With the first three rounds of the WSK Super Master Series held in Lonato, Cremona, and Franciacorta officially closed, it is time for CRG to take stock of this season's start. The 2024 chassis gave the feedback we expected and the inclusion of new drivers was also positive.

Christian Costoya claimed his first podium of the 2024 season on the second race weekend, the WSK Super Master Series at Lonato. Temperatures remained cold, but the weather was fine. The number of drivers had increased since the WSK Champions Cup and the competition was really intense on the 1200 m of the famous Italian track.

The WSK Master Series is a classic early-season event and will end in the short period between the end of January and the beginning of March. For the international karting drivers and teams, these ones will be important races to prepare for the FIA events season and to evaluate the 2024 materials through direct comparison on the track.

With 33 confirmed drivers, the official CRG Team promises to be one of the biggest and most competitive for the 2024 international karting season. The CRG Racing Team, which as announced last December, will be coordinated from a technical and organizational point of view by Natalia Balbo and Brandon Nilsson, will be able to count on a mix of experienced drivers and ambitious young ones in all categories.

The 2023 season was full of success for the KR Global Motorsport Company factory in the international categories and the results of the first major event of 2024 confirmed this trend, already auguring many successes to come. At the WSK Champions Cup in Lonato, the chassis won two titles, with Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing) in OK-Junior and Oleksander Bondarev (Prema Racing) in OK, a category that ended with four KR-IAMEs in the top four places!

The very first race of the 2024 season has just finished at Lonato. The WSK Champions Cup saw some intense battles in cold conditions. The first results of the event are in: Birel ART is already among the most competitive with Bertuca's podium in KZ2 and 2nd place for Eyckmans in OK.

The factory team will compete in all 4 major classes: KZ, KZ2, OK, and OKJ. Introducing you to our Drivers Lineup for season 2024. These drivers will represent Birel ART, VAR by Birel, and Richard Mille Young Talent Program in the most prestigious international competitions.

The informal chat with CRG owner Giancarlo Tinini is a classic end-of-year event, a meeting in which it is time to take stock of the season that has just ended, looking at the year that is about to begin by talking about objectives, both sporting and commercial. This is also a very interesting chance for dealing with general topics concerning karting, thanks to authoritative opinions and points of view, consolidated in over 40 years of experience in high-level karting.

In 2024 CRG will continue a process of repositioning the Kalì Kart brand in the International and National karting panorama. In the last two years, the collaboration with Jorge Pescador was launched for the Spanish market and the international races of the X30 Series, increasing commercial and sporting activities also in many other European and Asian countries.

In OK, the KR brand never goes very long without winning a title. This time, it was Dmitry Matveev's turn to be crowned at the end of a well-controlled meeting. At Franciacorta, it wasn't just the KR Motorsport team that took the podium, as VDK Racing with Thibaut Ramaekers and DPK Racing with Niklas Schaufler in OK-Junior finished their season in style.

OTK Kart Group's flagship brand consolidates and expands its "Racing" offer, which ranges from the multi-winner Racer 401 RR- 3-time world champion already -to the Rookie, intended for MINI categories, now also available in the new EVM version.

This season CRG has been one of the main brands in the spotlight in the FIA international races, taking the 2nd place in the two most important European Championships (in KZ with Jeremy Iglesias and in OK with Gabriel Gomez), the title of Vice World Champion in KZ with Viktor Gustafsson and P2 with Alessandro Manetti in the KZ2 Master World Cup. The OK World Champion title could also have been added to this trail of notable results if Gabriel Gomez had not been stopped by an accident when he was the leader of the race.

After races in Mülsen, Genk (Belgium), and Wackersdorf, the DKM squad travels on to Kerpen. The 1,107-metre Erftlandring has a long tradition in German motorsport and is an integral part of the DKM race calendar. In the past decades, the circuit in North Rhine-Westphalia has often been the starting point of a successful motorsport career. 

In the KZ World Championship, the KZ2 World Cup and the KZ2 Masters International Super Cup, the Sodi Racing Team chassis played all the leading roles in Germany, displaying exceptional competitiveness. Émilien Denner and the Sodi Racing Team, who took pole position and led the Final after the start, were sorely lacking in success in KZ.

2022 KZ World Champion Viktor Gustafsson (SWE) and CRG factory driver has just recorded his seventh International Karting Ranking (IKR) result of the season at Wackersdorf. His 2nd place in the Mondokart.com FIA Karting World Championship - KZ and his consistency in the other KZ events on the FIA Karting International Sporting Calendar that count towards the IKR means that he is now in 1st place in the KZ category. With 2621 points, he is ahead of the new reigning champion Paolo Ippolito and Matteo Vigano. 3rd in the World Championship, Stan Pex has moved up three places in the KZ rankings.

On the Wackersdorf circuit, due to a first lap featured by a crash involving several protagonists including Tony Kart driver Tom Leuillet, the Tony Kart Racing Team is unable to go beyond the 5th place finish in the FIA Karting World Championship.

At Wackersdorf, Birel ART put in a very good performance in all three categories of the FIA World Karting meeting. Despite a number of ups and downs on the track, the results were ultimately positive, with Daniel Vasile finishing 3rd in the KZ2 World Cup. Thomas Mich was on the podium in the KZ2 Masters International Super Cup and Matteo Vigano (Leclerc by Lennox Racing) took 4th place in the World KZ Championship. Birel ART finished well ahead in the KZ2 team rankings.

Crowned European KZ Champion in July with Danilo Albanese, the KR Motorsport team has now won the supreme title of FIA Karting World Champion - KZ with Paolo Ippolito. KR chassis and IAME engines confirmed their very high potential in the gearbox categories. At Wackersdorf, Stan Pex (SP Motorsport) completed the podium in the premier class and Alex Powell finished 2nd in the KZ2 World Cup, while Kean Nakamura-Berta set the fastest lap of the race. KR Motorsport won the FIA Karting team title in KZ and Prema Racing was runner-up in KZ2 in its first year.

At the end of the 40 Qualifying Heats contested since Friday afternoon, the first verdict fell on Saturday evening in Wackersdorf. David Trefilov (DEU) leads the intermediate standings in the Mondokart.com FIA Karting World Championship - KZ, Alex Powell (JAM) leads in the FIA Karting World Cup - KZ2 and Davide Forè (ITA) is in first place in the FIA Karting International Masters Super Cup - KZ2.

In Germany, the 1190 m long Pro Kart Raceland circuit from the Qualifying sessions showed that the Wackersdorf competition was going to prove formidable. Under sunny skies but with reasonable temperatures, three polemen were rewarded on the morning of Friday 8th September: Émilien Denner (FRA) in KZ, Maksim Orlov in KZ2 and Mirko Mizzoni (ITA) in KZ2 Masters.