While the European Championship is taking a break for six weeks after having performed in Belgium and France in May, James Wharton was delighted to return to the atmosphere of Italian karting and the highly competitive WSK Euro Series from 10th to 13th June. The sun and the heat beat down on the protagonists of the competition throughout. The meeting started with a Qualifying session, which allowed James Wharton to make further progress compared to the morning warm-up. Ranked 16th out of 32, the young Australian knew that he would have to make the most of the Qualifying Heats to move up in the hierarchy.

Positive results

From the first heat, James Wharton went into conquering mode and jumped six places to 11th position. His lap times were even better in the second heat and this time the Australian made it into the top 10, as his further improvement propelled him into 8th position. Despite a scramble at the start of the third heat which cost him a few places, James was 10th overall in the three heats.

The Prefinal proved to be very competitive, with drivers who had not all chosen the same strategy for managing their tyre quota. Despite an excellent start and a great fight at the wheel of his Parolin-TM Racing kart, the Ferrari Driver Academy driver crossed the finish line in 11th position. In the Final, the Australian driver was still on the pace of the fastest, especially at the beginning of the race. After constant battles in the middle of the pack, he finally scored points in 12th position.

"It was another very instructive race," commented the All Road Management driver. "We started the race with room for improvement in the equipment, but we worked hard with the Parolin Motorsport team to achieve a much better level of performance. The grip of the track increased as the days went by and we were fast in these conditions. This is positive in view of the second part of the European Championship, which is likely to take place in hot conditions in July, in Italy and then in Spain."

About James Wharton

James Wharton is a 15-year-old Australian kart driver, currently competing in his first international season in the KZ2 class alongside the OK class, a dual programme with the official Parolin Motorsport team.

James started racing karting in Australia at the age of seven. He then shone in the most important single-brand world challenges before making his debut in FIA Karting competition. 13th in the World Junior Championship in his first season in 2018, he also won the KA 100 Junior class in Las Vegas at the SKUSA SuperNationals.

In 2019, in his first full season in OK-Junior, he achieved top results: 9th in the European Championship, 4th in the Italian Championship and 2nd in the legendary Winter Cup in Lonato. He was again victorious at the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas in the X30-Junior category.

An official driver for the Parolin Motorsport Srl team, James is involved in the development and tuning of the equipment thanks to a very good rapport with Albino and Marco Parolin. Despite a 2020 disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, he has rapidly progressed in the category hierarchy and is aiming for a season rich in results.

Thanks to his competitiveness and fighting qualities, James Wharton was selected to join the prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy. Managed by All Road Management, Nicolas Todt's company, James Wharton will continue his career in karting in 2021, before taking the plunge into single-seater racing in the near future.