13H00 de L'ORNE · Finale Race⏱ 6h28

On 17 October 2026, the Ouest Circuit International d'Essay in Aunay les Bois hosted the Final of a gruelling 387-minute endurance race on the 1,220-metre Piste 1 layout. Twelve teams lined up, and the event delivered a dense, tightly contested battle across the top five positions.

Scuderia Varoise (kart #30) claimed overall victory with 654 laps completed, two ahead of LMA Racing Sport (652 laps) and four ahead of Young&Wild (650 laps). Turbo Racing Performance finished fourth at 5 laps, and MRK Challans 1 rounded out the top five at 6 laps. The top five all completed their race with 17 pit stops, a symmetry that underlines how closely the strategic choices were aligned among the frontrunners.

From a pace analysis perspective, the result faithfully reflects the true performance hierarchy at the top. Scuderia Varoise posted the best median race pace of 1:06.838, ranking first in pure pace — a remarkable achievement considering they also won on the road. Their consistency was equally impressive, with an overall standard deviation of just 0.82 s, maintained across ten stints, the vast majority of which were rated as stable. This combination of outright speed and consistency was the decisive factor in their victory.

The most striking analytical story belongs to Kasongo Yéyé (kart #14), who recorded the 2nd-best median pace of 1:07.123 — ahead of Turbo Racing Performance (3rd, 1:07.248) and LMA Racing Sport (4th, 1:07.270) — yet finished last, 33 laps off the lead. Despite 17 pit stops and excellent individual stint regularity (σ = 0.82 s), the team's total lap count (621) suggests that other factors over the 6.5-hour race ultimately cost them dearly in terms of total distance. Their speed was real, but it did not translate into a competitive result.

LMA Racing Sport is identified as the team that best outperformed their pace ranking: classified 2nd on the road while sitting only 4th in pure pace (median 1:07.270), they extracted more from the race than their raw speed warranted. Their ten stints were all stable, with very good regularity (σ = 0.82 s), and their best lap of the entire event — 1:05.279, the fastest lap of the race — illustrates that their kart had genuine top-end potential.

Among the teams running 19 pit stops — Turbo Racing, LLG Racing, Pinpin 1, Pinpin 2, Full Gaz Racing and GH Racing — the results were more modest, with gaps to the leader ranging from 12 to 33 laps. LLG Racing stands out with a concerning episode in their 6th stint (8 laps), where pace degraded by 0.38 s per lap — the most significant single-stint degradation recorded across the entire field. GH Racing (kart #37) had the slowest median race pace of the field at 1:09.102, which is reflected in their 11th-place finish.

Turbo Racing Performance deserves a special mention as the most consistent team overall: their standard deviation of 0.79 s was the lowest in the field, across nine perfectly controlled stints. Despite this discipline, they finished 4th — pace and laps ultimately count more than regularity alone at this level.

Key takeaways for teams: At Essay, winning pace and winning consistency can coexist, as Scuderia Varoise proved. Pure pace means little without converting it into laps — Kasongo Yéyé's 2nd-best median time finishing last is a cautionary tale. The top five were separated by just 6 laps over 387 minutes, confirming that any gain — in pit-stop efficiency, stint management or avoidance of slow phases — is decisive at this circuit.