Within CRG’s headquarters, the guidelines for the first full season that the Lenovo Kalì Kart team will face in 2026 have been outlined. The official Kalì Kart team (a brand owned by CRG), which has been racing under the prestigious colors of its title sponsor Lenovo since last September, looks to 2026 with high ambitions, bringing to the track a broad and structured project focused particularly on youth categories.
Before announcing the driver lineup in the coming days, the team management presented the sports programs and the organizational structure of the team. Regarding the racing programs, the core of the project will be built around the MINI category for drivers aged 8 to 11, with a program that will include WSK races and the Italian Championship. For these key entry-level karting categories, the program will not be limited to MINI Gr3 races, but will also feature some appearances in the Rok Cup to build a wider base of drivers to train for future seasons and higher categories.
The team, which will manage the program based in Italy, will also have drivers in the OKN (National) categories for the 11–17 age group. Considering that the FIA World Cup OKN 2026 will be hosted in Italy at the Viterbo track, this program will also have significant sporting value and will strengthen the Kalì Kart development pathway for International categories.
The International OKJ and OK categories will represent the “pyramid’s peak” within the team’s programs, with at least four drivers taking part in the most important FIA Karting events (European Championship and World Championship). This will be the most demanding commitment from both a technical and sporting point of view, with a program of around 20 international races and the season’s highlight being the FIA World Championship scheduled for November in Bahrain.
Racing programs will, of course, be differentiated according to the categories, but in some events the team will compete in full, such as at the double event in Viterbo (WSK Euro and WSK Master next February), which will be the first official commitment of 2026. Afterwards, the team will take part in all remaining WSK events, the Italian ACI Championship, and, with the OKJ and OK categories, also in preparation races for FIA events such as the Champions of the Future.
The organizational structure that the Lenovo team is setting up in these first months of activity looks to the future, as emphasized by Marco Angeletti, CRG’s Marketing Director, who coordinates the Lenovo Kalì Kart team:
“2026 will be the first full season for the Lenovo Kalì Kart Team, and we have planned a series of strategies that can give us the best results in the medium term, considering that the partnership and goals we have developed with Lenovo’s management look ahead to the next three years. For this reason, we will have almost two distinct teams: one based in Italy, focused on the MINI and OKN categories, through which we will train future drivers for International championships. Even in FIA Karting races, we wanted to keep the Academy goals of our project at the center, making agreements in the OKJ category with young drivers in whom we see potential and talent, but who will still need to follow a learning and consolidation path, especially in the first part of the season. At the same time, we will have an experienced reference driver who will provide useful feedback on technical developments and allow us to aim for notable results in the first year. Combining results and driver development will be our mission, and to achieve these objectives, we are building a solid team, not only regarding the drivers but also the overall team structure. Mariano De Faveri has been confirmed as head of the technical sector, assisted by some new staff members, while team and driver management will be coordinated together with Lenovo staff, from whom we will primarily receive technological support and, at the same time, benefit from their know-how acquired in high-level motorsport programs such as F1 and MotoGP. Their experience and authority will be a great added value for this karting partnership project and will provide our drivers with concrete support, not only in this phase of their career but also for the future, both in terms of communication and management.”