Photos: 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

Formula Scout followed the karting paddocks closer than ever in 2022, and got to report on stories of drama, disaster and redemption. There was a slightly different look to some international events, and the new OK-N kart regulations were released.

While the OK karting scene has often dominated end-of-year lists naming the top karters in the past, and also produced more high-profile graduates to single-seater racing, if there was anything that could be said about 2022 it was that the Rotax and IAME series were just as strong both in national series and in the big international events.

In addition to several drivers being injured in crashes through the year, the other big story that left an uncomfortable feeling was Kart Republic’s implementation of team orders in the final round of the CIK-FIA European championship. It took away the opportunity to be champion from one driver in the team and gave it to another, while also dragging another team into its machinations. You can read about how that happened here.

But any such controversies were usually drowned out by the brilliant on-track action of 2022, with career-making results for several drivers. Here’s the list of the winners of all the major kart competitions in 2022, and below is – in no particular order – our list of this year’s top young karters.

Key: WSK: Champions Cup (WSK CC), Euro Series (WSK Euro), Final Cup (FC), Open Cup (OC), Super Master Series (SMS)
CIK-FIA: European championship (CIK Euro), World championship (CIK Worlds), World Cup (CIK WC), FIA Karting Academy Trophy (FIA Academy Trophy)
Rotax Max Challenge: Euro Trophy (Euro), Euro Golden Trophy (Euro Golden), Euro Wintercup (Winter Euro)
Champions of the Future: regular season (CotF), Winter Series (CotF WS)
SuperKart USA: SuperNationals (USA SuperNats), Pro Tour (USA Pro Tour), Winter Series (USA WS)

Tuukka Taponen FINLAND 16y/o
OK 2nd in CIK Worlds, 3rd in WSK Euro, 4th in WSK SMS, 4th in CotF WS, 6th in CIK European, 12th in CotF   KZ 9th in CIK Worlds, 11th in CIK European

Photo: Ferrari

The new Ferrari junior combined Formula 4 with a step up to shifter karting in 2022, but also stuck about on OK karts too and demonstrated his usual level of brilliance. Although he came short on repeating his 2021 world championship win, he was best of the rest in karting’s biggest competition and did beat his position in the European championship from last year.

Taponen was third in WSK’s Euro Series despite missing one of the two rounds, and was fourth in the Super Master Series.

In what ended up being a more limited campaign on the top-level KZ shifter karts, he still had an impressive return of ninth in the world championship against that class’s older benchmark drivers.

Kean Nakamura Berta JAPAN 15y/o
OK CIK European champion, WSK Euro champion, 2nd in WSK SMS, 3rd in CotF WS, 7th in CotF, 31st in CIK Worlds

Having adapted seamlessly to senior karts at the end of 2021, it was no surprise that Nakamura Berta quickly established himself as one of the drivers to beat on OK karts.

Although his crowning triumph as European champion was overshadowed by Kart Republic’s tactics in the final round to ensure he went from third to first in the standings, also delivering his second runner-up finish as he did not win a round, there was a far more convincing run to the title in the WSK Euro Series and he also starred to be SMS runner-up.

At the World championship he won a heat and a superheat, and initially ran in third in the final. There was a lengthy battle with Taponen, then after finally breaking free of him he crashed out.

In addition to having his career guided by Infinity Sports Management, the Britain-based driver of Japanese-Slovakian heritage also became an Alpine Academy affiliate in June.

Tomass Stolcermanis LATVIA 15y/o
OK WSK OC winner, CotF WS winner, 3rd in CotF, 4th in WSK Euro, 7th in CIK Worlds & European, 8th in WSK SMS, 12th in WSK FC   KA100 Snr USA SuperNats winner   X30 Snr 2nd in USA SuperNats   OK-J 31st in WSK SMS

The Latvian was nominated by ACI for its scouting camp with the Ferrari Driver Academy, and that opportunity was well deserved. Stolcermanis started the year with a dominant success in the Champion of the Future Winter Series event, then was a consistent threat everywhere thereon.

He won the final Champions of the Future round in summer, which lifted him up to third in the points, then at the end of the year was victorious in the WSK Open Cup and the USA SuperNationals. Stolcermanis really had to fight with domestic star Frankie Mossman for his USA win, where he drove in different types of karts than in Europe.

Showing his class in America capped off a rookie season in senior karting to really be proud of (and off the back of a strong 2021 in OK-J when his father was his mechanic), and it shouldn’t be forgotten that he won the first round of the European championship on-the-road too before a bumper penalty knocked him to sixth.

Enzo Tarnvanichkul THAILAND 13y/o
OK-J CIK World champion, 2nd in WSK FC, 5th in CIK European, 12th in CotF WS, 15th in WSK OC, 22nd in WSK Euro, 24th in CotF, 49th in WSK SMS

Winning the world championship not only earned Tarnvanichkul his place on this list, but also caught the attention of Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko who has pledged his support to the Thai’s next racing step.

Tarnvanichkul was distanced by the lead group at first in the world championship final, but once he reached those ahead he made neat moves to go from fifth to third, then pursued the top two and made another two moves in quick succession to assume the lead. He very briefly lost it almost a lap later, but then spent the second half of the race holding off several drivers to win. The youngster is ultra-composed outside of the kart, and that win showed how he keeps it cool on the kart too.

He also won a round of the WSK Final Cup to come second in the standings there, and can’t wait to be racing in Red Bull colours… pending Red Bull announcing their partnership and his 2023 programme.

Sean Butcher AUSTRALIA/ENGLAND 19y/o
Rotax Snr Euro champion, Euro Golden winner, 2nd in Euro Wintercup, 5th in Britain, 12th in Int. Trophy

Photo: Rotax Euro Trophy

The momentum that built up over Butcher’s year with KR Sport propelled him to a European title, victory in the Euro Golden Trophy and also fifth in the increasingly competitive British championship.

He started the Rotax Max Challenge Euro Trophy at Genk with pole, victory in all his heats and a lights-to-flag win in the first final, then won again in the second.

In round two he wasn’t the pacesetter but drove well to make it up to second in final one, but fourth in final two dropped him to second in the standings. His bounceback in round three was to win both finals to reclaim his points lead, and he then made his way into third in final one at a wet Wackersdorf behind a superb Lewis Gilbert to become champion with a day to spare.

Two months later at the Euro Golden Trophy he had a dissapointing qualifying and relied on racecraft to earn another important trophy, then was in contention to win Rotax’s Grand Finals too, with intense battles throughout the event and an eventual runner-up result that then became 12th place due to a super unlucky bumper penalty.

Sasha Bondarev UKRAINE 13y/o
OK-J WSK SMS champion, 9th in CotF, 24th in CIK European, 28th in CotF WS, 28th in WSK FC

Photo: sport-in-photo.com

The sample size of races for Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver Bondarev is quite small, due to a huge crash in the European championship at Zuera in May.

Before then he had, amidst his home country being invaded by Russia and leading to many of his countrymen being called up to serve war efforts, starred to win the WSK SMS title as he started life at a top team after racing as a privateer in 2021.

A bumper penalty denied Bondarev round one honours, he was pipped to victory in round two after leading, but broke his duck at a wet round three as he dominated his pre-final then won the final by nine seconds. Being spun in the round four final prevented another win, but not the title. He was similarly strong in CotF; his scoring rate good enough for third in the standings based off his pre-injury appearances.

The Zuera crash began with contact that sent the left-hand side of Bondarev’s kart skyward. His head hit a tyre, and once he came to a stop backwards his kart was struck at speed by another driver. It sent him into a violent aerial spin, and he was hospitalised with “difficult” surgery required that “literally saved my [left] leg”.

Bondarev spent two months in hospital, was walking unaided by the end of August, and tested in a kart again a month after that. His race return came in November’s WSK FC, with strong pace but rusty racecraft which he improved upon to come second in this month’s LeCont Trophy, his “first podium with a steel leg”.

Today, Bondarev was announced as joining the WH Sports management stable that also guides the careers of Ollie Bearman.

“Big goals need correct and confident decisions and it feels like a super positive end to the year,” said Bondarev. “I’m proud and excited to be going into 2023 with the [WH] team.” His race programme for next year will be announced at a later date.

Anataoly Khavalkin   14y/o
OK 3rd in WSK FC, 17th in WSK OC   OK-J CIK European champion, 2nd in CotF, 3rd in CotF WS, 4th in WSK SMS, 5th in WSK Euro, 11th in CIK Worlds,

Finishing in the top five of four major European series is a significant accomplishment, topped by winning the most sought after series: the CIK-FIA European championship.

The momentum began in the final WSK SMS round with diving move for victory, then he was second in the European opener and third in CotF round two. In a rain-hit final to the third CotF round he ended up down in fifth after leading, but applied lessons learned to win the European round at the same track a fortnight later.

He sealed the CotF runner-up spot with fourth in the finale, although he had led the final from pole before contact, and the European title was crowned in even crazier fashion. Khavalkin took the race lead when someone ahead span, then was overtaken and eventually finished fourth. He moved into the points lead after the heats, but lost it during the final until an overtake put him back ahead. But the title then became his when his championship rival crashed.

Next up he graduated into OK karts, coming third in the WSK FC off the back of taking second in a photo finish at round one.

Callum Bradshaw ENGLAND 21y/o
Rotax Snr British champion, Euro Wintercup winner, Grand Finals winner, 3rd in BNL Kick-Off, 3rd in British GP, 6th in Euro Trophy   X30 Snr 6th in IAME Warriors Final

Photos: Rotax Grand Finals

There’s a career crossroads for Bradshaw, who has now achieved basically everything you can in senior karting and won’t be at it again in 2023 as he moves on.

He won the OK world championship in 2020, the International Games and Euro Series for X30 Senior karts in 2021, as well as the Rotax Euro Trophy, and this year added three more accomplishments to his packed CV.

Bradshaw prevailed in a very close battle for the British title against Kai Hunter, who he also battled in Europe. Their first fight abroad was in the Rotax Euro Wintercup, which Bradshaw won, then they fought for position in the Euro Trophy.

The battle in the Grand Finals was the most spectacular, with the pair fighting for victory in the pre-final and sharing the final front row. That set up another victory battle, with both drivers trading positions again and again and with victory, ultimately, being decided in Bradshaw’s favour due to one of Hunter’s moves being too agressive.

Could Bradshaw add more wins if he’s tempted to return? “I’m sure I’ll be dragged back for the odd race.”

Matheus Morgatto BRAZIL 19y/o
X30 Snr USA WS champion, 40th in USA SuperNats   OK CIK World champion, 4th in CotF, 8th in Italy, 20th in CIK European, 33rd in WSK Euro ROK Snr Florida WS champion

The world championship win stood above everything else for Morgatto this year, with that weekend’s exemplary performance not only standing out on its own but also contrasting with his results from other events.

His triumphant weekend began with being classified sixth overall in qualifying, but that meant he was actually on the front row for his heats, winning four and finishing second in the other. He finished third in his superheat, behind Nakamura Berta and Arvid Lindblad, but that still put him on pole for the final based on the event’s intermediate classification and from there he delivered a brilliant lights-to-flag win by several seconds.

Formula Scout’s karting consultant and paddock driver coach had these glowing words:

He was really just in another level that weekend. Like there was almost no doubt who was going to win the world championship. And doing it as well with DPK Racing, who are not neccessarily considered a championship-winning team [was impressive].

Morgatto did also win in the USA, which was a competitive scene. However the country’s national senior champions Jeremy Fletcher (KA100), Marijn Kremers (Pro Shifter) and Ryan Norberg (X30) were not as dominant as they had been expected to be.

Evan Giltaire FRANCE 16y/o
X30 Snr USA SuperNats winner, IAME Warriors Final winner, French champion, 4th in IAME Euro, 16th in British GP   OK 5th in CIK European, 6th in CotF, 6th in WSK FC, 14th in CIK Worlds

Also successful in America was French driver Giltaire, who won at the SuperNationals driving for Kart Republic after previously being on the recieving end of its team orders while he raced for VDK Racing in the European championship.

He finished fifth in that series, and sixth in CotF on OK karts, but his main success – including in America – came on X30 machinery.

Giltaire beat the locals to win the SuperNationals, which he described as “the most exciting race of the season”, and also came out on top of a super intense fight for victory in IAME’s Warriors Final at Le Mans.

Despite also having winning pace in the IAME Euro Series, he finished a distant fourth in the points after retiring from two of the four finals while being the fastest driver on track through both weekends. Despite similar incidents costing him point on home soil, he was also able to win the French championship.

Nine more to watch…

In OK-J, Nathan Tye won CotF and was third in the European championship in addition to the WSK Champions Cup. His first ventures into senior karting at the end of 2022 were also successful, coming third in the WSK OC, fourth in the FC and then third in Rotax’s Asia Festival.

It looked like Dmitry Mateev would start 2022 with victory in the WSK CC, having claimed pole, won all his heats and the pre-final, but retired from the final itself. Third in CotF and WSK SMS showed how much of a consistent frontrunner he could be, and he followed that up with third, fourth and sixth in the Italian, European and World championships respectively. In November he stepped up from OK-J to OK karts, coming second in the WSK FC then winning the LeCont Trophy.

Joe Turney continues to be one of the benchmark drivers in Europe, winning CotF, WSK SMS and FC and being on course for the CIK European title too until a disastrous last round. He leaves his factory Tony Kart kart to join rival Kart Republic in 2023.

Consistently one of the top OK rookies, Enzo Deligny came second in WSK Euro, fourth in CIK European and sixth in WSK SMS.

In the biggest events of the year, Jan Przyrowski was able to deliver as he was European championship runner-up and third in the World championship for OK-J karts. Winning the WSK Euro Series by a huge points margin was pretty impressive too.

A points-free round meant Lewis Gilbert finished third in the Rotax Euro Trophy, but he did a stunning wet weather double at the Wackersdorf finale, and he went one better in the International Final, Grandand Euro Golden Trophy by finishing second in both. Earlier in the year he was fourth in the BNL Kick-Off event.

Hong Kong-Malaysian Katrina Ee is working her way up the Asian karting ladder with success, and this year won the IAME Asia Series and Malaysian championship for X30 Jr karts. She also starred on the equivalent Rotax machinery, winning the Malaysian title and coming 17th in the Asia Festival.

Photo: IAME Asia Series

Ethan Jeff-Hall continued the British domination of Rotax competitions by winning the Euro Wintercup and Trophy at the junior level. He had less success at home, only coming fifth in the British championship, but did win the BNL Kick-Off.

Finally, a late bloomer in the year was Salim Hanna Hernandez. The Colombian won the WSK Open Cup in October, and Trofeo delle Industrie a week later.

Mini karting

On Mini karts, Spain’s Christian Contoya and Turkey’s Iskender Zulfikari were the stars of Europe. Costoya won the WSK Champions Cup and came second in the Euro Series, Super Master Series and Trofeo Andrea Margutti, then also finished third in the new WSK Super Cup and sixth in the FC. Zulfikari won the OC and FC and the IAME Series Italy title.

Andretti Autosport junior Oliver Wheldon won the USA’s national and Florida winter series, then stepped up to KA100 Junior and was a victory contender in the SuperNationals.

More from karting
2022 international karting winners list
Britons dominate but get into drama in historic Rotax Grand Finals
The title-turning karting team order that’s robbed an F1 junior explained
Why one of Alpine’s top students has already become a teacher
Changed approach in Chinese karting could lead to its next F1 drivers
Ukraine’s new racing champion flying his flag on karting’s world stage

The post The top karting stars of 2022 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Rotax Grand Finals

The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals capped off a super competitive 2022 season, but the fight to win the Rotax Senior element of the event was marred by incidents between Britain’s illustrious contenders 

At multiple points this week at Algarve, it looked like Team UK’s drivers would fill the top five positions in the most illustrious of all the categories at the Rotax Grand Finals: the Senior race.

While racing for some of the top teams in karting, drivers across the 72-strong entry list were also representing countries and there was some star additions including Formula Regional European Championship’s Eduardo Barrichello, former GP3 racer Akash Nandy and Team Canada scholar Kevin Foster. And of course some of the biggest names in senior karting right now.

Rotax Max Euro Trophy champion and Euro Golden Trophy winner Sean Butcher was one of the favourites, and was driving for his usual KR Sport team.

“So we still run under KR Sport but as a part of Team UK,” he explained to Formula Scout. “So there is always still the team rivalry but this event always will show who the best drivers are as it was as equal as the karts and engines will ever be.”

Rotax-powered karting is generally considered to have less performance disparity between karts than the FIA’s competitions using OK karts and multiple engine suppliers, and that was proved during the week with pack races where drivers down in 20th place were as fast as the leaders.

The week in Rotax Senior started with France’s Ethan Pharamond setting the pace in qualifying, with Butcher topping his group to be classified second overall. Next up were Rohaan Madesh (India), Zsombor Kovacs (Hungary) and last year’s Grand Finals runner-up Kai Hunter, then 2020 CIK-FIA World Karting champion and 2021 Rotax Euro Trophy champion Callum Bradshaw was down in 14th overall and Lewis Gilbert in 22nd.

There was a lot of rivalries being carried over, with Bradshaw having pipped Hunter to be British Karting champion this year, while Gilbert and Hunter had also been Butcher’s close rivals in the Euro Trophy.

Butcher brought home the first heat race win, with Hunter in 10th and Bradshaw a penalised 11th after a front fairing penalty knocked him from third, while Euro Trophy runner-up Kai Rillaerts won the second race of Wednesday.

Hunter started Thursday with a heat win, with Bradshaw rising from seventh to pip Butcher for victory in the next race. The pair repeated their triumphs in their third heats, but the day’s second round of the Bradshaw-Butcher battle ended with a collision.

Butcher started from pole for the final heat, with Bradshaw seventh on the grid. He made no progress on lap one, but jumped to third on lap two and then Miska Kaskinen and Bradshaw slipped down the inside of Butcher at turn two on lap three.

Kaskinen was driving rather messily in the lead, and on the next lap the door was left at open at turn one. Bradshaw was on his inside, and Butcher was on the inside of Bradshaw too, so completed a double move by turn two to reclaim the lead.

Bradshaw got loose and dropped to third behind Paraguayan Alejandro Samaniego, who hit the rear of Butcher as the front of the field started to congest. There was a lead group of at least eight going into the race’s second half, and Bradshaw passed Butcher on the outside under braking for turn two on lap eight of 10 to get back ahead.

They went into the penultimate lap a tenth of a second apart, and now with 10 drivers right on their tails. It got too close for comfort on the final tour, with Bradshaw drifting right to the middle of the road down the pit straight.

Butcher went even further right, managing to get halfway alongside on the run to turn one. But Bradshaw then moved across further and they made contact. The rear of Bradshaw’s kart jumped into the air while Butcher was sent spinning. Samaniego tried to avoid his out-of-control kart on the outside but was collected, ending both of their races in quite violent style.

Remarkably Bradshaw’s kart was neither penalised for or his kart damaged by the incident and he won ahead of Madesh and Gilbert, who predicted more on-track agression in the races ahead.

“To be honest I’m still not sure what happened, all that I know was that there was a clear gap so I went for it,” Butcher said of the clash. “At the end of the day I had it all to lose, so it would’ve been stupid of me to go for a move that wasn’t on. I definitely believed that the move was on.”

Pharamond topped the intermediate classification ahead of Kovacs, Hunter, Gilbert, Bradshaw and Kaskinen. Butcher’s retirement put him 17th, just behind team-mate Brandon Carr who was making his second appearance in senior karting after winning the British Karting Championship for Rotax Junior karts.

The favourites were still able to do battle in the first pre-final on Friday, with Hunter passing Bradshaw to win and with Butcher and Barrichello finishing just behind them in third and fourth.

Carr then climbed from eighth on the grid to win the second pre-final, edging Janne Stiak.

The combination of those results with the heats formed an updated intermediate classification and the grid for the final, with Hunter and Bradshaw sharing the front row. Behind them were Gilbert, Kovacs, Stiak, Pharamond, Rillaerts and elated karting returnee Barrichello.

Carr was 10th and Butcher was 12th, and Samaniego missed out on the final entirely.

Hunter, Bradshaw and Kovacs broke away in the opening laps, with Bradshaw taking the lead on lap four of 21 but Hunter reclaiming it next time by.

Bradshaw got back by on lap seven, with Kovacs aggressively going past Hunter too which enabled Stiak to close in.

Behind the top four, Butcher got to the front of the group battling for fifth and he set the fastest lap on lap 11 once in clean air. He had turned it into a lead group of six as Hunter passed Bradshaw again, and then the drama started to escalate.

On lap 16, Bradshaw went to pass Hunter on the inside on the short straight between the first two turns. Hunter cut across and forced him onto the grass, and Bradshaw slipped initially back to third behind Butcher as he rejoined the track.

Butcher was the driver on the attack and he started pressuring Hunter for the lead, with a gap to third appearing as Carr got into a podium position by passing Kovacs but then the Hungarian passed him back at turn 14 and it held everyone behind up.

With three laps to go Kovacs led Gilbert and Bradshaw in the fight for third, with the next group just behind consisting of Carr, Rillaerts, Barrichello, Stiak and Giuliano Raucci.

The next flashpoint came as Kovacs defended hard against Gilbert after turn one and almost pushed him off.

Despite this, Kovacs was closing back in on the top two. On the penultimate lap he defended hard again but then left the door open at turn nine, the second part of a twin-apex hairpin, and Gilbert tried going down his inside.

Bradshaw simultaneously snuck down the inside of both to emerge in third, and Kovacs was soon sent spinning down the order as Raucci rear-ended him at turn 11.

Hunter began the final lap half a second clear of Butcher, with a further 0.9s to Bradshaw and Carr.

Carr attempted what could have been a race-winning move on Bradshaw around the outside of turn three but ended up leading to both running very deep and allowing Gilbert to get back into fourth at turn four.

But they then both went wide through the corner and Gilbert on the outside briefly went off. As he rejoined the track he slid slightly, almost knocking Carr but avoiding contact.

That gave Bradshaw crucial breathing room through the final sector to secure third, while Hunter and Butcher’s battle didn’t get close enough to lead to an overtake and Hunter did what similarly successful brother Rhys has never managed to do by winning the event.

“It was absolutely amazing. It’s so hard to break the tow around here because it’s so strong, but went into – when Cal started defending I thought it was game on,” Hunter said once he hopped off his kart.

“Did him around the outside here, and then I think that was game over from then.”

But when it came to the prize-giving ceremony, it was Bradshaw, Gilbert and Carr standing on the podium.

Hunter was penalised five seconds for breaching the code of driving conduct and the general prescriptions on lawful defence with the move that put Bradshaw on the grass, while Butcher recieved a front fairing penalty despite avoiding contact through the final.

“In the final I knew I would have a lot of work to do,” said Butcher.

“However from the middle of the race I was so fast, I knew that the front pack would end up fighting so I was still comfortable enough to manage my tyres which helped me pull off some of the moves that I did later in the race.

“Also when I saw Callum on the grass I thought there would be a potential penalty for Kai.

“My penalty in the end was for front fairing, however it was because the clamp had snapped,” he revealed.

“Whilst the bumper was still in correct position. This caused it to not only go in, but move position and actually get caught underneath my front wheels which is what gave Kai the gap [at the end]. It was a very unfortunate result due to it being nobody’s fault except a part failure

Hunter and Butcher were knocked down to 10th and 11th, while Raucci got a 10s penalty for his collision and was dropped from sixth to 21st place.

Rillaerts and an elated Barrichello moving into the top five as a result, with Stiak sixth and Lemeray being classified seventh after starting 25th.

It was a historic result for British karting, but the top five lockout was denied by a moment where the victory meant too much. And for two of the contenders, there is now a crossroads of where to go next in their racing career.

Rotax Senior final results (21 laps)

The post Britons dominate but get into drama in historic Rotax Grand Finals 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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