RELAIS ESTIVAL · Course Race⏱ 42 min

Twenty-four teams took to the Karting Paul Ricard (964 m) circuit on 31 July 2026 for a 42-minute endurance race, delivering a tight and closely contested event from start to finish.

LA BONNEAUDE (kart #1) claimed victory after 36 laps, finishing ahead of L ET G (kart #24) by 17.154 seconds. Both teams completed the same number of laps and made three pit stops each. NO BRAKE (kart #22) rounded out the podium, also on 36 laps but 50.805 seconds off the lead, followed closely by LRFAMILLY (kart #17) at 57.934 seconds in fourth. The top four are separated by less than a minute, underlining just how competitive the leading pack was throughout the 42 minutes.

The fastest lap of the race was set by L ET G with a time of 59.621 seconds, making them the only team to dip under the 59.7-second barrier on the day. LA BONNEAUDE's best lap stood at 59.718 s, while NO BRAKE and LRFAMILLY clocked 1:00.750 and 1:00.703 respectively.

In terms of pure pace, the analysis confirms the finishing order at the top: LA BONNEAUDE posted the best median race pace at 1:00.395, with L ET G second at 1:00.804. Their four stints were models of consistency — LA BONNEAUDE's standard deviation of just 0.7 s across 36 laps reflects exemplary regularity, with each of their four relays trending either stable or improving. L ET G, for their part, were fractionally quicker in raw speed but showed slightly greater variance (σ = 1.02 s), notably a slower final relay median of 1:01.477 compared to LA BONNEAUDE's dominant closing stint at 1:00.030.

LRFAMILLY (4th on the road) produced the most consistent race of the entire field, with a standard deviation of only 0.68 s — four relays, all trending stable, with a median pace of 1:01.462 that ranked 3rd overall in pure rhythm. Their regularity was not enough to overhaul NO BRAKE (pace rank 4th, σ = 0.72 s), who matched them in laps completed and finished just 7.1 seconds ahead.

Further down the order, R&G (kart #23, 17th place) stand out as the clearest case of pace not reflected in the final standings: their pure rhythm ranked 10th in the field, yet they finished 17th — a gap of seven positions that warrants attention. Meanwhile, CANICULE (kart #6, 13th) posted a best lap of 1:00.321, one of the quickest single laps of the race, yet their median race pace placed them well outside the top ten, suggesting a pace that was inconsistent over the full distance.

At the other end of the spectrum, MILAN (kart #4, 20th) recorded the steepest degradation of the race, with their second relay showing a slowdown of 0.81 s/lap — the most pronounced drop-off across any stint on the day.

Key takeaways for teams: At Karting Paul Ricard, the 42-minute format rewards those who combine raw pace with lap-to-lap consistency. LA BONNEAUDE's win was built on the best median pace in the field and a closing stint that was their fastest of the race (1:00.030 median), showing that managing tyre and physical condition across stints is as decisive as outright speed. Teams like R&G, whose race pace outranked their finishing position by seven places, should focus on converting rhythm into clean, incident-free race management. Three pit stops proved to be the universal strategy among all 24 starters — making in-stint consistency the true differentiator.