For the eighth consecutive year, OTK Kart Group has provided the FIA Karting Academy Trophy with professional equipment and technical support helping to ensure the continued success of this unique formula, aimed at detecting and training young karting talent. The 45 drivers competing in 2023 on identical Exprit / Vortex / Vega packages, allocated by drawing lots, put in three high-quality meetings.
Once again, the FIA Karting Academy Trophy enabled a large number of young drivers aged between 12 and 14 from all over the world to take part in a high-level international competition accessible at an extremely reasonable cost. Through its ASN, each country can enter one of its emerging talents and allow them to make their mark in their quest to a career in Karting. Since its creation, the Academy Trophy has been held on renowned circuits such as Le Mans, Sarno or Wackersdorf at meetings held in conjunction with other FIA Karting Championships, benefiting from streaming broadcasts and significant media coverage.
On the track, the formula offers the maximum guarantee of sporting fairness, as Erica Robazzi, who heads up the OTK Group’s technical staff, pointed out: “Our partnership with FIA Karting and the Academy Trophy began in 2016. Our aim has always been to provide high-performance karts with strictly equivalent performance. At OTK Kart Group, we are proud to be part of this project. As well as training and detection, this competition helps to promote karting throughout the world. With each new season, we make it a point of honour to offer the best possible service to our drivers.”
As in every year, the result was a very open and competitive 2023 Trophy. Spain’s Hugo Martí proved to be the most consistent over the three events, taking the coveted crown. Despite victories by Norway’s Marius Barry-Berg in T?inec, Greece’s Vasileios Apostolidis in Rødby and Poland’s Wojciech Woda in Cremona, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places went to Australia’s Max Walton, Lithuania’s Markas Silkunas and Argentina’s Santino Panetta.
Of the five women entered, France’s Lisa Billard was the best performer, finishing 7th in the final rankings after her podium finish in Italy. Poland’s Klara Kowalczyk, the representative of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission, was a worthy 12th. In all, 44 different countries were represented at this 2023 event.
OTK Kart Group’s dedication and support is backed up by a few facts and figures:
– It took more than 80 hours to assemble the Exprit chassis at the Prevalle factory in Italy, near Brescia.
– Assembling the Vortex OK-Junior engines and putting them through their paces on the test bench took over 160 hours.
– At each event, OTK Kart Group dispatched extensive logistics, a large stock of spare parts and a staff of eight.
– No fewer than 226 engine swaps between drivers were carried out throughout the three events to ensure sporting fairness: 64 in May at T?inec (Czech Republic), 76 in June at Rødby (Denmark) and 86 in July at Cremona (Italy).
Info FIA Karting / Photo © KSP