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: Hellofoto

The Champions of the Future season concluded at PF International with local knowledge coming to the fore.

On the senior OK class karts, Joe Turney was triumphant. He topped free practice, then beat the track record in qualifying but was not fastest as Noah Monteiro bettered him by 0.029s.

Rain made for tricky heats, with Turney and Freddie Lloyd winning five each. Turney twice won by more than 10s.

Salim Hanna Hernandez and Scott Lindblom each claimed two heats, and McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck won one on his senior karting debut.

Lloyd dominated the wet first superheat by 10.154s, and Fionn McLaughlin pipped Turney by 0.167s in the second.

Poleman Lloyd, Gus Lawrence (of the local PFI Karting team) and Matthew Higgins pre-empted the start signal for the final’s formation lap. On the actual start Lloyd nailed it to lead Turney and Lawrence, who traded places on laps four and six.

On lap eight, Lloyd pulled 0.983s clear as Turney made a mistake and Hanna dived past Lawrence. Turney rapidly closed back in, and on lap 15 took the lead at the second hairpin and never looked back.

Lawrence had regained third, but Hanna got back past. McLaughlin finished fifth, despite a clash with fellow Red Bull junior Scott Lindblom that put him out. Van Langendonck was sixth, and Higgins lost seventh to a penalty for an agressive move.

Pre-event points leader Thibaut Ramaekers was disqualified for a technical nonconformity, which helped Turney – who moved ahead of him before the final – take the title.

Van Langendonck impressively claimed the OK Junior crown despite not racing.

Noah Baglin led Ilie Tristan Crisan, title outsider Christian Costoya and James Anagnostiadis in qualifying. Filippo Sala and Anagnostiadis won three heats each, with the latter’s results his first points of 2024. Anagnostiadis became a Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior in July, but 28th in the CIK-FIA European championship has been the highlight of a lacklustre 2024.

Costoya kept his title hopes going with two heat wins, and Rocco Coronel doubled up too.

Anagnostiadis was dominant in the wet to win superheat one, and fellow Mercedes-AMG junior and Prema team-mate Kenzo Craigie won superheat two. Niklas Schaufler finished 10th to be Van Langendonck’s main title rival entering the final.

Costoya was eliminated on lap one in a clash, and on lap two Craigie, Sala and Scott Marsh passed Anagnostiadis. Marsh took the lead in a three-wide hairpin move on lap three, and Anagnostiadis overtook Sala on lap four.

Schaufler drove into Arjen Kraling’s rear then had Harrison Mackie drive over the back of him on lap five, but did not lose 12th.

A double switchback move earned Craigie the lead on lap six, as a rapid Coronel leapt to third and Sala dropped to fourth after attempting to snatch first. Coronel then took second, which became first after Craigie ran wide on lap seven and sank to fourth.

Sala passed him too on lap 10, and Marsh reclaimed the lead on lap 13. It became a four-way fight again and he clashed on the back straight with Coronel (who had a penalty for an earlier clash with Craigie).

Sala took second from Coronel on lap 14 and chased the leader, but did not need to since he bunched up the field. Once again Sala’s attempt to take first left him fourth, and it was similar for Coronel and Craigie as Marsh put in a defensive masterclass to stay ahead of a lead group of 10.

Craigie was runner-up after Coronel’s penalty dropped him to seventh, just ahead of Anagnostiadis. Sala was third, and Schaufler finished 17th.

Results round-up
OK final (22 laps)
1 Joe Turney Kart Republic [Kart Republic] 20m14.010s
2 Freddie Lloyd Fusion Motorsport [Kart Republic] +1.100s
3 Salim Hanna Hernandez Prema [Kart Republic] +4.430s
4 Gus Lawrence PFI Karting [Tony Kart] +5.160s
5 Fionn McLaughlin VDK Racing [Kart Republic] +10.056s
6 Dries Van Langendonck Forza Racing [Exprit] +12.986s
7 David Cosma Cristofor Kart Republic [Kart Republic] +14.090s
8 Joseph Smith Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +14.138s
9 Jimmy Helias Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +15.312s
10 Olin Galli CRG [CRG] +15.640s
Fastest lap: Smith 54.634s

OK Junior final (19 laps)
1 Scott Marsh Tony Kart [Tony Kart] 18m20.982s
2 Kenzo Craigie Prema [Kart Republic] +0.381s
3 Filippo Sala Ricky Flynn Motorsport [Lando Norris] +1.016s
4 Jarrett Clark Forza Racing [Exprit] +2.733s
5 Kit Belofsky Fusion Motorsport [Kart Republic] +3.215s
6 Arjen Kraling Kart Republic [Kart Republic] +4.615s
7 Rocco Coronel Victory Lane [Kart Republic] +5.236s
8 James Anagnostiadis Prema [Kart Republic] +5.418s
9 Devin Walz Forza Racing [Exprit] +5.793s
10 Joel Pohjola Tony Kart [Tony Kart] +7.042s
FL: Roman Kamyab, 56.427s

The post Marsh’s defensive masterclass denies Mercedes juniors in CotF finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP Reportages

AKM Motorsport has announced it will race in karting as a Kart Republic customer team, and with Formula 1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking a role in the project.

Founded in 2020, AKM is a co-creation between the Antonelli Motorsport team run by Antonelli’s father Marco and the Kart Republic karting brand headed by Dino Chiesa.

AKM primarily competes in the Italian Formula 4 championship, but has also raced in F4 United Arab Emirates, while Antonelli Motorsport was active in F4 preceding AKM’s creation and still competes in sportscar racing.

The expansion into karting will focus “on programmes in various categories ranging from Mini to KZ [shifter karts], both in the Italian championship and WSK [-run events]”, the team announced.

Thomas Mardaga will be technical director of AKM’s karting team, and its first entries will be into OK Junior, Mini and the new OK-N kart category in the Italian Karting Championship.

When not busy with his own racing commitments in the Formula Regional European Championship or duties as part of his role as a Mercedes-AMG F1 junior, “Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also take the role of coach and will be involved in testing the OK-N and OK-J chassis”.

Antonelli has a history with Kart Republic, having spent several seasons as one of its factory drivers and winning the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship in 2020 and ’21 while in its ranks.

“I’m very excited to embark on this new adventure with my father,” he said. “I’ll try to give my help by providing coaching. As always, we’ll try to do our best. I am looking forward to getting started.”

His father added: “I have always desired to do something in karting. But until now I didn’t have the right opportunity and a point of reference which we have found in Thomas. I was convinced to do that by Kimi and Dino is a guarantee for us. With him, Andrea Kimi himself achieved his most significant successes of his karting career.”

The post AKM Motorsport to launch new kart team with help of F1 junior Antonelli appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: FIA Karting / KSP Reportages

The European Karting Championship concluded in unexpected style for both the OK and OK-Junior drivers last weekend. Both had shocking ends, and the senior contest had its title decided by ‘team’ orders 

Alpine Academy affiliate Kean Nakamura Berta was crowned CIK-FIA European Karting champion for OK karts on Sunday as he finished second to Kart Republic team-mate Alex Powell in the final round of the season at Franciacorta in Italy.

However it was Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Powell who had been set for the title until lap 22 of 24 of the event final. At that point in the race Nakamura Berta was in third behind VDK Racing’s Evan Giltaire, but the latter suddenly slowed and waved his rival by. It meant the Alpine protege scored four more points, and as a result moved past Powell in the standings by two on dropped scores.

Neither Kart Republic driver had entered the weekend fully expecting to be fighting for the ultimate honours just between themselves, as Tony Kart factory driver and former British Formula 4 racer Joe Turney had won the first two rounds and finished seventh in the third to head to Italy with a seven-point lead.

But a title many expected to be his managed to slip further and further out of his grip as the weekend went on. He was only 10th fastest in his qualifying group (of which there are three), which meant a lowly starting position for all of his heats.

He finished fifth, seventh, 10th and fourth in his first four, then crashed out at the opening corner of the next one in a collision with Koski Motorsport’s Nico Lemberg. That meant his intermediate position in the event was a lowly 24th, while Nakamura Berta and Powell were third and 12th respectively with two heat wins each (but a retirement for Powell) prior to the entry list being combined again and then split for two super heats.

Nakamura Berta came second in his super heat, then Powell and Turney finished third and eighth respectively in the other. That in turn lifted all three in the intermediate classification, and decided their grid positions for the final.

Starting second, and earning nine championship points from all the action up to that point, was Nakamura, Powell scored two points and put himself ninth on the grid, while Turney was a points-free 20th. As a result, with dropped scores already taken into the equation the title fight looked like this going into the final and with 25 points up for grabs:

CIK-FIA European championship table before round four

Forza Racing’s Nicolo Cuman started the final from pole, but Powell was already in the lead by lap two. He had overtaken seven karts on lap one, then dived down Cuman’s inside to get up front where he controlled the pace through the rest of the race.

Nakamura Berta did the opposite of Powell, losing four places on lap one and taking a few laps before he found a rhythm and started to regain some of the lost ground. At the same time, Turney had fallen from 20th to 34th and last place, and Powell was now set to snatch the title from him by a point.

The mid-race pace of Nakamura Berta was the best of anyone once he got into third behind Giltaire, who had started seventh and followed Powell up the order early on, but there wasn’t enough of a pace difference for an overtake. Nakamura Berta sat less than three tenths of a second behind lap after lap, but Giltaire was strong enough at the penultimate corner to deny any opportunities at one of the best overtaking spots – that is until he waved him through.

Giltaire had the pace to then almost be rubbing Nakamura Berta’s rear bumper once he was behind, but didn’t try to then get back past which made the move even odder. Had he made an illegal move earlier in the race and had to give back a position he then would have had the opportunity to reclaim second, but Giltaire’s fight for position ended there and then.

Powell looked behind and saw what was going on, and knew he could do nothing more to try claiming back the title.

Formula Scout spoke to Giltaire after the race, and he revealed “it was a decision from the team to let past Nakamura for having both titles and for Nakamura” and that he had been informed during the race “from the pit board and then to my mechanic man”.

He added: “I would definitely prefer to finished second of course and that Powell win the championship but for the team it’s the best decision.”

Giltaire defending from Nakamura

Giltaire didn’t specify which team he meant by that, as the only obvious beneficiary was the factory Kart Republic team and not its chassis customer VDK. But because of that customer relationship, it’s reasonable to expect influence could be exerted by the factory or at least an understanding would be in place that it would be a mutually beneficial decision to make but in ways that wouldn’t immediately be felt by VDK.

But rather than assume, Formula Scout puts it questioning to VDK. And the team chose to redirect our inquiries to a video statement from Dino Chiesa that had just been put out by Kart Republic on Facebook.

“You know probably we won the European championship in the OK class, and we finished also P2. We won the race with Alex, and we complete the podium with Kean Nakamura and Evan Giltaire from VDK. And I am very happy,” said Chiesa.

“We missed the cherry on the cake because unfortunately we had to decide during the race [for] Giltaire to lose the place to Nakamura Berta, but it’s just to be sure we can win the title because we didn’t know if Powell is perfect with the kart [or] we have some front fairing problem or something.

“Like this, we are sure we are P1 and P2 in the championship. If something happens after the race, we are sure we win the championship. It’s also because like this it’s the easiest thing [to do] to make a full podium because we didn’t know [what else could change]. Nakamura knows he has to finish P2, probably will try to do Giltaire in the last lap and maybe can happen something not right for our team and for our championship.

“And then I prefer to take this decision. I know I penalise Alex because like this he lose the championship. For me, both are my champion, but at the end from the team [point of view] I have to decide, and like this I am sure I can win the championship and I can finish in full podium the last round.

“I think Alex, and Kean, and Evan probably also in my opinion, have a very long career [ahead of them].

Photo: Facebook.com/KartRepublic

“Anyways, it’s racing, it’s a part of racing, and I’m very, very happy for both and the work that both did for the team because at the end it’s two rookies. To finish P1 and P2 in the championship, for me, for the team, for everybody that works with me, is so great a result. Thank you to everybody.”

In addition to that statement, he was also interviewed by FIA Karting and said: “The European competition has not always been very favourable to us. This afternoon we had two drivers capable of winning the title. I didn’t expect this situation and had to make a quick decision to preserve the team’s chances.

“I didn’t want Nakamura’s determination to win in the last few laps to deprive us of a good result. It’s tough for Powell, but I’m sure he’ll get more opportunities to win titles as he deserves. To achieve a double in the European Championships is very important for us, it’s a team strategy.”

Formula Scout reached out to Powell but could not get a comment, while Nakamura Berta in his champion interview said: “It was a really tough race with a lot of contact between the drivers. I was confident before the start. I thought that the main difficulty would be not to lose too many places at the start from the outside lane.

“I didn’t expect Alex to be so fast. It was a game-changer, I had to finish second. In front of me, Evan was not going to be easy to pass. A team instruction was given and he let me pass. I understand that this is a difficult situation for Alex, I am sorry for him.”

Powell and Turney were actually the only two drivers to win European championship rounds this year, while Nakamura Berta had one second place to his name before the switch with Giltaire. Had that not occurred he would have come third in the standings, and it still would have required Turney – who finished 25th on the road and was eventually classified 21st once penalties for others were applied – to be seven places higher and 6.336s further up the road to beat Powell. That being said, without the dropped scores rule the title gap would have been 19 points rather than two.

Formula Scout says…

Straight up, Dino Chiesa’s excuse does not cut it. The reasoning makes sense, and the timing of the move too given the intention was to secure a result that already looked likely, but this is not Formula 1. The drivers involved are in their early teens, and are competing in what is arguably the biggest championship of their life up to this point.

Yes, the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship is the one they all want to win, but that’s a one-off event and it’s being consistently at the front over four rounds as in the European championship that’s arguably more impressive and has a bigger sway on who goes where in the karting driver market for the next year than a name-making world championship win.

It was half an apology from Chiesa to Powell, his own driver, and seemingly no sympathy to Giltaire who was the driver who actually had it worse. One: he had to give up a position in a race he was performing very strongly in, two: he was essentially being coerced into doing something by the boss of another team, and three: it put an insane amount of pressure on his shoulders once the message came through. Chiesa’s statement made it sound like Giltaire’s career prospects were an afterthought.

Beyond the title implications, Giltaire did not know what the repercussions could be of moving out of the way and no doubt would have had a lot racing through his mind once he was given the clear instruction.

Ignore it and he may have faced a telling off from his VDK Racing team, or even Kart Republic, but would then have been without the media scrutiny that now exists. But by following the instruction, he was enabling a rival team to influence a race in a way that could have – and may still – bring in an investigation into those actions and punishment for the people involved, and also changes to stop similar team orders taking place in the future.

Of course none of this is new to karting, which is increasingly political and dominated by a few very influential names, but now there’s an asterisk hanging over an otherwise well-driven campaign by Nakamura Berta and Giltaire’s racing future isn’t necessarily going to be helped reputation-wise for whichever teams he joins next in karting and maybe one day cars given he followed VDK’s instruction (even if he didn’t know it was coming direct from Kart Republic).

And when Chiesa says “it’s a part of racing”, he’s effectively saying “I will do anything to win”.

If he was purely in the position of manufacturer boss, it would make it more excusable to influence customers for the good of the brand, but when Chiesa is also team boss of his factory squad, should he be able to do that to a team that is also a competitor? It will be very interesting to see if the governing body reacts to this incident in any way…

OK final results (24 laps)

The post The title-turning karting team order that’s robbed an F1 junior explained appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: The RaceBox/CotF

Formula 1 team-backed youngsters Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Arvid Lindblad returned to their previous classes in karting this weekend, but both had their comebacks with Kart Republic cut short.

Prema’s Formula 4 race-winner Antonelli, a Mercedes-AMG F1 junior, went back to the KZ2 shifter kart class while Red Bull’s KZ2 rookie Lindblad returned to OK for the Champions of the Future Winter Series at Franciacorta in Italy.

Antonelli came second in qualifying, and was second in one of his Saturday heats after copping penalties in the other two. He didn’t continue to Sunday though as he had to leave for a clashing event, and apologised to his team for his swift exit.

Tony Kart’s shifter karting veteran Simo Puhakka won the final in a controlled display, and in fourth was another junior single-seater racer: Laurens van Hoepen. The Dutchman was third in the Formula Regional-spec Ultimate Cup Series Single-Seater Challenge in 2021 and switches to FRegional European Championship with ART Grand Prix for 2022.

Lindblad also went no further than Saturday in OK. He qualified sixth for his first heat, 12th in qualifying, and crashed out in an incident at turn three.

Oliver Rowland’s protege flipped and he landed body-first upside down before letting go of his kart. There was immediate medical attention, and Lindblad was then transferred to hospital where his father provided an update on his condition.

“[Arvid] is in a lot of pain and finding walking difficult but is recovering in hospital,” he said.

“He has a broken thumb and extensive tissue damage, and will be operated on likely tomorrow [on Monday]. We hope that he can return home with his mum as soon as possible. The recovery will take some time and we will do all we can to make sure he is comfortable.

“We and Arvid are very upset about the incident as it could easily have ended up being something much more serious. As a result, we have requested that the organisers RGMMC Group and [its president] James Geidel do a full and comprehensive investigation into the accident so that this doesn’t happen again to improve the safety for all drivers and the sport.”

He added: “I will keep everyone up to date if anything changes.”

Anglo-Swede driver Lindblad is set to debut in F4 with Van Amersfoort Racing this August once he turns 15 years old, and his primary programme is on KZ2 karts with SP Motorsport.

Latvia’s Tomass Stolcermanis dominated the CotF WS OK final, with Joe Turney – who is eyeing a move to F4 – classified second before being penalised 10 seconds for overtaking under yellow flags.

Matheus Ferreira had a strong start, ran as low as eighth, but ended up as the runner-up. Joel Bergstrom, who starred earlier in the weekend, was the top non-factory driver in sixth.

OK final results (23 laps)

The post Red Bull protege Arvid Lindblad injured in karting crash appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: IAME Euro Series

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team has grown its roster of junior drivers for 2022, with the addition of Daniel Guinchard and Luna Fluxa.

Guinchard has been one of the most successful karters of the last two years, and moves into single-seaters with Argenti Motorsport in British Formula 4 this year.

In 2020 he came second in the Rotax Max Challenge Euro Winter Cup and won the International Trophy at the junior level, and also came fifth in the German Junior Karting Championship and won the parralel ADAC Kart Masters title.

Last year most of his success came at home, as he won the British championship, Ultimate Karting Championship and British Kartmsasters GP on Rotax Junior karts and also won the British title for X30 Junior karts with Argenti.

Fluxa is the younger sister of reigning Spanish X30 Junior champion Lucas Fluxa and Formula Regional racer Lorenzo Fluxa, and last year she won the IAME Euro Series title, came fourth in the Spanish championship and ninth in the IAME International Games for X30 Mini karts.

The 11-year-old Spaniard has stepped up to OK-Junior karts with the factory Kart Republic team for 2022, and is currently racing in the WSK Super Master Series.

Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ driver development advisor, said it was “special” to make Fluxa the first female signing of the programme.

Mercedes retains its five junior drivers it supported in 2021, with Frederik Vesti graduating to Formula 2 with ART Grand Prix, Paul Aron spending a second season in FRegional European Championship and Andrea Kimi Antonelli racing in F4 in Asia and Europe after transitioning into single-seaters in the second half of last year.

Alex Powell and Yuanpu Cui will both race on OK karts in 2022, with Jamaican prodigy Powell having already got his programme underway as he currently sits third in WSK SMS. Like Fluxa, he is also a factory Kart Republic driver.

Last year he came third in the WSK Final Cup after stepping up to senior karting, with his 2021 also including success on OK-Junior karts in Europe. Chinese racer Cui will be making his OK debut this year.

The post Mercedes signs kart stars Daniel Guinchard and Luna Fluxa as F1 juniors appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: FIA Karting/KSP Reportages

Karting is the training ground of most drivers before single-seaters, and it’s always useful to check what’s happening in the major championships to see which future talents may eventually burst onto the scene

The biggest names in karting this year have already started their car racing paths, most notably Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli who already has four Formula 4 podiums to his name. Others have signed contracts with F1 teams, major manufacturers or other motorsport entities and management groups that have taken drivers to the top in cars.

After a controversy and pandemic-hit 2020, karting as a whole bounced back in style this year with events that didn’t get to run last year returning with capacity grids and the CIK-FIA World and European championships going fight-free.

Off-track violence was the shadow that loomed over top-level karting and its president Felipe Massa until June when a 15-year competition ban was handed to Luca Corberi for his and his father’s infamous 2020 scrap at Lonato. The champions of that year mostly went on to more success in 2021, although some still had their programmes disrupted by COVID-19 and others simply chose the wrong team for the next step in their careers.

There was less cross-pollination between drivers contesting the WSK-organised karting events in Italy and the USA’s equivalents, partly due to pandemic uncertainty, but there were still some who tested their skills against the best in other categories and smaller championships away from the CIK-FIA and WSK contests. In fact, the national championships across the world looked particularly well-contested in 2021.

Possibly the biggest story of the year was the location of the OK and OK-Junior world championships, as Brazil has originally been chosen to host the biggest event of the year. Italian teams pressured for it to relocated, and in September it was announced the event that had been scheduled for December was off. It was then announced it would relocate to Spain, and be brought forward to the end of October. At least one place outside of Europe did get to host a major international event, as the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals were held in Bahrain just a week ago.

Freddie Slater BRITAIN 14y/o
OKJ CIK-FIA European champion, Champions of the Future champion, South Garda Winter Cup winner, 2nd in CIK-FIA World Championship, 3rd in WSK Euro Series, 3rd in WSK Open Cup, 4th in WSK Super Master Series, 8th in WSK Champions Cup

Photo: The RaceBox/CotF /lrnphoto

The next Ricky Flynn Motorsport superstar didn’t quite repeat his 2020 feat of winning the CIK-FIA World championship, but he was first to meet the chequered flag in the damp final. A five-second bumper penalty meant he instead was classified second, just 0.256 seconds off a second successive title, but it still made him the top performer on the global stage.

He had charged up the order early in the final with some daring and aggressive moves, but the damage had already been done to his front fairing and therefore the job was to win by 5s and the penalty was already coming. On lap six he rapidly closed in on leader Tomass Stolcermanis and dived down the inside of him to take over up front, then flew away from the field in the remaining 10 laps on a drying track but didn’t quite get far enough away.

Slater had only been 13th on the grid for the final after retiring from one of his heats, but in the four others had won three and finished second to David Walther in the remaining one. It was a weekend where he was bound to win and perhaps a little more patience in his final charge would have earned him the title.

Earlier in the year he had won the European title though, coming out on top in two of the four rounds, finishing second to Harley Keeble at Sarno and 10th at Aunay-Les-Bois in France. But that was 10th with an asterisk.

This time he had topped qualifying, won all of his heats and led the final from start to finish to achieve a rare feat in FIA karting of leading every single lap contested in a race weekend. However long after the final and the podium he was penalised 10s for accelerating away before the track was under green flag conditions on an early restart.

It wasn’t necessarily a more trouble-free run to success in the Champions of the Future series, where he was less dominant. He pipped Keeble to round one victory, then in round two had to come through the Second Chance Heat (not seen in many competitions) on his path to the final and ninth place. He retired from one heat and was disqualified from another for being underweight, but the fortune of still being able to progress to the final meant he only dropped to second in the standings.

He had another tight squeeze in round three where going 10th fastest in qualifying left him with a lot of work to do in the heats, and a retirement in those meant he was the 30th and last driver to automatically qualify for the pre-final. From there he rose to 15th with fastest lap, and then in the final he climbed to seventh which was enough to be champion by seven points.

Slater rounded off his year with a far smoother route to South Garda Winter Cup victory, before starting testing in OK karts.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli ITALY 15y/o
OK CIK-FIA European champion, 2nd in WSK SMS, 2nd in WSK Champions Cup, 7th in WSK Euro, 8th in CotF   KZ 15th in CIK-FIA World Championship, NC in CIK-FIA European Championship   KZ2 46th in WSK Euro

The headline statistic of Antonelli’s year is the four podiums from his 10 races in F4, but he also had a stunning year in OK and then shifter karts.

He began 2021 still recovering from the broken leg he picked up in the previous year’s World Championship final, but was able to handle a kart fine and on his comeback only missed out on glory in WSK’s Champions Cup by 0.178 seconds.

The return to winning form in finals came in WSK’s Super Master Series, in which he was title runner-up over the three rounds after a tricky opener. The physical challenge of then starting his F4 test programme seemed to push up the karting results, and he came seventh in the WSK Euro Series despite only contesting the final round and in CotF he starred in the first two rounds then skipped the finale which dropped him to eighth in the standings.

Of most importance was the CIK-FIA competitions, and after a slow start at Genk where he had a few troublesome heats he then got into his recognisably dominant gear – after many battles with Rafael Camara – and won the remaining three rounds to canter to the title.

With that success in the bag, the preparations for not only F4 but shifter karts ramped up, and the slight Antonelli became a star of that scene too. After a KZ2 cameo in the Euro Series, Antonelli made the CIK-FIA European championship finale his KZ debut and he was immediately the pacesetter. Pole was converted into two heat podiums, and from sixth on the grid he finished ninth in the final. The Italian wasn’t registered for points, but would have come 13th in the championship if he had.

The world championship followed a similar path, with Antonelli beating everyone in qualifying but tending to lose places in the the races and he ended the weekend – his last in karts – in 15th.

Arvid Lindblad BRITAIN/SWEDEN 14y/o
OK WSK Euro champion, WSK Final Cup winner, 2nd in CotF, 3rd in CIK-FIA World and European championships, 3rd in WSK SMS & Open Cup, 3rd in WSK Champions Cup

Photo: Sportinphoto.com

Red Bull rates him, Oliver Rowland rates him, and Formula Scout’s karting consultant and paddock driver coach has some glowing words too.

He’s a good one. I really rate him. I really, really f***ing rate him. Lindblad and Slater I think are the two next F1-style guys.

Unlike many others on this list, there wasn’t an event or series where Lindblad had results not go his way, and he ended up in the top three of everything he competed in. It was similar to his win-filled 2020, except this year it was in senior karts.

His first OK appearance was the Champions Cup, and he finished behind only behind Antonelli and Camara.

As a rookie he basically crushed the opposition in the WSK Euro Series, with admittedly few high-profile full-time rivals, but title runner-up was F1 junior and Kart Republic team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu who scored 47.8% of the points he did.

In round one he had one heat where he finished third, was totally undefeated in round two and then came first, second and third in the heats for round three but an illegal pass docked him 10s and dropped him from second to 11th in his second heat. That put him further down the grid for the pre-final, which he finished second in, and then he won the final.

Qualifying wasn’t always Lindblad’s strength, but he was still very quick, and his wheel-to-wheel skills were usually what earned him top results. The world championship was one event where Ugochukwu had the advantage over the first two days courtesy of qualifying higher up the order, but Lindblad came to the fore on Sunday and took the final podium spot in the final ahead of him despite a bumper penalty that cost him the runner-up spot.

Before then he had been masterful in another two continental series, although not been the winner in finals again until it came to the end-of-year WSK Final Cup where he topped his qualifying session and won two of his heats but had a first lap retirement in the other. His racecraft would come to the fore again though, and he won the final.

Next year he progresses to KZ2 shifter karts with the team of Max Verstappen’s friend Stan Pex, and is expected to become a full Red Bull junior too.

Tuukka Taponen FINLAND 15y/o
OK CIK-FIA World champion, WSK Open Cup champion/winner, 4th in WSK SMS, 4th in WSK Champions Cup, 4th in CotF, 6th in WSK Euro, 9th in CIK-FIA European championship

Taponen’s winning margin to become world champion of OK karts was the biggest since 2006 (when disqualifications led to a big gap between first and second), and therefore the largest of the current era of 125cc two-stroke karts as the top class.

It was also his rookie season in OK karts, although he did do last year’s WSK Open Cup to prepare for 2021, and he won that two-round series up on his return to it despite his only race win in it being a pre-final.

Despite his world championship dominance by 11.889s after Lindblad’s penalty, the European championship just would not go Taponen’s way. A lack of qualifying pace was the start of his issues in the first two rounds, and in round three he had several race-ending incidents but still made it to the final only for a front fairing change to get him disqualified. In the final round he wasn’t faster in qualifying but did get to battle Antonelli through the heats, and then a distant second place in the final lifted him all the way to ninth in the standings.

The ups and downs picked up from his WSK campaigns, and he could have been title runner-up in the Euro Series had he not skipped a round.

In the summer break he made a winning F4 debut in Formula Academy Finland, then a few weeks before his world championship triumph made it into the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Scouting World Final through his Tony Kart team. While he didn’t land an FDA place for 2022, Taponen will be observed through next year as he stays in OK karts for another season.

Daniel Guinchard BRITAIN 15y/o
Rotax Junior British champion, Ultimate Karting champion, British Kartmsasters GP winner   X30 Jnr British champion

Photo: British Karting Championship

To win the same title in two different karts in the same year is some feat by Guinchard, who caught Formula Scout’s attention last year in junior karting by winning the ADAC Kart Masters title in OK-J and the Rotax Max International Trophy.

He stayed at that level this year, primarily at home but once again picking up success abroad and as a factory Argenti Motorsport driver is now looking increasingly likely to move into its British F4 line-up for 2022.

Simultaneously attacking the British Karting Championship’s Rotax Junior and X30 Junior was an inspired move, and resulted in an unprecedented double title win.

In Rotax he won three rounds out of six, including a near-perfect final round, and it would have been four wins were it not for a penalty in one of the finals. The X30 Junior title was wrapped up a week before and had two overall wins out of seven, but his margin of victory there was far larger when it came to the points table.

The Ultimate Karting Championship (UKC), which provides for the same karts and races around England, was another place where Guinchard attempted a double programme and once again he was a champion. This time the Rotax title was earned with such ease that he could skip the final round after wining four of the first five, then his busy schedule meant he only got in one round in the X30s and finished the event in sixth place and 24th in the championship standings.

During summer there was even more domestic Rotax succes, as he won the British Kartmasters Grand Prix by just 0.07s.

Callum Bradshaw BRITAIN 20y/o
OK 17th in WSK Champions Cup, 43rd in WSK SMS   X30 Senior IAME Int. Games winner, IAME Euro Series champion, 3rd in IAME Warriors Final   Rotax Senior Euro Trophy champion, 6th in BNL, 7th in Max Grand Finals

Bradshaw has been around senior karting for quite a while now, and last year he made this list based purely on winning the CIK-FIA world championship title for OK karts.

Returning his focus to cheaper machinery he had a season to remember, being the driver to beat in Europe much of the time. He won the continental title with both IAME’s X30 and Rotax’s engines at the senior level, and off the back of that first success got invited to the International Games event which went almost perfectly bar coming third in his qualifying session.

The Strawberry Racing driver also got to contest the new IAME Warriors Final, and that had a “bittersweet ending” of third place “after pole in qualifying and five our of five heat wins”. There was one more end-of-year event after his IAME commitments ended, as Bradshaw got to race in the Rotax Max Chalenge Grand Finals.

A cameo in Rotax Senior karts earlier in the year, in a Benelux series round at Genk in which he was just pipped to overall victory, was his preparation for Bahrain December and it seemed to work as he finished the event second before a 10s driving standards penalty was applied and threw him down to seventh.

Kean Nakamura Berta JAPAN/SLOVAKIA 14y/o
OK South Garda Winter Cup winner, 14th in WSK Final Cup   OK-J CIK-FIA World champion, 2nd in WSK Champions Cup, 7th in WSK SMS, 17th in CotF, 25th in WSK Open Cup, 37th in CIK-FIA European championship

Born to Japanese and Slovakian parents, and primarily raised in Britain, Nakamura Berta was catapulted into the spotlight like Bradshaw last year with victory in the biggest race of them all.

The youngster’s triumph came in OK-J karts, and it wasn’t a huge surprise for the Forza Racing driver. He’d moved up from Mini karts in which he was WSK Super Master Series and Euro Series runner-up in 2020, and kicked off his time in junior karting this year by coming a close second in the Champions Cup.

That was followed up by seventh in WSK SMS, which included an overall podium in the final round, and then there was part-time campaigns in the Europe-wide series with limited satisfaction in terms of results.

After the summer break that was spent mostly recovering from rib injuries his pace picked up again, and in the CIK-FIA world championship he was three tenths off pole but that put him down in 25th overall in qualifying (seven places behind Forza team-mate Maciej Gladysz) while Slater was second. Two podiums in heats, and one sixth that was an on-the-road second before a penalty, put him ninth on the grid for the final.

While he wasn’t as spectacular early on as Slater – despite making up five places on lap one – he roughly mirrored his progress up the order even after his rival passed him. There was however a gap of over four seconds to the leader by the time Nakamura Berta got into second, and he wasn’t able to close it down. Slater’s penalty however earned him the win.

Understandably there were still some questions over just how good Nakamura Berta was, but a seamless adaption to OK after that removed more doubters. He won the South Garda Winter Cup, then was 14th in the more hotly contested WSK Final Cup.

Rafael Camara BRAZIL 16y/o
OK CotF champion, WSK SMS champion, WSK Champions Cup winner, 2nd in CIK-FIA European championship, 4th in WSK Final Cup, 18th in WSK Euro Series, 35th in CIK-FIA World championship

Even before the FDA’s Scouting World Final, those in the know realised Camara was soon to be on Ferrari’s books and on his way to an F4 race seat in 2022.

He has been in OK karts since 2019, and didn’t set the world alight with Forza. A move to karting’s leading team Kart Republic, as Antonelli’s team-mate, equipped him with a motor he was bound to win with and he did just that.

His partnership with the team began in the WSK Champions Cup, where he won two heats, was pipped by Antonelli in the pre-final and then struck back to win the final. Next up was SMS, in which he came first, second, fourth and second in the four rounds to romp to the title. Only Antonelli and Lindblad managed to reach even half of his points tally.

Camara was another of the Euro Series part-timers, and he had the pace to win in his one appearance. However two disastrous heats stopped him from being at the front and he was one of many to get a bumper penalty in the final.

Comparatively, the other two European series he did went far better. He edged Lindblad to the CotF title, and edged him again on countback to be CIK-FIA European championship runner-up. A similar result was on the cards in the world championship, starting fourth for the damp final and finding the grippier lines to overtake on as it started to rain during lap one to take the lead.

Once Taponen had got to second and closed in on Camara, there wasn’t a strong defence and the lead changed hands. He then lost more places, eventually falling to outside the top 15 before pitting and ending his race prematurely.

Nikola Tsolov BULGARIA 15y/o
OK 2nd in WSK Final Cup, 3rd in CotF, 4th in CIK-FIA European championship, 4th in WSK Euro, 4th in South Garda Winter Cup, 5th in CIK-FIA World Championship, 5th in WSK Open Cup, 6th in Italian championship, 8th in WSK SMS, 8th in WSK Champions Cup   X30 Snr 2nd in Italian championship   Rental: Dubai Kartdome Endurance Championship

Photo: The RaceBox/CotF

Driving one of Kart Republic’s machines for DPK Racing adorned in the colours of Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing outfit, Tsolov was one of the breakout stars this year having gone from Mini to OK-J to OK in successive years.

He won the WSK Open Cup in 60 Mini karts in 2019, came seventh in the junior world championship last year and then was absolutely on it at the senior level in 2021.

His results improved as his rookie campaign went on, beginning with eighth in WSK’s Champions Cup and SMS, then sixth sixth in the single-event Italian championship. He was fourth in both CIK-FIA and WSK’s European series, and was even more competitive in CotF. He won the final round in that series and came third overall.

The year ended with top-five results in the WSK Final and Open Cups, second in the Italian championship for X30 Senior karts and then a starring appearance in the Dubai Kartdrome’s Endurance Championship.

The Bulgarian champion will likely spend a third year in Alonso’s colours, and is already looking at F4 as well as karts.

Hannah Greenemeier USA 19y/o
X30 Snr USA ProTour champion, 6th in US Pro Kart Series, Ret in USA SuperNationals final   KA100 Snr 3rd in USA Winter Series   ROK Shifter 17th in ROK Vegas

Photo: eKartingNews/USA ProTour

Greenemeier made history on the American scene this year, winning the USA ProTour (the country’s equivalent of a national championship) and coming sixth in the lesser established US Pro Kart Series equivalent in X30 Senior karts.

It was the first time a woman has won the biggest karting series in North America at that level, and Greenemeier was on course to follow it up with a strong result in the end-of-year SuperNationals event too but retired in the final.

In the US PKS there were eight three-race rounds, and Greenemeier missed the opening two but got two second places and won the final race to propel herself up the championship standings.

In KA100 Senior karts she came third in the national winter series, and was also handy in a shifter kart through the year too. Those results helped her in becoming a finalist in Mazda’s MX-5 Shootout at Sebring, and she was eKartingNews’ driver of the month in May.

Eight more to watch…

He’s already starred in British F4 and is looking for a way back into single-seaters, and Joe Turney remains one of the best OK karters in the world right now. In 2021 he came sixth in the WSK Open Cup and Champions of the Future, seventh in the CIK-FIA world championship and WSK Champions Cup and SMS, eighth in WSK SMS.

Similarly, Marijn Kremers and Emilien Denner are awaiting more single-seater chances after their brief F4 sojourns and is starring are shifter karts.

In 2021, Kremers won WSK SMS and the South Garda Winter Cup on a KZ2, and was USA SuperNationals runner-up in the ProShifter (KZ) class. Denner, already a Toyota Racing Series race-winner and still in his teens, was fourth in the European KZ2 championship and fifth in the WSK Euro Series.

Emirati Rashid Al Dhaheri made a successful transition to OK-J karts during 2020 and picked up where he left off, winning the Champions Cup and SMS, coming fifth in the Euro Series and then fourth in the Open Cup. He came 13th in CotF too despite missing the final round.

A rival on the junior scene was Ward Racing’s Maximilian Popov, who was second in the Italian championship, third in CotF and fourth in the Champions Cup and Final Cup in his first full season at that level.

Over in the US, Jeremy Fletcher starred. He won the SuperNationals in X30 Junior and KA100 Junior, was title runner-up in the national winter series and third in the ProTour in X30s, and third on a ROK Junior kart in the Florida Winter Tour.

Further down the ladder in Micro karts, NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick’s nine-year-old son Keelan Harvick won the USA Winter Series, SuperNationals and ROK Vegas, and came fifth in the USA ProTour.

He’s already raced in British GT4 and Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but Mark Kimber remains hot property in karting. In Rotax Senior he won the Grand Finals and was second in the Euro Trophy, and in X30 Senior he was second in the IAME Winter Cup and Warriors Final as well as third in the Euro Series.

Two rising karting clans…

In what was a classic year for British karters at home and abroad, one of the standout combinations were the Hunter brothers, whose father owns the Karting North East track in England.

They primarily competed on Rotax Senior karts, with Rhys winning the Euro Golden Trophy at Genk and beating brother Kai to the British title and the Rotax Max International Trophy, while Kai was also runner-up in the Grand Finals and third in UKC.

Photo: Rotax Czech Republic

The Czech Republic meanwhile had the three Babickova sisters (pictured above) starring in Europe, and they raced in different areas of senior karting. On OK karts it was Eliska who got the top result, coming ninth in the Italian championship, while in Rotax Senior it was only Tereza who competed and she came 16th in the Benelux series and then an impressive fourth in the Grand Finals.

X30 Senior was where the Babickova sisters were seen most frequently, often racing against each other, and Tereza came ninth in the IAME Euro Series and 14th in the Warriors Final. Perta, the third sister, was 24th in IAME’s International Games.

Other major karting champions

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The post The top karting stars of 2021 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FIA Karting / KSP

The entry list has been revealed for this weekend’s WSK Champions Cup at Adria in Italy, the first event on the European karting calendar for young drivers.

In the top OK class of karts, the favourite for success is Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli. It’s the Italian’s second season in senior karting, and he remains with the Dino Chiesa-run Kart Republic team.

His team-mates for the Champions Cup and the CIK-FIA European and World karting championships include Anglo-Swedish junior karting graduate Arvid Lindblad, who for this year will be a Red Bull-supported driver, and former F1 driver Luca Badoer’s highly-rated son Brando.

• Feature: The top karting stars of 2020

Sauber is fielding Ugo Ugochukwu and Christian Ho in its own team, while new Ferrari Driver Academy member and Nicolas Todt protege James Wharton is racing for the factory Parolin team. He will also be testing in Formula 4 this year, and could graduate from karting mid-season once he turns 15.

Charlie Wurz, son of Le Mans winner Alex, is another evaluating an F4 move in 2021, and is an Exprit factory driver this weekend.

Sauber will have a large presence in the OK Junior races, with its team fielding Miguel Costa, new additions Maciej Gladysz and Gustaw Wisniewski from Poland and its latest signing Sonny Smith.

The 13-year-old Anglo-Thai joined Sauber’s junior ranks two weeks ago, and is entering his second year in junior karting.

Kart Republic, which support’s Sauber’s karting operation, has Mercedes junior Alex Powell in its factory OK Junior line-up.

Even the Mini category will include a Sauber junior in the form of Singaporean Tiziano Monza, and Super Formula entrant Drago Corse features here too in collaboration with an Italian team.

Vladimir Ivannikov will run in the Mini races, and fellow Russians Matvei Putilin and Nikita Artamonov will race a Drago Corse chassis in the KZ2 shifter kart category.

The post New F1 juniors join grid for 2021 karting season opener in Italy appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: CIK-FIA / KSP Reportages

Karting is the training ground of most drivers before single-seaters, and it’s always useful to check what’s happening in the major championships to see what future talents may eventually burst onto the scene

The CIK-FIA World and European championships are the main focus of the karting world, with their champions 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, while several national championships are rivalling the continental series for talent, if not drama.

Delays caused by the global coronavirus pandemic this year meant some drivers were old enough to move up to more powerful karts and contest full seasons in those rather than switching machinery halfway through 2020, while others turned 15 in time to even go into Formula 4 before the bustle of end-of-year karting fixtures.

Some of the biggest events on the scene were called off, including the WSK Final Cup, Trofeo delle Industrie and the USA’s SuperNationals. Travel restrictions and academic calendars that were dotted all over the place denied many drivers the chance to compete internationally, and once schools did open again many became less lenient on taking time off for sport given the urgency to make sure students’ pulled in the learning deficit that had occurred during lockdown.

Then there was of course the disgraceful actions of Luca Corberi and his circuit-owning father at Lonato, where a clash with a rival launched the younger Corberi into the barriers during the race. He then took his bumper and tried throwing it at that same driver while racing action continued, and instigated a paddock brawl afterwards. Corberi elected to step away from kart racing for life, Italy’s national federation ACI suspended the licences of the family and their circuit, and the FIA launched an investigation under the eye of its karting president Felipe Massa, but so far there has been no public outcome.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli ITALY 14y/o
OK CIK-FIA European champion, WSK Euro Series champion   KA100 J & X30 Junior USA Winter Series champion

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 protege looked immediately at home in senior karting, after often looking unstoppable as a rookie in OK Junior karts in 2019, and massively impressed by winning four titles. It wasn’t an easy year on the kart though.

His OK debut came in January’s WSK Champions Cup, and he was straight on it. He took pole, and won his first heat with the fastest lap of the event. However, he missed the rest of the weekend, leaving him classified 43rd, after going down with a flu.

On his return a week later in WSK’s Super Master Series he took pole, added another heat win and finished 18th overall. Once back at peak physical condition he was at the top again, claiming pole and four preliminary race wins on the way to third in round two against experienced drivers, then in the back-to-back final two rounds during lockdown claiming another pole, four heat wins and victory in both pre-finals. He came second overall in round three, and needed fifth in round four to be champion. But an incident at the start of the title-deciding race dropped him to the back and cost him the title.

Antonelli’s year also ended on a low, as he broke his left leg and foot after crashing into Maya Weug’s kart in the wet final of the CIK-FIA World Championship, the biggest contest of them all. That had been one of the only competitions all year where Antonelli hadn’t looked like one of the overall favourites, although he did set the fastest lap of the Algarve event.

He was one of the four pacesetters in qualifying, split into groups for a 74-kart entry, and was second-best rookie in the heats. While he finished one heat down in 15th, he also won one against defending two-time champion Lorenzo Travisanutto, but was eventually classified 35th after his painful final crash.

The Italian also earned a first FIA title in the European championship. He was overall winner of two rounds, second place in the other, and a week after the finale also won the WSK Euro Series crown. In addition to third in the South Garda Winter Cup back in February, he also went on to come ninth in the Iberia-based Champions of the Future (CotF) series.

At the start of 2020 he made his final junior karting starts, winning two of the USA’s winter series with an unbeaten run in all eight of the event finals he contested.

Taylor Barnard BRITAIN 15y/o
OK WSK Champions & Open Cup winner, 2nd in CIK-FIA European Championship, 5th in CIK-FIA World Championship

While much of the media wrote that Nico Rosberg was making a first foray into team management when he announced in October he was entering Extreme E, his pre-existing karting team had been busy winning races with British protege Taylor Barnard. In 2019 he announced himself immediately in senior karting by winning the WSK Champions Cup, and won it again at the start of 2020 before heading to the USA for two rounds of its winter series, coming 22nd in the X30 Senior class.

He came second in the opening Super Master Series (WSK SMS) round, had a bumper penalty demote him to 10th in the South Garda Winter Cup, then came fifth in the WSK SMS points once karting resumed after lockdown. He joined the WSK Euro Series opener at Sarno too, and a heat win and sixth in the final left him 15th overall as he skipped the other rounds.

While these results weren’t spectacular, Barnard was delivering in the more hotly-contested CIK-FIA events. In the first European championship round at Zuera, he took pole and won all of his heats – one of very few to do so in top-class karting in 2020 – which put him on pole for the final. Antonelli got by on lap one, and he could only hound him thereon.

Barnard claimed the points lead at Sarno with another perfect run to the final, and this time converted it into a lights-to-flag win. In the Wackersdorf finale he was fourth fastest in his qualifying group, but that didn’t cost him the title against Antonelli. Following a strong first two heats, a bumper penalty in heat three dropped him to 16th and he lined up eighth for the final. He was fifth by lap two, and was third before another bumper penalty left him sixth. As a result, Antonelli just outscored him.

New opposition was then found in shifter karting and F4. Barnard struggled with starts in the KZ2 karts on his debut in the Euro Series, and came 46th, but drove KZs in a UK championship cameo at Fulbeck and was sixth in the final. In Italian F4 he impressed even more, almost scoring on his debut and starting his last race on the front row.

His year in OK karts ended pretty finely too. The CIK-FIA World Championship began by Barnard beating the victory favourites in their first heat together, and wins in the next two put him on pole for the final. But in the rain he could only come fifth. He came sixth in CotF, then successfully defended his WSK Open Cup crown with victory in nearly every race.

Morgan Porter BRITAIN 19y/o
Rotax Senior Max Int. Trophy winner, British Champion, British Kartmasters GP winner  OK 4th in CIK-FIA World Championship

Photo: Rotax Int. Trophy

Morgan Porter is used to domestic success, having won the British Kartmasters Grand Prix and been a title frontrunner in many British series during his time in junior karts, and this year he not only found form in senior karts but also did it abroad.

Most of his success came on Rotax-engined equipment, and at home that included becoming British champion for the first time and winning the grand prix at PFI for British F4 and karting outfit Argenti Motorsport.

Using the equivalent IAME-built X30 engines he was ninth in the Winter Cup, seventh in the British championship – falling out of title contention after a crash – and then fifth in the International Games for Kart Republic.

Before the International Games he entered the CIK-FIA World Championship for OK karts, looking to improve on the seventh place he claimed on his debut in 2019. In qualifying he was second fastest in his group, and was in the top five in all of his heats against a grid of that year’s OK class stars and many of its established frontrunners from previous years.

The rain definitely mixed things up in the final, but Porter was mistake-free on the way to fourth place behind a dominant Tony Kart podium lockout. His only OK experience in the 12 months prior had been CotF’s circuit visit, and he was 33rd in that.

Porter also went to the Rotax Max International Trophy at Algarve in mid-December, where the grid was formed of many of his British rivals and some of the stars of other Rotax-powered series across the globe.

The student bricklayer was second fastest in his qualifying group, then was narrowly denied three heat wins out of three. After winning the pre-final, few were betting against him for overall victory. He did just that, but the route there wasn’t easy as he fell to third on lap one, then made it back into the lead before dropping back to fourth and then fifth. On the final lap he climbed from third to first to claim his biggest karting win yet.

Nikita Bedrin RUSSIA 14y/o
OK WSK Super Master Series champion, Champions of the Future champion, 4th in WSK Champions Cup & Euro SeriesWard Racing’s Russian would have been the star rookie of senior karting in 2020 were it not for Antonelli, but he did a similarly as exciting job and was fighting for wins in everything he raced in.

Like Antonelli, Bedrin’s debut came in the Champions Cup and they were just a tenth of a second apart in qualifying. He was then just 0.273s from winning his first ever heat race, losing out to reigning World Junior champion and Spanish F4-bound Thomas ten Brinke, and crossed the line first in his second heat but was denied victory by a bumper penalty. The same occurred in the pre-final, and Bedrin then had a crazy run to fourth in the final after falling as low as 11th place.

That first win didn’t come in the WSK SMS opener either, despite taking pole, as he often slipped down the order from top grid spots. In among his up-and-down start he came fifth in the South Garda Winter Cup, taking his first heat win in the process.

On the return from lockdown Bedrin looked a much improved karter, and he went totally unbeaten in the next two WSK SMS rounds to win the title. That put him on a high going into the CIK-FIA European Championship.

He was a heat winner at Zuera, then led the early laps of the final before finishing third, and at Sarno he also took a heat win. A bad result in one of the other heats left him needing to charge up the order in the final, and he made it up to fourth. At Wackersdorf a 10s penalty for undertaking under yellow flags in one heat and a 10s penalty for a move the stewards looked unfavourably upon in another left him on the final’s 10th row, and his climb to 12th place earned him fourth in the points.

It was all part of the learning curve for Bedrin, whose WSK Euro Series campaign also included several heat wins and final podiums that again resulted in a top-four place in the standings despite missing the first round. His scoring rate was second only to the title-winning Antonelli, and his race pace usually exceeded his results.

Finishing lower than he started also hurt him in the world championship, ending up 29th, and he showed his pace at Algarve not only that weekend but the one before too, when he claimed the CotF title by finishing 15th from pole in the final.

Callum Bradshaw BRITAIN 19y/o
OK CIK-FIA World champion, 22nd in Champions of the Future, 34th in WSK Euro Series   X30 Senior 22nd in IAME Euro Series

Since winning the Andrea Margutti Trophy as a OK rookie in 2017, there hasn’t been a huge number of big event results for Bradshaw as he has focused on the cheaper championships using X30 engines.

His first crack at karting’s official world championship resulted in 11th place, and he improved to sixth on his second attempt. In 2019 he didn’t compete, but was second in the IAME Euro Series and was a finalist for the Volant Winfield.

He returned to the biggest stage in karting as a factory Tony Kart driver this year, warming up for it with part-time campaigns in multiple OK and X30 competitions.

Bradshaw’s OK efforts included 34th in the WSK Euro Series, making the final in both of the rounds he contested, and reaching the final in the CIK-FIA European Championship finale too. Lastly came the CotF warm-up at Algarve, where Bradshaw laid down his world champion credentials by charging up to fifth in the final.

In X30s he was even more impressive, finishing first and second in the opening two rounds of the British championship (but dropping to 37th in the points after skipping the rest of the season), and winning the sole IAME Euro Series round he entered. The equivalent of a black-and-orange flag got him disqualified from the final of the IAME Winter Cup, where he had been a frontrunner throughout and had led the final before picking up damage that led to him being classified 36th.

It was the world championship where he was against his toughest opposition, who he beat in his qualifying group to take pole. Two seconds places, a win and a fourth in the heats put him on the front row for the final alongside Barnard, and once the rain arrived the status of world champion was all basically secured within the first two minutes.

It took just over a lap to take the lead, but in the remaining 19 he stretched out a lead of over nine seconds before throttling back and having it reduced to 8.780s at the finish. Fastest lap unsurprisingly went to Bradshaw too.

Mathilda Olsson SWEDEN 19y/o
Rotax Senior Euro Trophy champion, 3rd in Swedish championship, 5th in Winter Cup   X30 Senior 16th in IAME Winter Cup

Photo: Prins Carl Philips Racing Pokal

Olsson now has two Rotax Max Euro Trophy titles to her name, but once again her lack of involvement in OK competition leaves question marks over how the Strawberry Racing driver checks up against the fastest in the open-engine formula.

Her year began in Rotax’s Euro Winter Cup at Campillos in Spain, going second in qualifying and making the podium in all of her heats to line up on the front row for the first final. She came third in that, 0.448s from victory, and 11th in final two.

The main season got going at Genk in Belgium, and Olsson kicked off proceedings with pole position, followed by victory and fastest lap in her opening heat. It was the same story in her second heat, and she was 0.669s off victory in the heat after that. From pole in the wet first final she finished a distant sixth though, and was third in final two to leave fourth in the points.

Qualifying didn’t go to plan in round two at Wackersdorft, but that didn’t stop her from winning all her heats and bagging pole for final one. She looked set for victory in that until an error on some dirt brought onto the track put her off and down to 10th. Olsson charged back up to fourth, a result she repeated in the second points-scoring final to take the series lead.

Adria hosted the season finale, as the second Genk trip was cancelled, and Olsson had a tricky time. She qualified and finish seventh for her first heat, albeit with fastest lap, and was pipped to victory by Zsombor Kovacs next time before winning her final heat. In a photo finish, Olsson edged Juho Valtanen to win the first final, then did it again in the final race of the season to become a two-time champion by some margin.

The European title, combined with wins in the Swedish championship, meant Olsson headed to the International Trophy at the end of the year. It wasn’t a great weekend, and she ended up a lap down in 33rd place in the final.

The equivalent contest for X30 Senior – the IAME International Games – ended even more sourly in 35th as she was out on lap two, after being fourth in the pre-final. In the IAME Winter Cup, her final was ruined by a bumper penalty. There were other reasons to smile in 2020, including a GT4 test with Prince Carl Philip after winning the karting race bestowed with his name.

Freddie Slater BRITAIN 13y/o
OKJ CIK-FIA World champion, WSK Open Cup champion, 2nd in South Garda Winter Cup, 3rd in Champions of the FutureA busy first full year in junior karting was also a very productive one for Slater as he became world champion.

Last year he gained mileage in X30 Junior, and stayed in the class for 2020’s IAME Winter Cup. After being denied group pole by 0.092s, he won his first heat by 0.084s. He was second in the pre-final and final before penalties, eventually coming fourth.

Slater’s OKJ debut in the Champions Cup was mostly for learning, but he was in the top five in all of his heats and was second in the pre-final. He was a penalised 14th in the final – his early form littered with racecraft errors and a qualifying deficit.

The South Garda Winter Cup was next, and he was runner-up from 10th on the grid. In WSK SMS he didn’t make it to the first two finals, but post-lockdown seemed a much improved racer; fifth and seventh in the next two rounds lifted him to eighth in the points. That was matched in WSK’s Euro Series with lowly qualifying results but strong pre-final performances.

Qualifying was his bugbear at the start of the CIK-FIA European Championship too, but by round two it looked improved as he was fifth in his group. Making his usual race gains from a higher grid spot, he took a heat win and two seconds. Retiring from his last one meant he started ninth for the final, but rose up the order and passed three drivers on the final lap to steal second. He couldn’t keep counting on overtaking for good results, and qualifying 10th for the Wackersdorf finale put him on the back foot. While he made the final, he was mired in the pack and was out after two laps, dropping him to seventh in the points.

The warm-up CotF events went better as Slater took group pole at Zuera. This time he was dropping places in heats instead, and came second in the final. At Algarve he started further back, finished fifth and actually came quite close to the title.

His Algarve return for the world championship started dramatically, as track limits abuse cost him his three best qualifying laps. He still came fifth in his group. Then by finishing no lower than fourth in the heats he ended up third on the grid for the final. Overtake two cars early on and he had victory sorted, right?

That’s kind of what happened, as Slater led every lap, but had to fight hard on the last one. Later that month he played the same trick in the WSK Open Cup, consistently rising up the order in the heats at Adria to set up a round and title win.

Connor Zilisch USA 14y/o
OKJ FIA Karting Academy Trophy winner, 25th in WSK Euro Series   Junior ROK & 100cc Junior Florida Winter Tour champion

Run in parallel to the world championship for junior drivers is the nation-focused, single-make FIA Karting Academy Trophy. This year Connor Zilisch of the USA won it, and he also starred on home soil.

His 2020 began in the Florida Winter Tour, and the destination of the 100cc Junior title looked decided after the first round as Zilisch absolutely dominated. He was beaten in two heats in round two, but still took the overall win again. It was a similar story in the final round, as he built a huge points margin over the likes of rising stars Westni Workman and Chloe Chambers.

He did the Junior ROK tour alongside, winning every race of round one, dominating the final of round two and beating Mercedes F1 junior Alex Powell to land the title in round three. The racing in Europe after would be the big test for Zilisch, but he knew what to expect as it was his second full year in juniors.

The first round of the Academy Trophy at Adria didn’t take place until August due to the pandemic, and Zilisch won two heats to put himself on pole for the final. From the front he took a crushing 4.810s win to begin another title run.

Like Slater there wasn’t many great qualifying results, but the race results kept landing and Zilich was on the podium in all of his heats in round two at Genk. He then won the final again, opening up another ominous championship lead.

Turning around his qualifying form for the Lonato finale propelled Zilisch to two more heat wins, but a collision with a rival led to him retiring early in the final. Such was his dominance, it had no impact on the 28-point advantage he won the title with.

Zilisch was always fighting for results from lower down the grid in his other races, entering two WSK Euro Series rounds, two European championship rounds (not making the final in either on the way to 49th), coming 44th from a WSK SMS cameo and looking quick in the world championship, despite a stall in one heat – before another opening lap final clash left him 27th.

Tuukka Taponen FINLAND 14y/o
OK 4th in WSK Open Cup   OKJ 2nd in CIK-FIA World championship, 3rd in CIK-FIA European Championship

Taponen’s third year in junior karting was by far his best, and he even made a splash when he made his OK debut in 2020.

The reigning Finnish Junior champion’s two main focuses arriving into the year were the CIK-FIA World and European championships, and were the two competitions he saved his best performances for.

He was the points leader after the first European round, taking pole, a heat win and then the final win from ninth on the grid. The Tony Kart driver took another heat win in round two, and was passed for third on the final lap of the final. Despite scoring no points in round three, he was still third best in Europe.

In the world championship he as ninth after the heats, although did well to recover from an opening lap plunge down the order in one to pull back a good result. His rise up to third in the final was also impressive in the wet, and that became second when Arvid Lindblad was given a bumper penalty.

Taponen also did the WSK Euro Series alongside the European championship, and that got off to a sublime start with three heat wins, the pre-final win and third in the final at Sarno. The Lonato rounds didn’t have the same peaks, but it was good enough for fifth in the points – a marked improvement on his 13th in WSK SMS.

Before his graduation to senior karts he also did CotF, which showed off the strong pace he carried into the CIK-FIA meeting despite coming 22nd in the two-round series.

Taponen was fourth fastest in qualifying for his OK debut in the WSK Open Cup, but found the racing far more difficult as he crashed in his first two heats and final. Knowing what to expect when he returned to track for round two, he was much better in races and an overall podium bagged him fourth in the cup.

Arvid Lindblad BRITAIN/SWEDEN 13y/o
OKJ WSK Super Master Series champion, Champions of the Future champion, 2nd in CIK-FIA European Championship

Photo: WSK / Mario Perrucca

Oliver Rowland’s Anglo-Swedish protege picked up a lot of silverware in his second season of junior karting, which he spent primarily with the factory Kart Republic team of Dino Chiesa.

His worst result was 14th in the IAME Winter Cup in X30 Senior, but he was actually fifth on track before a bumper penalty.

The results rolled in on OK karts, with fifth in the WSK Champions Cup being followed by third in the South Garda Winter Cup. In WSK SMS he won the title by a massive 138 points, always qualifying in the top two in his group, taking 12 heat wins, three pre-final wins and two of the four finals in the series.

Set-up issues held him back in qualifying and the heats for the WSK Euro Series opener, but he ended up sixth in the final. Before the rest of the Euro Series season was Zuera’s CotF warm-up, which he won, and its CIK-FIA European Championship round, in which he swept to four heat wins but was only fifth in the final.

He set the fastest lap at Sarno, but was third in the final, and was a stronger driver at Wackersdorf to win the final but he wasn’t to be European champion. In the Euro Series finale, he won the heats, pre-final and final to jump to fourth in the points.

The second CotF round preceded the CIK-FIA World Championship, and an easy run to pole and four heat wins suggested Lindblad may well be unbeatable in the final. He wasn’t, falling to ninth in the closing laps, but he did become champion.

He “didn’t make things easy” with 33rd in world championship qualifying, yet won his first heat and made it to sixth on the final grid. In the race he fought his way onto Slater’s tail in soaking conditions, and passed him on the final lap. A bumper tap copped a penalty, and Slater banged wheels to reclaim first – sending Christian Ho into the mud as he made it three-wide. With two corners to go Lindblad made an aggressive pass, but a corner later Slater did the same to finish 0.075s ahead.

The penalty dropped Lindblad to fifth, and to compound things he then finished second again to Slater in WSK Open Cup.

10 more to watch…

Photo: Matthew Higgins

Joe Turney returned to karting as a factory Tony Kart driver after last year’s half-season in British F4, and utilised his experience well to win the South Garda Winter Cup, finish second in the CIK-FIA World Championship and Champions of the Future, third in the European Championship and WSK Euro Series and fourth in WSK SMS.

Although her year made headlines for her crash with Antonelli, Maya Weug still impressed and made the final four of the FIA’s new Ferrari Driver Academy-affiliated Girls on Track Rising Stars programme.

Sauber juniors Christian Ho and Ugo Ugochukwu starred in OKJ, with Ho finishing fourth in the world championship after his off and third in the WSK Champions Cup at the start of the year. Team-mate Ugochukwu was European champion, second in CotF and fifth in WSK SMS.

Potentially the next Carlos Sainz Jr is Matthew Higgins, who is son of 10-time US rally champion David Higgins. The Manx-Welsh teenager raced primarily in Rotax Junior karts this year, and won the British championship and the Rotax Festival. He also came fifth in the Kartmasters GP, and was 11th in Britain’s X30 Junior championship too.

His occasional rival in Britain was Daniel Guinchard, who came in at the end of the Rotax Junior season and finished 35th. He had a lot of success abroad in those karts, coming third in Benelux’s first Kick Off competition, second in the Euro Winter Cup and then winning the end-of-year International Trophy.

Guinchard’s form in X30 Junior wasn’t bad either, and he came fourth in the final of the IAME Euro Series round he entered. He then raced OKJ in Germany too, finsihing fifth in the national championship and winning the parallel ADAC Kart Masters title.

Photo: South Garda Karting

Lauritz Sachse was a breakout from Denmark this year, coming eighth in Sweden’s highly competitive OKJ championship and winning the equivalent title in the Swedish Kart League, while Emirati Rashid Al Dhaheri ended his Mini karting career with victory in the South Garda Winter Cup and third in the Champions Cup before stepping up to OKJ and improving massively over the year. He ended 2020 with 13th in the CIK-FIA World Championship and 14th in the Open Cup.

The stars he left behind in Mini karting included Rene Lammers, who won the WSK Euro Series title, and Open Cup champion Maciej Gladysz.

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The post The top karting stars of 2020 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Both made their debut with Sauber, which is behind the Alfa Romeo Racing Formula 1 entry, in last weekend’s WSK Champions Cup event at Adria in Italy.

Thompson announced late last year he was leaving Red Bull – who he won two German kart titles with during his two-year spell as a junior – to switch to shifter karts with Dino Chiesa’s Kart Republic manufacturer.

The 15-year-old actually competed in the OK classification at Adria, and finished third in the final behind Nico Rosberg protege Taylor Barnard and SMP Racing junior Kirill Smal.

Mercedes F1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his OK debut in the event with the factory Kart Republic team, setting the fastest lap of the weekend in qualifying, dominating his first heat but then missing the rest of the event after falling ill.

Brazilian talent Costa entered the Mini classification of the Champions Cup, and made it to the pre-final.

Sauber also ran in OK Junior for its Singaporean junior Christian Ho, who finished third overall.

Rickard Kaell, team manager of the Sauber Karting Team, recently spoke to the official CIK-FIA website about Sauber’s first foray into karting.

“I think it’s a good thing that F1 teams are investing in karting and helping young drivers climb to the top of the pyramid,” said Kaell.

“In 2018, the creation of the Rosberg Racing Academy with KR chassis and IAME engines left its mark on people’s minds.

“At the beginning of 2019, when the Sauber Junior Team wanted to get involved in karting, Dino Chiesa immediately told me about it. I met with Frederic Vasseur and Alessandro Alunni Bravi, two people I had already known for a few years.

“By the time we got everything in place, we missed the first preparatory events, but we were ready for the first European Championship competition in Angerville. On this occasion, Sauber junior Dexter Patterson won the Final.

“Overall, it was a good first year of collaboration. We also ran the Swiss driver Joshua Dufek, who made great progress in 2019. He will be racing in a single-seater next year.

“Christian joined at the end of the season in OK Junior. We also closely followed the promising Briton William Macintyre, who competed in the Mini class and is about to enter the OK-Junior category.

“2020 is looking very promising, and we will have a solid team to face the new season.

“Although I am mainly assigned to Sauber, I have many discussions with Dino Chiesa on all the other subjects: equipment, technique, strategy, driver management, etc.

“There is a great dynamic at the moment with all the teams working under the colours of Kart Republic and using KR chassis and IAME engines. In the end, everyone progresses and the drivers all have something to gain.”

It is currently unclear what Sauber’s presence in junior single-seaters will be in 2020, having supported teams in Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula 4 last year.

The post Karters Harry Thompson and Miguel Costa become Sauber juniors appeared first on Formula Scout.