At the end of each season, the CIK-FIA establishes a specific ranking of drivers up to the age of 16, participating for the first time in the FIA Karting World Championship and the FIA European Karting Championship in the OK category. The aim is to highlight the young talent that emerges in their first season at the highest level of competition.
This year, some forty drivers met these criteria. The British driver Arvid Lindblad was particularly outstanding. He was named 2021 Rookie of the Year thanks to his convincing results during the European Championship and the FIA Karting World Championship – OK.
Last year’s runner-up in the European Championship and fifth in the FIA Karting World Championship – Junior, Arvid Lindblad (KR/IAME/MG) finished third in both the European Championship and the FIA Karting World Championship – OK in 2021, aged just 14. He scored 153 points in the CIK-FIA rankings to become the 2021 Rookie of the Year ahead of Bulgaria’s Nikola Tsolov (KR/IAME/MG) with 106 points and Russia’s Artem Severiukhin (Tony Kart/Vortex/MG) with 88 points.
FIA Karting Rookie of the Year
2021: Arvid Lindblad (GBR)
2020: Andrea Kimi Antonelli (ITA)
2019: Gabriele Mini’ (ITA)
2018: Harry Thompson (GBR)
2017: Sami Taoufik (MAR)
2021 FIA Karting Best-of / Photo © KSP