2020 FIA Karting Best-of: Felipe Massa, President of the CIK-FIA
As everyone knows, nothing went as planned in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of unforeseen circumstances, it was necessary to react and adapt. The CIK-FIA quickly took the measure of this new context, but the decisions were taken without hesitation after many exchanges with the karting stakeholders.
The first point was to be able to set up a new calendar according to the extent of the COVID-19. Brazil realised very early on that it would not be possible to organise the FIA Karting World Championship - OK & Junior this year. Le Mans then expressed its problems in organising the FIA Karting World Championship - KZ, and Sweden was unable to host the opening Competition of the FIA Karting European Championship - OK & Junior as planned.
In the end, we only lost two European Championship Competitions, one of the four dedicated to the OK and Junior categories and the annual Superkart meeting in Le Mans. All the other Competitions were able to be rescheduled on different dates and sometimes on different circuits. The staff of the CIK-FIA in Geneva and the Promoter RGMMC have worked hard to ensure that the season could be maintained, but I would also like to thank the ASNs and the organisers who did their utmost to obtain this result, which was not a foregone conclusion.
The FIA Karting Championships have been able to hold their rank in 2020 with very honourable line-ups, especially during the World Championships. Everyone understood that compliance with the infection-control protocol set up by the FIA was essential. The generalisation of PCR tests to access an FIA Karting Competition was essential to protect and reassure the community and the local or national authorities.
I personally ensure that the CIK-FIA is more than ever attentive to the karting community. Drivers, teams and organisers will have to deal with the consequences of this pandemic and we must do our utmost to support them in a difficult period. We were able to announce the 2021 sporting calendar very early on to set the important benchmarks for the coming season. You know that the organisation of the FIA Karting World Championship - OK and Junior in Brazil is particularly close to my heart for several reasons. We are well aware that nothing is certain for the moment: we don't yet know how humanity will be able to face the virus in the long term.
However, glimmers of hope are lighting up in different parts of the world, let's be vigilant, let's be ready to take up new challenges, let's remain enthusiastic!
The CIK-FIA is more than ever attentive to the karting community.