At the Kristianstad circuit in Sweden, the venue for the fourth and final round of the FIA Karting European Championship, their Tony Kart Racer 401 T dominated the ‘Junior’ final and narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the ‘Senior’ class.
The Tony Kart Racing Team concluded the 2026 FIA Karting European Championship for the OK and OKJ categories as one of the standout performers. At the fourth and final round in Kristianstad, Sweden, the Tony Kart Racer 401 dominated the OKJ ("Junior") final, powered by the Vortex VTJ engine, while also battling for a podium finish in the OK ("Senior") category with the support of the Vortex VTS power unit from the OTK Kart Group engine division.
In the OKJ class, Emerson MacAndrew-Uren claimed his first-ever victory in an FIA Karting competition, on his debut in the ‘Junior’ category. The British driver kicked off the final round of the championship with two third-place finishes in Friday’s qualifying heats, before adding another third place and a victory on Saturday. With second place in Super Heat B on Sunday morning, MacAndrew-Uren secured second place on the grid for the afternoon final, having consistently occupied the top positions throughout the weekend.
At the start of the weekend’s final race, despite being on the less favourable outside line, their driver made an excellent start that allowed him to take the lead immediately and, by the end of the first lap, he already had a significant lead over the rest of the field. Thanks to impeccable race management in the early stages, MacAndrew-Uren extended his lead in the second half of the race, crossing the finish line alone under the chequered flag.
A difficult qualifying session forced Julian Frasnelli to face an uphill battle. The Italian nevertheless managed to make his mark in the qualifying heats thanks to several comebacks and the fastest lap in the heat for Groups B and F. Starting from the back of the grid in the final, the Italian gained 15 places in the opening lap and, with an incredible series of overtakes, came within just 0.091 seconds of the podium, making him the race’s top climber with 29 places made up.
Stepan Mazepin also made his mark during the final, climbing 21 places up the order and coming close to the top 10. Augustin Feligioni, Jean Poujol, Oiva Vettenranta, Antonio Ianni and Yubo Wen recorded impressive lap times during the Swedish round, gaining valuable experience ahead of the upcoming events on the calendar.
In the OK class, Ilie Tristan Crisan confirmed his status as one of the category’s leading drivers, starting with qualifying, where he set the third-fastest time in Group 2. The Canadian then secured four third-place finishes in the qualifying heats and finished third in Super Heat A, securing fourth place in the overall standings ahead of the final. In Sunday’s race, thanks to a brilliant start, Crisan moved into second place shortly after the start and remained in contention for the podium right up to the chequered flag.
Building on the performance that had seen him win the bronze medal in the previous third round of the championship at Mülsen, Valerio Viapiana staged another remarkable comeback in the Kristianstad final, climbing 20 places and coming within a whisker of the top 10. Having returned to action last week at the Champions of the Future Euro Series following an injury, Thomas Pradier achieved a third-place finish as his best result in the qualifying heats, but a retirement in the third race saw him drop down the provisional standings. Despite this, the Frenchman managed to take part in the final, as did his team-mate Gilles Herman, who had enjoyed a positive run in the heats.
Jindřich Pešl, Endo Arata and Gabin Adam worked closely with the technical staff, contributing to the team’s strong overall performance throughout the weekend.
The Tony Kart Racing Team will take a break over the coming weeks, before returning to the track at the end of the month for the first round of the WSK Final Cup, scheduled to take place at Franciacorta (26–30 August).