The first Competition of the Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship’s season took place in Valencia (ESP) from 22nd to 24th March 2024 and was witness to an excellent level of participation.
Across the OK and Junior categories, 184 Drivers took part, representing 47 nations from all five continents, the highest figures of the OK generation era.
The transition from the Junior category (12 to 14 year-olds) to the OK category (14 year-olds and over) once again revealed the great potential of the some of the youngest Drivers, with Lewis Wherrell (GBR) finishing 3rd and four more rookies in the Final top 10 : Thibaut Ramaekers (BEL), Zac Drummond (GBR), Davide Bottaro (ITA) and Markas Silkunas (LTU).
On-board camera images were broadcasted for the first time during live streaming thanks to Service Provider RGMMC’s technological innovation. “The camera was developed in-house by our team,” said James Geidel, President of the RGMMC Group. “Its features include a very low weight and the transmission of a high-definition video signal with undetectable latency. After almost a year of development, we are now satisfied with the product and can begin to include the new features we have planned to expand our in-car camera experience for viewers.”
Another first in Valencia saw Maxxis tyres be introduced in FIA Karting. This was the Taiwanese brand’s first official involvement as sole supplier in an FIA Karting Competition, even though Maxxis has been producing karting tyres since 1987 and homologating them with the CIK-FIA for decades.
Adapting to the new Maxxis tyres was quick and easy for the teams. The Maxxis Prime tyres for the OK category and the Maxxis Option tyres for OK-Junior chosen by FIA Karting for the 2024 season were immediately well received by all the participants with performances and impressive comparable times achieved to last year in the two categories. Wear over the course of the heats proved to be very well controlled with the OK Drivers taking into account the management of their tyres in Qualifying and during the Heats with the rubber gradually settled on the Spanish asphalt helping to improve the overall racing experience right through to the Final.
Parolin Motorsport Team Principal Marco Parolin reflected the general opinion when he said: “We were able to work ahead of this first European Championship race to find out how the Maxxis tyres behaved, particularly the OK category primes. Our results were largely in line with our expectations, and we didn’t have any particular problems with the way the races went.”
Numerous Drivers positively confirmed the comfort and efficiency of the Maxxis tyres across the Competition
Maxxis and its European representative Schuurman bv, present on site with Pim Speelman, Rob Van Es and the legendary Harm Schuurman himself were on hand throughout the weekend to offer advice and feedback.
The second Mondokart.com FIA Karting European Championship – OK & Junior will take place at the Val d’Argenton circuit in France, from 25th to 28th April 2024.
Info FIA Karting / Photo © KSP