In order to highlight the emergence of young talents at the highest level of Competition, each year the CIK-FIA compiles a specific ranking of Drivers aged up to 16, participating for the first time in the FIA Karting World Championship and the FIA Karting European Championship in the OK category. Among the thirty or so drivers meeting these criteria, the Italian Gabriele Mini’ has distinguished himself remarkably well throughout the season. He scored the highest number of points and has been named Rookie of the Year for 2019.
The young Drivers who compete against their elders in the benchmark category of direct-drive karts, OK, regularly make up a large proportion of the field. Trained in OK-Junior, these youngsters challenge very experienced Drivers without intimidation throughout the international season, including former World Champions and European Champions. That is why CIK-FIA has decided to highlight the best prospects of the year by creating a Rookie ranking that counts all the results achieved in the FIA Karting World Championship and the FIA Karting European Championship – OK for Drivers up to 16 years old on their debut in the category.
European Vice-Champion and FIA Karting World Vice-Champion – Junior in 2018, the Italian Gabriele Mini’ (Parolin/TM Racing/LeCont) managed to become FIA Karting European Vice-Champion – OK in his first year in the top category at just 14 years old. He scored 151 points to become 2019 Rookie of the Year ahead of Taylor Barnard (KR/Iame/LeCont) with 114 points and Dino Beganovic (Tony Kart/Vortex/LeCont) with 93 points.
Info FIA Karting / Photo © KSP