Kart Republic has just taken the number of FIA European Karting Championship titles won in the OK category to six out of seven attempts since the Italian brand launched in 2018. At the final round in Kristianstad, Sweden, the KR-IAME packages were impressively successful: Joe Turney celebrated his first crown at this level with another win secured by a healthy margin; Fionn McLaughlin finished 3rd in the Final; Thibaut Ramaekers claimed Championship bronze in his first season in OK. In OK-Junior, Noah Baglin took 3rd place on the podium and was the top rookie in the overall standings, in which Iacopo Martinese came 3rd, as he did in 2023.
KR leads from start to finish in OK
In both dry and wet conditions, the KR chassis demonstrated a high level of performance on the magnificent Kristianstad circuit. As early as Timed Practice, Jimmy Helias (VictoryLane) set a new circuit record of 48"729 when he took pole position. Thibaut Ramaekers (VDK Racing) then took the lead after the heats with four wins, while his team-mate Fionn McLaughlin won three times. Helias and Turney won two heats each.
After this fine series of victories in the sunshine, the rain arrived the next day. McLaughlin won the first Super Heat ahead of two KR Motorsport drivers, Dmitry Matveev and David Cosma Cristofor. In the second Super Heat, Turney secured 2nd place and Noah Monteiro (KR Motorsport) made the most of 4th place.
In the Final, Turney put on a real demonstration. The new European Champion finished almost four seconds clear with the fastest lap of the race. McLaughlin completed the top three. A little further back, several KR-IAME drivers grouped together between 8th and 12th place: Salim Hanna (Prema Racing), Monteiro (3rd best rookie in 2024), Matveev, Lewis Francis (KR Motorsport) who gained 14 places and Scott Kin Lindblom (Fusion Motorsport), who then dropped back behind Helias to 15th position due to a penalty (front fairing). Andrea Dupé moved up 13 places to 17th. Joseph Smith, Jacob Micallef, Matt Corbi, Vegard Klemetsen, Peter Stiller, Leo Nilsson and David Cosma Cristofor all managed to qualify for the Final. Ramaekers was unfortunate in the Final, but finished 3rd in the Championship, thanks in no small part to his victory in Slovakia.
Noah Baglin on the podium in OK-Junior
Several drivers were aiming for the podium with their KR chassis, which is also very effective with the 'option' version of the Maxxis tyres. Right from the heats, Noah Baglin (Prema Racing) won four heats and Dean Hoogendoorn was 2nd in the intermediate classification with two wins. Kenzo Craigie moved up a gear by winning his Super Heat ahead of Kit Belofskiy (Fusion Motorsport), while the karts were this time equipped with treaded tyres.
In the Final in difficult conditions, Noah Baglin held his nerve to finish 3rd. In doing so, he became the top rookie in the European Championship, having climbed to 7th place just behind Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing). The best position went to Iacopo Martinese (Cetilar Racing), ranked 3rd after his victory in France at Val d'Argenton. Well done to Belofsky for moving up 16 places to 7th in the Final behind Craigie. 9th-placed Australian James Anagnostiadis impressed with his 18-place improvement. Hoogendoorn came very close to breaking into the top 10. In all, 12 KR-IAME-equipped drivers took part in the Final, including Kraeling, Cochet, Rousseau, Manach Klisowski, Coronel and Garst.
A comment from Dino Chiesa, Head of KR Global Motorsport Company
"After Janker, Travisanutto, Antonelli twice and Nakamura Berta, I'm very happy to see Joe Turney become European Champion in OK on a KR-IAME. When he joined our team in 2023, he confided in me his disappointment at never having won a title in FIA Karting. This time, he has and he finished in style with a magnificent victory in Sweden. It was another excellent meeting for us, but I would like to highlight the extremely positive results for Kart Republic. Our equipment was very competitive at every event, with all our teams, on all the circuits and in very different weather conditions each time. After winning in previous years with Bridgestone, LeCont and MG in OK, or even Vega in OK-Junior, we won this time with Maxxis. I should add that KR Motorsport leads the team rankings before the World Championship and that our chassis equipped just over 30% of the drivers at Kristianstad. Finally, I'd like to thank IAME for their fantastic work, which enables us to supply all our drivers and the drivers of satellite teams with the same high-performance equipment.”