RELAIS ESTIVAL · Course Race⏱ 19 min

Twenty-two teams took to the Karting Paul Ricard track (964 m) on 21 August 2026 for a 19-minute endurance race, producing a tight and competitive contest from start to finish.

LES MINOTS (kart #14) claimed the overall victory with 18 laps completed, finishing ahead of TOMUS (kart #2) by a margin of one lap in terms of classification — TOMUS crossing the line 0.961 s behind at 17 laps — and ahead of PLANARD CPR (kart #20), third at 18 laps but 7.366 s back. LES PINK LADIES (kart #21) rounded out the top four, also on 18 laps, just 0.4 s further adrift at 7.766 s. Each of the 22 teams completed exactly 3 pit stops during the race. The fastest lap of the entire race was set by LES MINOTS in 59.502 s.

The analysis reveals a particularly interesting story at the top of the standings. TOMUS held the best pure pace of the entire field with a median lap time of 1:00.155, yet finished second — demonstrating that on-track execution and timing around pit stops can be as decisive as raw speed. Their second stint (median 59.923 s, best 59.631 s) was their strongest, gaining 0.16 s per lap throughout. LES MINOTS, second in pure pace (median 1:00.388), built their victory on a remarkable second stint: median 59.908 s, best 59.502 s, with a consistent improvement of 0.17 s per lap and an excellent lap-to-lap consistency of just 0.59 s standard deviation.

LES PINK LADIES (kart #21) deserve special mention for their outstanding consistency: overall standard deviation of just 0.66 s, with the second stint rock-solid at 0.48 s — the tightest in the analysed field. They held third in pure pace and converted that into a very solid fourth place overall. FREE DRIVERS (kart #5) were similarly regular (0.63 s), maintaining an almost perfectly identical median pace across both stints (1:01.192 vs 1:01.191), a model of controlled driving.

Further down the order, MECHE (kart #4) stands out as the session's hidden performer: 9th in pure pace yet classified only 15th, a gap that points to time lost around pit stops rather than a lack of speed. Conversely, LF1 (kart #24) gained three positions relative to their pure pace ranking, finishing 12th despite only the 15th-best median lap time. KARTOON (kart #26) showed the highest lap-time variability in the analysed group (1.28 s overall, peaking at 1.56 s in stint one), highlighting scope for more consistent driving.

Key takeaways for teams: Pure pace alone does not decide the outcome on a 19-minute race with 3 compulsory pit stops — as TOMUS's case illustrates. Second-stint progression was critical for the podium finishers, with all three top teams improving their pace as the race developed. Consistency (low lap-time standard deviation) proved a reliable path to strong classifications, while high variability cost time regardless of outright speed.