International karting has been doing well for several years now. The trend was confirmed in the summer of 2024 with good participation figures at the Champions of the Future Euro Series in Sweden, a solid entry list for the next FIA Karting event at Kristianstad and record attendance at Le Mans for the Rotax Max Challenge Euro Trophy.
At the fourth round of the season, the Champions of the Future Euro Series welcomed 198 drivers in two categories to Kristianstad. For the first time, the number of OKs (100) slightly exceeded that of OK-Juniors (98). Always seen as an excellent preparation for the FIA Karting events, which it runs just ahead of on the same tracks and under the same conditions, the RGMMC series has over time developed its autonomy as an international championship not to be missed.
Since the opening of the Kristianstad track, Sweden has gradually established itself as a country in international karting. In Champions of the Future, the initial field of 193 drivers at Valencia (ESP) grew to 173 at Val d’Argenton (FRA) and then 166 at the Slovakia Kart Center before rising to 198 at the Åsum Ring (SWE). In addition to the attractiveness of its circuit for foreign drivers, Kristianstad is attracting more and more national drivers, thus contributing to the overall rise in the standard of Swedish drivers.
This trend is confirmed by the number of entries for the fourth and final round of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship, scheduled for the first weekend in August. Records have once again been broken, with a total of 293 entries in three categories, including the Academy Trophy. Just to simplify the comparison, let’s consider the OK and OK-Junior categories, which have reached a total of 242 entries thanks to the impressive presence of almost 60 wild cards, drivers entered for just one event, unlike the others who take part in the whole Championship. Never before seen!
Thanks to the stability of the well-designed formulae used by OK and OK-Junior since 2016, and thanks to the collaboration between the CIK-FIA team, led by Kees van de Grint, and the manufacturers, the demand from teams and drivers is driving an expansion of the offering which benefits the entire karting industry. There is also no doubt that the financial situation in some quarters is sound, and that karting is an expensive but highly rewarding sport. A situation which naturally continues in single-seaters with the growth of the Junior categories.
On a different level, in the Rotax Max world, the trend is similar, as we saw at the sixth edition of the Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy, which has just taken place in Le Mans (FRA). The number of participants rose from 216 in 2021 to 318 this year in the six categories involved, with a high of 108 Senior drivers. The success of the event can be attributed to the French organisation 3MK Events, supported by Rotax-BRP, as well as to the quality of the Rotax products.
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