SWS E-SPRINT INTERNATIONAL FINAL 2023: A successful first final!
10/05/2023

It was in Sweden that the 64 best electric SWS drivers met to compete in the very first international e-Sprint Cup final. Scheduled over 2 days and on 2 different circuits, the drivers were able to discover the two tracks of GokartCentralen, the first one located in Kungälv & the second one in downtown Gothenburg.

Day 1 - Kungälv: Filipe Vieira (Karting Vuiteboeuf) dominates.

The first day of the event took place on the indoor/outdoor circuit of Kungälv. From the first qualifying session, the rhythm was set with Filipe Vieira at the top of the time sheet. It was not until the last session that Victor Sparholt (Gokartcentralen Kungälv) finally took pole position on his last timed lap.

Divided into 8 groups of different levels, the heats took place throughout the day. During each race, a mandatory joker lap allowed the drivers to manage their strategy. Filipe Vieira won 3 out of 3 heats. Erkin Bour (Gokartcentralen Kungälv), the regional driver of the race was second ahead of Victor Sparholt. The Swedish Emrik Törnqvist (Gokartcentralen Kungälv) was 4th ahead of Yann Flambard (Ardennes Karting), first Frenchman. Wiktor Wota (KARTCENTER) made a good comeback in 7th position after being 17th after heat 1. 

Starting from pole position, Filipe Vieira's domination continued with a victory in the final under the applause of the spectators. Victor Sparholt took the advantage over Erkin Bour and closed this first final in 2nd position. Emrik Törnqvist, who had more difficulties at the end of the day, dropped back and let Yann Flambard 4th, Simon Suchovsky 5th & Wiktor Wota 6th pass him. 

Intermediate ranking after day 1:

1.        Filipe Vieira (Karting Vuiteboeuf) : 153 points
2.        Victor Sparholt (Gokartcentralen Kungälv): 143 points
3.        Erkin Bour (Gokartcentralen Kungälv) : 134 points
4.        Yann Flambard (Ardennes Karting) : 126 points
5.        Simon Suchovsky (Slovakia karting club): 122 points

Day 2 - Göteborg: Baptiste Vanderbeke (Karting Eupen) wins, Erkin Bour champion.

A change of atmosphere and a redistribution of the cards for this second day where the drivers will discover the 100% indoor circuit of Gothenburg at the wheel of the RSX2, the latest in the Sodikart electric range.

Filipe Vieira, who dominated the previous day, found himself in more difficulty on this second Swedish track. It was Emrik Törnqvist who created the surprise by taking pole position in a qualifying session where the gaps between all the drivers remained tiny. It is worth noting that new contenders for victory appeared in these qualifications, notably the Belgian Baptiste Vanderbeke, Tomas Konsa (Gokartcentralen Kungälv) and Adam Bursik (E-MOTION Park).

Same format as the first day for the heats, these were even more disputed than the day before with 3 different winners. First of all, Erkin Bour won heat 1. The second heat was won by Victor Sparholt in front of Filipe Vieira who seems to have recovered his feeling. After a 3rd and a 4th place in the first two heats, Baptiste Vanderbeke won the last one and managed to take the first place in the heats ranking and will therefore start in first position for the final. At the end of these heats, new names appeared as potential contenders for victory: Dorian Hanquez (Karting de Chartres) 8th, Enzo Gaignage (Wavre Indoor karting) 9th or Axel Mattson (Gokartcentralen Kungälv) 10th. 

After a tense final, Baptiste Vanderbeke finally won the race and moved up from 11th to 4th place in the final ranking. Third the day before, Erkin Bour finishes in second position, taking the advantage on Victor Sparholt, 3rd. Filipe Vieira was penalized at the end of his joker lap and finished in 6th position, seeing his chances of the title disappear for a few points.

The two days' points allocation resulted in a perfect tie (275 pts) between the two most regular drivers of the event, but in the end it was Erkin Bour who became the first international SWS e-Sprint Cup champion and at the same time won a test on board a Rotax E20. Victor Sparholt (275 pts) & Filipe Vieira (273 pts) completed the podium and each won an itakashop.com prize. Thanks to his great performance in Gothenburg, Baptiste Vanderbeke (261 pts) finishes at the bottom of the podium just ahead of Wiktor Wota (240 pts) who was in great shape during this second day.

General ranking :

1.         Erkin Bour (Gokartcentralen Kungälv): 275 points
2.         Victor Sparholt (Gokartcentralen Kungälv): 275 points
3.         Filipe Vieira (Karting Vuiteboeuf) : 273 points
4.         Baptiste Vanderbeke (Karting Eupen) : 261 points
5.         Wiktor Wota (KARTCENTER) : 240 points

Full ranking available here : RANKING e-SPRINT CUP INTERNATIONAL FINAL 2023.

Sodi W Series would like to congratulate all the drivers and would like to thank GoKartCentralen for their support and professionalism in the organisation of this event.

See you next year !

Photo : Alvaro Negrillo