Photo: KSP Reportages

Tatuus’s recent landmark move to become the majority owner of kart brands Birel ART and Kart Republic has led to the three companies becoming divisions of a new motorsport group.

This year it has alco acquired Next Solution Technologies and kart engine manufacturer IAME, and with the previous purchase of composites firm Ycom and long-standing associations with racing car engine supplier Autotecnica and Breda Racing Equipment the ‘Korus Group’ has now been created bringing the eight Italian companies together under one banner.

The Dino Chiesa-led Kart Republic and Birel ART are not only two of the largest chassis manufacturers in kart racing, but their respective factory teams have had spells as being one of the top teams in the world over the course of the last decade.

At this year’s CIK-FIA World Championship for OK karts, 19 of the 36 drivers in the final were on Kart Republic chassis and five drove Birel ART karts. Factory Kart Republic driver Joe Turney was runner-up with IAME power on a kart he helped develop, while all Birel ART chassis used TM Kart-supplied engines.

• Read more: Why karting left with two winners from a race that ended in a painful loss

The two brands compete against each other not only for trophies, but for market space. Each is seeking to have as many customer teams and privateer drivers on their karts internationally as possible, since that is the core part of their businesses. On-track success of course helps to sell karts.

Chiesa and his counterparts at the other firms in Korus are all now minority shareholders within the group, and there will be “a cross-functional management structure, coordinating key strategic areas — from engineering to finance, business development, and communications” according to the statement announcing Korus’s creation.

Tatuus’s chief executive officer and Autotecnica founder Giovanni Delfino will be CEO of Korus. He called it “a historic moment for our companies and for Italian motorsport” to bring major karting and single-seater racing manufacturers together.

“What began in 2017 with Tatuus and ATM reaches today a new stage of growth and recognition thanks to the arrival of companies that not only embody the spirit with which this holding was created, but are also established leaders in both racing and karting,” he said.

“Thanks to major investments in the karting sector, we are now creating the only organisation in the world capable of building a bridge between karting and open and closed-wheel racing — a strong and revolutionary connection, grounded in the solid foundations of our group’s shared projects, engineering excellence, and the talents that drive them every day.”

Tatuus president Gianfranco De Bellis, who has been a board member at Autotecnica and Breda for eight and seven years respectively after his company became more closely connected to them, will assume the presidency of Korus too.

“Motorsport has always been synonymous with projects born through collective effort,” he reflected. “Korus embodies the true essence of motorsport — the ability to deliver complete projects through deep engineering and innovation expertise, combined with the unique capacity to support drivers through every stage of their growth.”

The post Korus created after Tatuus buys kart brands Birel ART and Kart Republic appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Lola Lovinfosse

Since 2012, Formula Scout has annually identified the top talents in karting to look out for in junior single-seaters in the years beyond. In this special female-only edition, we’re naming the best from karts and cars

In the last five years, karting has been the biggest area of growth in motorsport when it comes to female license holders in many nations, and it is this all-important statistic that will ultimately pave the way for the long-awaited return of a woman racing on the Formula 1 grid.

Some of the young karters who started their participation off the back of Venturi Formula E boss Susie Wolff’s Dare 2 Be Different organisation and other prominent initiatives being launched in 2016, are now racing in the top global tournaments and making waves in the motorsport world.

Here are six internationally competing karters, and four on-the-rise car racers, who could make it to F1 in the future.

Key Rotax Max (MAX), Trent Valley Kart Club (TVKC), Russian Circuit Racing Series (RCRS)

Mathilda Olsson SWEDEN 18y/o
5th in 2020 MAX Euro Winter Cup – Senior, 2019 MAX Euro Trophy champion – Senior, 3rd in 2018 MAX Euro Trophy – Senior

Swedish star Mathilda Olsson made it into Formula Scout’s list of the top karting talents last year with an incredibly assured title in the Senior category of the Rotax Max Euro Trophy, a series which she had finished third in the year before.

Rotax Max is a spec-engined rival category to the more prominently known OK, and the level of competition is high in all of the main series. While the Euro Trophy wasn’t the highest calibre of events, it was won by Olsson in a classy style that built on lessons she had learned earlier in 2019, and costs less than the CIK-FIA competitions.

Olsson started her year in the Rotax Euro Open at Genk, where she was on the pace but a dud heat left her ninth on the grid for the first final. She charged through to second in that, then repeated the result in race two.

The Euro Trophy season began proper at Adria, where she was fastest in pre-event testing, free practice and qualifying. The split-session format kept her off pole, but she won her heats anyway then dominated the two points-paying final races.

Kristianstad was much of the same, but against additional adversity. An awful qualifying session on home soil left her way down the order, but she charged to sixth in both of her heats. She then flew past the field to win the first main race. Race two was a defensive job, which worked well until the very final corner of the race and led to a 0.173 second loss.

The Wackersdorf season finale also began with qualifying trouble that went beyond laptimes, but was of little consequence as she was already champion. Again, she almost won in the heats, then took victory and a second place in the two main races.

Olsson has stuck with the Strawberry Racing team she has already shared a significant amount of success with for 2020, and got the year off to a winning start in the winter Rotax competitions before the coronavirus pandemic stopped racing.

Ella Stevens ENGLAND 13y/o
2020 TVKC Winter champion – X30 Mini, 13th in 2019 British IAME Cadet Championship, 2017 BirelART UK champion – Cadet

W Series racer and two-time Formula Renault champion Alice Powell coaches many drivers in karting, and the protege with the most expectation on their shoulders is fellow Briton Ella Stevens.

In 2017 she won Birel ART’s British Cadet championship, doing so with a race to spare despite losing points early in the year as she was caught out in some areas of her racecraft due to her inexperience. That grid had strong female participation within the greater picture of British karting, but also marked a rare occasion where a female driver had won a British title.

Attacking the British Super One Championship and Little Green Man Series in IAME Cadet karts the next year as a privateer was not going to lend itself to top results, but in the latter series still put a title to her name in the privateer class. She was 16th overall in both series, despite missing races, and was the top privateer finisher several times in the more financially competitive Super One series. Unfortunately some strong overall results went amiss due to contact on-track.

Stevens joined Fusion Motorsport for her second attempt at the two series, but her 2019 got off to a bad start in the winter competitions with collisions and engine issues for which she was not to blame. A first win was also lost to a photo finish decided on who had fastest race lap.

Her main campaigns had messy beginnings that were difficult to shake off, but the pace was clearly there to fight near the front and she claimed a British championship pole but no podiums. Given her stellar 2017, the pressure was now on for Stevens heading into winter and her step up to X30 Mini machinery.

From the off, the larger karts suited Stevens better and she won Trent Valley Kart Club’s winter title. With that kind of confidence boost, she very well could have added another national crown to her resume this year (and may still do).

Cecilia Hedqvist SWEDEN 16y/o
7th in 2019 Swedish Championship, 4th in ’19 Swedish Kart League – OK, 19th in ’18 Swedish Junior Championship

Photo: Cecilia Hedqvist

One set of Swedish relations is coaching another in the case of Cecilia Hedqvist and her cousin Oliver, who have benefited from the support of touring car stars Andreas and Jessica Backman.

Hedqvist was set for a big year prior to coronavirus’s pausing of proceedings, and has come a long way since taking her first podium in a kart in 2016. She had the Backmans helping her by then, and results quickly improved after as she came third in the Junior 60 category of the North Sweden Cup the year after after several seasons of limited progress in the series.

For 2018 she moved up to OK and X30 junior karts, and entered major international competitions as well as building her reputation at home. Podiums were hard to come by, but the experience was priceless and she actually made her first race appearance abroad in the very different world of the top level OK karts in Trofeo Andrea Margutti at the start of the year.

Her first OKJ races in the Swedish championship came after, and her pace was immediately evident. The combination of illness, injury and bad luck sapped any momentum though due to missing races, but a return to regional competition did bring Hedqvist’s first ever win and a confidence boost in the rainy conditions she usually struggled in.

That year’s CIK-FIA World Championship was in Sweden, so Hedqvist joined local team Ward Racing for the senior tournament and came 96th overall. The confidence curve continued, and her year ended with a scholarship win that enabled a full-time move to OK karts with Ward for 2019.

She came an impressive seventh in the Swedish national championship – won by Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic – and fourth in the slightly lower profile Swedish Kart League but had a tough time on her world championship return. A second year spent in the category promised much more in 2020.

Maya Weug SPAIN 15/o
Currently 25th in 2020 WSK Super Master Series – OK, 16th in 2018 CIK-FIA World Championship – OKJ

Photo: Birel ART

Back in 2016, Maya Weug beat SMP Racing junior Kirill Smal and Mercedes-Benz F1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli to win the WSK Final Cup for 60 Mini karts. She beat both again in WSK’s Night Edition, and was one of the top drivers in the traditional pre- and post-season tournaments in Italy. In the national championship she was only 15th, but she’d certainly made an impact.

A move up to OKJ beckoned for 2017, and the only Italian highlight was 12th in WSK Final Cup. It was in Britain where she starred the most, qualifying behind only Sauber junior Harry Thompson in the X30 Junior element of the British Kartmasters Grand Prix and was very unlucky to only finish 28th in the final race. Weug’s efforts were recognised with the ‘Spirit of…’ award.

She returned to the PFI International circuit for the world championship, this time in an OKJ kart, and came 36th in a grid packed with current single-seater stars. There was cautious expectation that Weug could be at the very front in her second season at that level, but it didn’t prove to be the case.

The year started with 22nd in the WSK Super Master Series, with the only event where her pace really merited better was the world championship in Sweden. She finished 16th this time, once again in a grid filled to the brim with talent.

Birel ART brought Weug on board as a factory driver and part of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy for her graduation to senior karts last year, and it was another tricky but promising season against the highest calibre opposition. Qualifying struggles left her 23rd in the Super Master Series, and she was 51st and 61st in the European and World championships respectively. Despite those poor results, she was quick to be resigned by Birel ART for 2020.

Weug could have been in French Formula 4 this year had she won last December’s Richard Mille Shootout, and, along with FR1.6 test experience, she is already preparing to be ready to race single-seaters in 2021.

Lola Lovinfosse FRANCE 14/o
15th in 2020 WSK Champions Cup – OK, 39th in ’20 South Garda Winter Cup – OK, 10th in 2019 Trofeo delle Industrie – OK

Photo: Sportinphoto / Manetti Motorsport

FFSA Academy student Lola Lovinfosse has aspired to the levels of success that AlphaTauri F1 driver Pierre Gasly has achieved since she started karting in 2015, and is another driver who’s now making her name with Swedish team Ward Racing.

Lovinfosse was a midfielder in the French Mini and Cadet scene prior to her teens, when she made the move into X30 Junior and Nationale karts. Results immediately improved at home, and she raised eyebrows in appearances abroad. After a single season in those, she moved up to OKJ and then OK karts in 2019. It was a remarkable rise in more ways than one.

Her first ever OKJ appearance was the WSK Champions Cup, where she came 21st as a privateer. Lovinfosse then teamed up with Manetti Motorsport, coming 58th in a part-campaign in the Super Master Series, and then building up momentum with 47th in the Euro Series, eighth in Trofeo Andrea Margutti and cameoing in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

Along with some races in the Swedish Junior Championship, Lovinfosse ended her time in OKJ by joining Ward for the CIK-FIA World Championship in Finland. She was pleased with her own performance, which resulted in 67th in a field of well over 100.

A month later she joined Ward’s OK line-up in the WSK Open Cup, and charged to 20th in the final on her debut. A five-second bumper penalty demoted her to 27th, but her pace was no fluke; she returned to Lonato a week later and came 10th in Trofeo delle Industrie. The next Open Cup round at the 7Laghi circuit was the week after, and 17th place earned her 27th in the points.

As an OK rookie they were seriously impressive results, and 2020 had already got off to a good start. In the wet Champions Cup she finished 15th from 10th on the grid after struggling in qualifying, came 39th in the talent-crammed South Garda Winter Cup and is 43rd out of over 100 in the Super Master Series despite missing one of the two rounds that’s been held.

French F4 is Lovinfosse’s target for 2021, with W Series next on the agenda before emulating Gasly in making it to F1.

Barbora Bauerova SLOVAKIA 14/o
11th in 2019 Motorsport Games Karting, 50th in ’19 FIA Academy Trophy, 7th in 2018 Slovakian Indoor Championship – Junior

Photo: FIA Motorsport Games

A graduate of Slovakia’s indoor karting scene, Barbora Bauerova was thrust into international competition last year by making her way to the final of the FIA’s Girls on Track Karting Challenge in France.

She missed out on joining the six-strong Girls on Track European Team, but the 14-year-old remained abroad to race in several high-profile FIA competitions.

The first of those was the three-round FIA Karting Academy Trophy, in which she finished 50th overall in. The single-make OKJ-level series where drivers represent their home nation was a step up in competition for the teenager, but provided valuable learning material for her 2020 programmes.

Bauerova then teamed up with countryman Michal Vilim to represent Slovakia again in the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games at Vallelunga. The karting slalom event used identical electrically power karts, which can handle very differently to more traditional outdoor machinery, and required each team to run a line-up that included a male and a female.

Slovakia’s duo finished 11th out of the 28 competing countries. They made their way into the knockout stages by going 15th fastest in qualifying, but were firmly beaten by Germany in their first face-off. While the Motorsport Games is off for 2020, Bauerova could be going for gold medal in 2021.

The stars already in cars…

Photo: LAT Images

Jamie Chadwick ENGLAND 22/o
Cars: 2020 W Series, 2019 W Series champion, 2018-19 MRF Challenge champion, 2015 British GT4 champion

The first ever champion of the all-female W Series is now a household racing name, and is aiming for a historic third single-seater title in 2020 by defending her W Series crown. It’s her results outside of the series that are more interesting though.

She’s become an expert at the winter racing series, winning the MRF Challenge title and a race in Asian Formula 3 on merit, and has also made starring appearances in Formula Ford’s end-of-year Walter Hayes Trophy. What Jamie Chadwick is capable of in higher-spec machinery, such as Euroformula’s Dallara 320, will hold the key to whether she makes it to F1, as she’s more than proven she has the pace across a variety of different cars to have a career in racing.

Marta Garcia SPAIN 19/o
Cars: 2020 W Series, 4th in 2019 W Series, 9th in 2017 Spanish F4   Karts: 4th in 2016 CIK-FIA European Championship – OK

Having already gone through the processes of being picked up and dropped by an F1 team, Marta Garcia has done a great job of getting her career going again with the help of W Series. Victory at the Norisring last year was her first in cars, and she’s likely to be one of Chadwick’s main title threats when the season eventually gets underway.

With a strong management team behind her, and some seriously encouraging test showings in other F3 cars already, Garcia should also be able to transfer her W Series form into other series as successfully as Chadwick has.

Irina Sidorkova RUSSIA 16/o
Cars: 2020 W Series, 6th in 2019 F4 SMP, 2018 RCRS National Junior champion, 2nd in 2017 RCRS National Junior

SMP junior Irina Sidorkova had an unconventional route into single-seaters, as have many Russian drivers, having won her first car racing title aged 13 and competed in ice racing and touring cars at a junior level in her home country.

After winning the national title in the latter, SMP was keen to get her into open-wheel cars and put her in its own F4 series for 2019. She claimed several podiums, and scored points in a Spanish F4 campaign, and then made it through the 2020 W Series driver selection process. With a year of single-seater experience under her belt, the Russian could really impress this season.

Juju Noda JAPAN 14/o
Cars: 2020 Danish F4, 14th in 2019 Lucas Oil Winter Race Series, 2017-’19 Formula U17

The daughter of former Formula 1 driver Hideki Noda wants to win in F1 and Formula E, and has already been racing single-seaters for several year. She turned 14 at the start of this year and relocated to Denmark to race in the country’s F4 series.

We know that Noda’s set ominously quick test times in F3 cars in Japan, but the Okayama-based Formula U17 series she’s won races in is a weak indicator of where she’d stand against wider opposition. But to be as comfortable as Noda is in a race car at her age is hugely impressive, and her tests across Europe and US racing debut suggest she could be champion in Denmark.

Photo: Noda Racing

The post 10 female racing stars of the future appeared first on Formula Scout.

The CIK-FIA World and European championships are the main focus of the karting world, and champions are invited to the same prize giving gala as the winners of Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula E. That’s not to say that’s the only location of talent in the karting world though, with the WSK-organised events focused in Italy always providing a hotbed for top drivers, and several national championships are rivalling the continental series for talent, if not drama.

Lorenzo Travisanutto ITALY 20y/o
CIK-FIA World & European champion – OK, WSK Euro Series champion – OK, South Garda Winter Cup winner – OK

Photo: KSP Reportages

It may have been the fourth season in the OK class for Travisanutto, but he followed his Nico Rosberg-backed domination of 2018 with an even more convincing monopoly of trophies this year with the support of crack sportscar team HTP Motorsport.

Leaving Rosberg also meant departing the factory Kart Republic setup, although Travisanutto teamed up with CV Performance Group to continue racing its karts for 2019.

Travisanutto packed in practically every race in the category he could, starting with WSK’s Super Master Series. He won the first final at Adria from seventh on the grid, and was pipped to a second success by Dexter Patterson at Lonato, who was taking revenge after Travisanutto beat him in the South Garda Winter Cup. Sixth place finishes in the remaining two Super Master Series finals, after less than spectacular heat results, dropped him to third in the standings.

He matched that result in the lengthier German championship, losing the title there by prioritising the clashing CIK-FIA European season finale, where added a second continental crown to the WSK Euro Series one he secured the month before.

His biggest success was the CIK-FIA World Championship, won for the second time in a row. It was the ninth time karting’s biggest trophy has had a multiple-time winner, but it didn’t come easy. Juho Valtanen started from pole, and sprinted away in the first half of the final. Travisanutto tracked him down and muscled his way past, but was under pressure until the final few laps.

The end of the year brought another change of team for Travisanutto as he linked up with the famous Tony Kart brand, rounding out a podium lock-out with Pedro Hiltbrand and Joe Turney at the WSK Final Cup.

Marijn Kremers NETHERLANDS 21y/o
CIK-FIA World champion – KZ, 2nd in USA SuperNationals – KZ, 3rd in WSK Euro Series – KZ2

Photo: KSP Reportages

A successful but under the radar career in shifter karts blew up for Kremers in 2019, and ended with a graduation to British Formula 4 with Carlin in the Feed shootout organised by 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

The bedrock of his success was continuing a long relationship with Birel ART, which had a management restructuring pre-season and ran Kremer in junior categories as well as his three seasons in the top-level KZ karts. He warmed up for the big competitions by returning to KZ2s in the South Garda Winter Cup and WSK Super Master Series, both which he finished fourth in, and the WSK Euro Series, where he was third.

While he only managed eighth in the CIK-FIA European championship, he was in a grid packed with drivers who were either far older or even more experienced than he was, as shifter karts often attract ‘career’ karters. Birel team-mate Alex Irlando, who finished sixth, was the only other driver of similar experience fighting in the top 10 as frequently as Kremers was.

The single-event world championship was where Kremers moved into the spotlight. He was rapid in qualifying at Lonato, then took a second place and two wins in his heats. This put him on pole for the final, and he fended off an early challenge from Adrien Renaudin to comfortably lead the first quarter of 25-lap race.

Renaudin then got through, and opted for a defensive approach to keeping the lead. Kremers reclaimed the place with a late dive at the chicane, then used a gear change to cut across Renaudin to prevent him from coming back at him. Thereon he was untroubled, taking Birel’s first shifter world title since 2000 and a rare global triumph for a driver early in his career.

Thomas ten Brinke NETHERLANDS 14y/o
CIK-FIA World champion – OKJ, 2nd in WSK Euro Series – OKJ, 3rd in CIK-FIA European championship – OKJ

Photo: Gregory Lenormand / DPPI

In a feature on top karting team Ricky Flynn Motorsport earlier this year, Formula Scout pointed out ten Brinke as the star of the team’s potent six-strong line-up in the OK Junior class. The Dutch teenager, whose father Bernhard is one of Fernando Alonso’s Dakar Rally team-mates, won last year’s German Junior title and followed it with heat wins and third overall in the WSK Champions Cup.

Otherwise, his 2019 didn’t start in style. He was fifth fastest qualifier for the South Garda Winter Cup, and took three heat podiums to earn semi-final pole. Victory put him on the final front row, but an on-track dispute led to a spin and his kart being mounted.

Runner-up spot in the WSK Super Master Series standings was lost to an incident that prevented him making the final of the final round, but he was a convincing second place in the WSK Euro Series – nobody was going to beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

On the biggest stage of all, the CIK-FIA World Championship at Alaharma, it was ten Brinke who was the class of the field. He was put in the same qualifying group as Antonelli and beat him, then won five of his six heats. Second place in his fifth heat behind Nikita Bedrin was the lowest he ever placed, as he dominated the final from pole.

The events at Alahrama followed a dismal end to his CIK-FIA European campaign. Despite retiring from one of his heats, he was in second after round one of four, and moved into the lead in round two with some podium finishes. Qualifying wasn’t kind to ten Brinke, and charging performances in the penultimate round wasn’t enough to keep the lead. He pulled the short straw again in the Le Mans title decider, going ninth fastest and 63rd overall in qualifying. The top driver from his session was 39th.

From 21st on the grid, he breached the top 10 once with a podium, but was eighth in his final heat before overtaking under yellow flags got him penalised. It was his second offence, meaning he missed the final and ensured he wouldn’t win the title.

Emilien Denner FRANCE 17y/o
FIA Int. Super Cup winner – KZ2, Trofeo Andrea Margutti winner – KZ2, 2nd in CIK-FIA European Championship – KZ2

Photo: KSP Reportages

There is feverish expectation over what 17-year-old Denner could do on his car racing debut in the Toyota Racing Series next January, after just three seasons of competitive karting.

His 2017 ended with 13th in the WSK Final Cup’s KZ2 classification. One year later he was runner-up, after taking third in the CIK-FIA European Championship, where he was disqualified from the first round final but dominated the second.

It was clear something big was on the horizon going into 2019 as he remained in the category, although the winter events didn’t suggest too much, as the CPB Sport driver finished 11th in the South Garda Winter Cup and 12th in WSK Super Master Series.

Eight place in the WSK Euro Series against very experienced opposition was encouraging, and started a strong run of form. Denner was the benchmark man in April’s Trofeo Andrea Margutti, and took four podiums and an impressive fourth in the standings in the 10-race German shifter championship on a Sodi kart rarely used by top teams.

The quality of opposition was a little lower for the FIA International Super Cup, but that just gave Denner the excuse to wipe the floor. He topped the 120-strong qualifying classification, swept all six of his heats and dominated the final.

A CIK-FIA European title would’ve also been his were it not for one incident. In the final at Wackersdorf, a forceful move on Senna van Walstijn led to Denner receiving a 10-second penalty and meant his front fairing was out of place. Another penalty was due, and while he did win the final at Sarno, the points lost at Wackersdorf was the exact amount needed for the title.

Denner joined the KZ runners for the USA’s end-of-year SuperNationals, and finished fourth in the final with fastest lap.

Kajus Siksnelis LITHUANIA 14y/o
FIA Karting Academy Trophy winner, 3rd in CIK-FIA World Championship – OKJ, 10th in CIK-FIA European Championship – OKJ

Photo: KSP Reportages

FIA Formula Two race-winner Kazim Vasiliauskas stands out as Lithuania’s greatest F1 prospect so far, but the young Siksnelis may be changing that statement in the future as he makes quick progress up the karting ladder.

The reigning Lithuanian national champion was supported through 2019 by Simas Juodvirsis, the winner of the 2012 CIK-FIA European Championship in KZ2 karts. Siksnelis was racing primarily in the OK Junior category for Swedish team Ward Racing, and it took a while for his confidence to build on the international stage.

Siksnelis made it to 10th in the final of the first European round at Angerville, proof of his learning curve as his best heat result was sixth. At Genk he had a lowkey final from a low starting spot; a heat one retirement neutralising a win and last-lap defeat in two other heats. Third in the Kristianstad final came before a disastrous Le Mans finale, where he was 14th in his best heat.

The total failure in France proved a blessing for Siksnelis, who had the CIK-FIA World Championship and FIA Karting Academy Trophy finale up next. Big results were up for grabs in both, and there was Lithuanian interest because of it.

He was sixth fastest in his world championship qualifying session, which was where he finished his heats when the track was dry. Wet weather at Alaharma threw a curveball in that Siksnelis struggled with, and he started 16th for the final. Within a lap he’d made it to 10th, and picked off drivers lap-by-lap to reach fourth. Keeping a cool head earned him third on the final tour.

That confidence boost helped Siksnelis win the Academy Trophy. Penalties and changing weather at Wackersdorf put him on the back foot, but he upped his game at Sarno, and second place in the Lonato finale took him from fifth to first in the standings. He ended the year with 14th in the FIA Motorsport Games Karting Slalom, and will move up to OK karts in 2020.

Christian Ho SINGAPORE 13y/o
2nd in FIA Karting Academy Trophy, 2nd in German Junior championship, 11th in CIK-FIA World Championship – OKJ

Ho was one of the youngest in OK Junior karts this year, and he got a great 13th birthday present in October by becoming a Sauber junior. He’d already set some age-related records in the year, as well as setting landmark results for Asian karters.

At the end of 2018, Ho made his OKJ debut and found it physically tough, but his pace was clear to see and he was snapped up by RFM for the end of the season – immediately being thrown into the deep end in cold and wet conditions (which Ho admits to always struggling in) and having to borrow some of Zane Maloney’s old kit.

The results were promising, but it did look like the physicality of the more powerful karts was counting against Ho as 2019 began. When he returned to the wet for WSK Super Masters Series he looked far more comfortable, performing well in his heat but repeated mistakes or lack of pace in qualifying meant he was never able to feature at the front if he made it to the finals.

When qualifying did improve, Ho was nervous from starting at the front, and there were many mistakes early on. More track experience – and warmer temperatures – helped Ho, and he came into his own in the German Junior championship. He was on the podium in every final race, three of which he won, and was second in the points despite missing a fifth of the season.

The pressure was low there, but when high it seemed to get to Ho in the CIK-FIA European Championship. In the FIA Academy Trophy it didn’t, and after a topsy-turvy first weekend he went on a winning run to become runner-up. His world championship weekend also had errors, but Ho was one of the fastest in changing conditions and 11th place was a good result.

Ho joined Sauber days before the WSK Open Cup but instantly gelled with his new team, setting pole and racing to fifth in the final. Tyre struggles meant he didn’t match that result in round two, but gathered more valuable experience ahead of 2020.

Mathilda Olsson SWEDEN 18y/o
Rotax Max Euro Trophy champion – Senior, 9th in Rotax Max International Trophy – Senior, 13th in IAME Euro Series – X30 Senior

Few international karting events are won as convincingly as Mathilda Olsson’s Rotax Euro Trophy crown this year, in the spec-engined rival category to OK, and while it wasn’t a result she repeated in higher calibre events, it was undeniably impressive.

Olsson finished third in the 2018 Euro Trophy for Strawberry Racing, and knew where she needed to improve to be champion. She began her season in the Rotax Euro Open at Genk, where she was consistently on the pace but heat results of third and 12th left her ninth on the grid for the first final. She charged through to second in that, then repeated the result in race two.

The season began proper at Adria, where she was fastest in pre-event testing, free practice and qualifying. The split-session format meant she didn’t start from pole, but she won her heats anyway then dominated the two points-paying final races.

Kristianstad was much of the same, but against some additional adversity. A shocker of a qualifying session on home soil left her 21st fastest, but she charged through to sixth in both of her heats. That made her job in the finals a little easier, and she flew past the field to win the first race. The second was a challenge from the front, as she had Axel Saarniala literally rubbing her wheels throughout. At the very final corner he found a way through, denying Olsson a perfect score by 0.173 seconds.

The Wackersdorf season finale also began with qualifying trouble; she set half the number of laps as her rivals and qualified 14th. Admittedly she was only one second off pole and had already won the title, but it was a frustration all the same. Olsson was up to second two-thirds into heat one and missed out on victory by 0.117s, ending up sixth on the grid for the final.

Rhys Hunter pushed the limits of defending to try to deny Olsson victory but failed. It was the reverse in race two, with Olsson’s defensive work falling just short. Title success brought her a Rotax Grand Finals ticket, in which she classified 22nd.

Dexter Patterson BRITAIN 16y/o
WSK Super Master Series winner – OK, 3rd in CIK-FIA European Championship – OK, 6th in CIK-FIA World Championship – OK

Photo: KSP Reportages

The last Scot to race for Sauber was a descendant of Robert the Bruce, and Patterson has been using the same fighting spirit to star on karting’s world stage in his second year at the OK level, even if his results haven’t told the full story.

On paper, Patterson’s season peaked at its beginning with the WSK Super Masters Series title. He was comfortably best in the wet at Adria, outwitted Travisanutto to win at Lonato, shook off an awful first lap to finish second at La Conca, and won everything at Sarno.

His rivalry with Travisanutto went in the latter’s favour in the South Garda Winter Cup and the WSK Euro Series, which was generally a messy time on-track for Patterson (especially in heat races) but still resulted in third in the standings.

It was the CIK-FIA competitions that Sauber wanted Patterson to focus on, and when the time came he did just that. He was unlucky not be on pole for the first European round at Angerville, but still led every single lap of four of his five heats and was unchallenged in the final. The heat where he fumbled just happened to be the one where he was up against Travisanutto. Sauber – and the Kart Republic team it emblazons – praised Patterson’s performance on the demanding French circuit.

Travisanutto thrashed everyone at Genk, and a new-tyre run by Patterson netted him a distant second place. Two brilliant heat wins were compounded by the type of clashes that yardstick driver Travisanutto was avoiding, and while he left Kristianstad in the lead thanks to fourth in the final, it was a case of ‘what if’ having fallen from pole to seventh on lap after bumping his rival.

By the time of the Le Mans finale he had conceded his lead, and then the title after a failed move on Kobe Pauwels put him out on the spot. The world championship six weeks later didn’t serve justice, as Patterson struggled in qualifying then opted for caution as he rose through to finish sixth. There were few trophies, but Patterson raced hard against the very best.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli ITALY 13y/o
WSK Super Master Series, Euro Series, Italian, Final Cup & Open Cup winner – OKJ, 2nd in USA SuperNationals – KA100 Jr

Photo: KSP Reportages

Mercedes F1 and Rosberg protege Antonelli sometimes looked unstoppable in the OK Junior arena this year, and kicked off 2019 with three major trophies in a row: the South Garda Winter Cup, and WSK’s Super Master Series and Euro Series.

To warm up for those events he entered the WSK Champions Cup, where he was favourite to win but got shuffled to fourth.

The WSK Super Master Series title came despite failing to make the final in the Sarno title decider when he clashed dramatically with rival Thomas ten Brinke, and an underwhelming start to the Euro Series somehow ended up in him also winning the Italian title.

This was all, for reminder, completed as a rookie to the class as 13-year-old Antonelli was a star of Mini karts last year.

Most drivers concentrate on the big CIK-FIA titles, and this was where Antonelli’s more experienced rivals made their mark over the diminutive Italian. Marcus Amand was the surprise driver who beat Antonelli to the European title, with the latter’s early no-scores counting against him despite a late podium run.

The world championship was arguably a stronger performance from Antonelli, despite finishing several places lower in fifth, as he put together a more complete weekend under higher pressure. He won three of his heats after qualifying fifth out of 100 cars, just 0.165s off what would have been a headline-grabbing pole position, and raced confidently throughout.

He ended his year with more WSK competitions, winning the Final and Open Cup, and was pipped at the finish line to success in America in the USA SuperNationals’ KA100 Junior category.

Gabriele Mini ITALY 14y/o
2nd in CIK-FIA European Championship – OK, 2nd in WSK Champions Cup – OK, 4th in WSK Euro Series – OK

Photo: KSP Reportages

Nicolas Todt’s latest protege didn’t have the headline results he enjoyed in 2018, but it was still a stellar rookie season.

Mini stepped up to OK karts with the Parolin Racing Kart team, and immediately made an impact by finishing second in the WSK Champions Cup. At first it wasn’t clear what that impact was, as Mini was slowest of all in qualifying.

He turned that into eighth place in his first ever race, and followed that up with a fourth. The inexperience was still clear to see, with Mini ending the first lap of the next race 19 places down and having to recover his way up to 15th. His progress in the pre-final took him to fifth, and he beat some big names to take second in the Cup itself.

The first wins came in the heats of the South Garda Winter Cup, and Mini’s name was already being considered for title contention in the competitions he entered afterwards. He was behind four highly-rated returning drivers in WSK Super Master Series, roughly the maximum he would have been expected to achieve. In WSK’s Euro Series he went one better, but yielded a slow start before dominating the Adria season finale, something rookies rarely manage.

Momentum was starting to build as Mini got more comfortable with OK karts, consistently being among the small group of names winning races. He wasn’t quite a title threat in the CIK-FIA European Championship, mostly because he didn’t collect points from the heats, but was still second in the standings thanks to coming strong in the finals.

He was bang on the pace in the important part of the competition in the world championship too, and he really could have been a victory contender if he managed to bed himself into weekends quicker and ensure better starting spots.

With his 15th birthday looming next March, Mini has already topped a Formula 4 test with Prema and has been assessed by the Ferrari Driver Academy.

10 more to watch…

Harry Thompson was being groomed by Red Bull for a junior single-seater future until last month, when the Briton unexpectedly left the F1 team’s ranks to join up with Kart Republic for a season in KZ karts next year. The 15-year-old was third in this year’s OK world championship with RFM, and won the German title for the second year in a row.

Another with significant patronage is Kirill Smal, who is SMP Racing’s latest wonderkid. He finished just behind Thompson in the world championship this year as an OK rookie, a highlight of an otherwise under-the-radar season with Ward.

The driver who sat between them and the dominant Travisanutto on the biggest stage was Nico Rosberg’s protege Taylor Barnard. His results were more consistently impressive, winning the WSK Champions and Open Cups, finishing second in the Super Master Series and fourth in the CIK-FIA European Championship. He also starred on X30 Senior karts in his free time.

Swede Dino Beganovic was another making swift progress in OK karts. He won his national title and was sixth in CIK-FIA European in his rookie season, as well as finishing runner-up in the equivalent WSK-organised series. His Travisanutto-rivalling pace in the latter won him the Italian title and, like Mini, he’s been testing F4 cars with Prema and the Ferrari Driver Academy.

British teenager Guy Cunnington stepped up to Rotax Max Senior karts this year, the cheaper equivalent of OK, and starred at home and abroad. He won his home title, and came from ninth on the grid to briefly win the prestigious Grand Final at Sarno by 0.003s in one of the most dramatic finishes to a karting event in history.

Cunnington had overtaken Saarniala for the lead on the final lap, but the Finn came back at him at the last corner, deliberately going wide to carry more speed. The pair crossed the finish line side-by-side, with the timing beam declaring Cunnington winner. There was no photographic evidence to tally up with the timing though, and so the result was decided on the drivers’ fastest laps instead. The win was handed to Saarniala.

Emil Skaras applied his KZ2 experience better than ever this year, winning the CIK-FIA European title, coming home as runner-up in the Swedish championship, and finishing behind Denner and Campos Racing recruit David Vidales in the International Super Cup. He also cameoed in F4 South East Asia, where he took a pole and a win.

French-Finnish driver Marcus Amand – another with an esteemed F1 manager in Didier Coton – beat Antonelli to the CIK-FIA European title in OKJ kart. He was inconsistent elsewhere and sixth place in WSK Super Masters Series was his next best result.

A heavy schedule led to success for Emirati Jamie Day, who won the French Cup title against a full international field and was a frontrunner in every continental competition in Europe. He was sixth in both of the key CIK-FIA contests, and his partnership with Lennox Racing Team has led to a tie-up with Charles Leclerc’s new karting brand for 2020.

Day’s countryman Rashid Al Dhaheri, 11, was the star of Mini karts this year against the likes of Mercedes-backed Jamaican Alex Powell, convincingly winning the WSK Super Master Series and Euro Series titles for Parolin, and the Macau International Kart Grand Prix.

Similarly consistent in fighting with the best in OKJ contests was another SMP junior, Nikita Bedrin. The Tony Kart driver’s second season included second place in the WSK Final Cup, third in the WSK Euro Series and fifth in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

The post The top karting stars of 2019 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Formula 1 driver manager Nicolas Todt and sponsor Richard Mille will run a shootout for kart drivers at the end of this year to select a driver to contest French Formula 4 in 2019.

The Richard Mille Young Talent Academy will take place over two days at Paul Ricard for around 20 drivers, who will be evaluated on their physical and mental abilities as well as their driving skills in FIA F4 machinery.

The participants will be selected from those competing around the world in Birel ART karts, or those from sister brands Ricciardo Kart and Kubica.

?Firstly, I want to thank Richard Mille for his support,” said Todt, who manages Charles Leclerc and Felipe Massa through his company All Road, and is the co-owner of Birel ART.

“We will have an original and specially adapted formula to reinforce our mission of detection of drivers with strong potential.

“This is fully in line with our overall strategy and it makes perfect sense for us to be an active partner.”

Eponymous watch brand founder Richard Mille, the main sponsor of Leclerc’s junior single-seater career, commented:??I am a true sports enthusiast. In particular, there is a strong synergy between the watches we manufacture and motor racing. I am delighted that our company has the opportunity to play an active role in the emergence of young talent alongside Birel ART.?

Ronni Sala, President of Birel ART, added: ?We are very pleased to be able to share our partnership with Richard Mille and our proximity to All Road Management with our drivers.

“It seemed to us to be essential to offer to our drivers a real bridge between karting and cars. We now have the opportunity to do this in a unique way through our entire network within the Birel ART group.

“It was important for us to open this operation to all Birel ART drivers, without question of budget. Although the idea is very simple, it is also revolutionary in its implementation. Everything will be done to open the doors of car racing to the best hopefuls.”

The creation of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy follows the first running of the revived Volant Winfield last month, where Todt’s latest protege Caio Collet won a shootout at Paul Ricard for a supported season in French F4.

The post Nicolas Todt and Richard Mille create shootout for French F4 drive appeared first on Formula Scout.