had no direct duel on the circuits during the year. There are several reasons: some focused only on international competitions (especially in Italy, the pinnacle of world karting) and could now have the advantage of having tested a lot at Lonato, while others were divided into domestic championships. David Nicolaie, Bogdan Cosma Cristofor, David Cosma Cristofor, Luca Savu and Vlad Savu return to the Mini ROK category after competing in the ROK Cup Superfinal last year. They are joined by the ROK Cup Romania champion in this class, Tudor Jercan, as well as Alexandru Rad, David Ciureanu, Matei Gavril, Patrick Săliștean, Sonia Crivoiruc, Gergoz Buzaș and Victor Nemesniciuc. Therefore, 13 Romanians are engaged in a category that will count over 100 entrants.

The Junior ROK entry list has 85 names: we will be watching David Dragan, Zoe Florescu-Potolea (the two competed last year in Mini ROK in this event), Kevin Vlasceanu (ROK Cup Romania / Junior champion), Luca Viișoreanu, Sabin Stroescu and Tudor Grigorescu. For the first time in the history of the Romanian participations in the ROK Cup Superfinal, we have an entry in the Senior ROK category, this being Andrew Denis Boriceanu, who will fight against 66 other generation colleagues. Mihai Muncean, Horia Roca and Alexandru Iancu (RKM champion in the KZ category this year) return to the ROK Shifter category, while Costin Ion (ROK Cup Romania / Senior champion) and Mario Pîrvulescu take the step from Junior. The sixth Romanian in a field of 22 will be Darius Cotigă.

The Vortex / ROK environment offered a series of facilities to the deserving ones at the end of the Romanian season: Tudor Jercan (Mini), Alexandru Rad (Mini), Kevin Vlăsceanu (Junior), Costin Ion (Shifter) and Alexandru Iancu (Shifter) are now enjoying this competition as a reward for the effort they sustained. Until we talk about the official support of the manufacturers in the auto-moto competitions in our country, normality is already established in the sphere of karting, creating the climate that leads to performance. The Romanian delegation travels to Lonato this weekend, in order to take part in the essential collective tests before the Superfinal. We can only wish them success and wait for the first Top 10s for Romania!