RELAIS ESTIVAL · Course Race⏱ 42 min

Twenty-four karts took to the 964-metre Karting Circuit Paul Ricard on 12 August 2026 for a 41-minute endurance race. With a shared pit-stop strategy of three stops across the field, the result was shaped entirely by pace and consistency — leaving very little margin for error over 36 tightly contested laps at the top.

LA BONNEAUDE (kart #13) claimed the overall victory, completing 36 laps and finishing with a gap of one full lap over 3rd-placed R VARGAS. Their winning margin over LRFAMILLY (#16) stood at just 5.189 seconds — a narrow but well-earned result. The fastest lap of the entire race was set by LRFAMILLY, who clocked a 59.216, the sharpest single lap of the day. R VARGAS (#14) completed the podium in 3rd with 35 laps, 26.335 seconds adrift of the leader.

Behind the podium, IPER-K (4th, 36 laps), LÉO & GABRIEL (5th, 36 laps), JM RACE (6th, 36 laps), ASK (7th, 36 laps), AK3G (8th, 36 laps), and KART BANCAIRE (9th, 36 laps) rounded out the top nine, separated by less than two seconds from 6th to 9th — one of the closest groupings of the race. MAUDANE finished 10th, one lap down.

From an analytical standpoint, LA BONNEAUDE posted the best pure pace median of the field at 59.828 s/lap and was simultaneously the most consistent team, with an overall lap-time standard deviation of just 0.57 s. Their four stints were all rated stable, a textbook endurance performance. LRFAMILLY were close in median pace (59.843 s) but their lap-to-lap regularity was slightly higher at 0.69 s — yet they recovered impressively across their final two stints, both trending faster as the race progressed.

The standout strategic result of the race belongs to JM RACE, who finished 6th despite ranking only 10th in pure pace (median 1:01.401 s). Their first stint was exceptional — a median of 1:00.002 with a best of 59.461 — while their final stint recovered to a 59.743 median, masking a difficult mid-race phase. A high overall standard deviation of 1.44 s reflects significant pace swings across stints, but their strategy and timing of fast stints delivered a result well above their raw speed.

In contrast, JEAN-PHILIPPE (#21) finished 18th despite ranking 11th in pure pace — a clear case of pace that did not translate into classification, underlining how endurance races reward consistency and pit-stop execution as much as outright speed.

ASK (7th, pace rank 6th) and AK3G (8th, pace rank 7th) both delivered results closely aligned with their actual speed, with ASK showing a positive acceleration trend across all three of their final stints.

Key takeaways for teams: At Paul Ricard, combining best-in-class regularity (sub-0.60 s deviation) with a stable pace across all four stints — as LA BONNEAUDE demonstrated — is the clearest path to the top step. Outlier performances by stint (JM RACE) can compensate for a weaker overall median, but require precise timing. Teams with pace ranking well above their finishing position (JEAN-PHILIPPE) should focus on pit-stop sequencing and eliminating slow stints.