The most important event of the season for the Shifter categories, the FIA Karting World Championships for KZ, KZ2 and KZ2 Masters, takes place this week, from 17 to 20 September at the Le Mans circuit in France. Located in the Loire region and world-famous for the circuit that hosts the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the city will become the capital of international karting as the most prestigious titles of the year in the three KZ categories are decided.
All eyes will be on the top KZ class, where the level of both drivers and teams is expected to be exceptionally high. In this category, the CRG Racing Team will field four drivers, led by Viktor Gustafsson, the 2022 World Champion and one of the leading contenders in the late-August warm-up event, where he finished runner-up. Gustafsson also enjoyed an excellent European Championship campaign, finishing third overall in the standings. Joining Gustafsson in the official CRG Racing Team line-up will be Adrian Malheiro, another leading performer in this year’s European Championship, together with Olin Galli, Jiri Becicka and Arthur Carbonnel. The latter will be making his return to competition after almost two years away from racing, but he showed at the August warm-up event that he has the pace to fight at the front.
The opposition will be both numerous and highly competitive, with no fewer than five World Champions set to take part in the event. CRG will also field seven drivers in KZ2, a category featuring a huge 112-driver entry list. Among the drivers to watch from the CRG stable will certainly be Aloïs Girardet, as well as brothers Samuel and Jean Luyet, Adrien Destruel, Cesar Rodina and Juan Carlos Hernandez. Racing alongside the official team with a Kalì Kart chassis, Daniel Maciá will also be among the protagonists to watch. The weekend will also feature the KZ2 Masters, reserved for drivers aged over 35. With a number of highly experienced competitors taking to the track, CRG will field a strong and competitive line-up consisting of Ebrahim Wagner, Alexandre Vincendet, Julien Guéant and Alessio La Martina.
The event schedule gets underway with Free Practice on Thursday and Friday, with Qualifying Practice bringing Friday’s track action to a close. The Qualifying Heats will follow on Saturday, before the decisive Sunday programme, featuring the Super Heats in the morning and the Finals in the afternoon, where the World Champions in each category will be crowned. Fans will be able to follow the action via the official FIA Karting website, with Live Timing available throughout the event, as well as Live Streaming on the FIA Karting YouTube channel.
Jeremy Iglesias, Team Principal of CRG, looks ahead to the event: “CRG has a strong winning tradition in the KZ categories, as also highlighted by the great video celebrating the World Championship title won by Max Verstappen with our team in 2013, which the FIA has republished on its channels in recent days. Once again this year, our main reference within the team will be Viktor Gustafsson, who has already won the World title and, above all, has done an excellent job preparing for this race, both during testing and at the late-August event, where he finished on the podium.”
“Our team is highly competitive across the board and I am confident that we can perform strongly in all three categories. As usual, we will be competing with TM Racing engines, continuing the partnership between TM and CRG, one of the longest-standing and most successful partnerships in these categories. A one-off World Championship leaves no room for error at any stage of the weekend. This will be a decisive factor in ensuring that we reach Sunday’s Finals in the best possible position to fight for the titles.”
Provisional timings
Friday 18 September
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM — Free Practice
3:15 PM – 3:45 PM — KZ2 Masters Qualifying Practice
3:45 PM – 4:45 PM — KZ2 Qualifying Practice
4:45 PM – 5:00 PM — KZ Qualifying Practice
Saturday 19 September
10:00 AM – 6:20 PM — Qualifying Heats
Sunday 20 September
09:50 AM – 10:40 AM — KZ2 Masters Super Heats
10:40 AM – 11:30 AM — KZ2 Super Heats
11:30 AM – 11:55 AM — KZ Super Heat
1:00 PM — Drivers’ Presentation
1:30 PM — KZ2 Masters Final
2:30 PM — KZ2 Final
3:30 PM — KZ Final