RELAIS ESTIVAL · Course Race⏱ 42 min

Twenty-three teams lined up on August 26, 2026 for a 41-minute endurance race on the 964-metre Karting Paul Ricard circuit, one of the most iconic karting venues in France. The event delivered a close and competitive contest at the front of the field, with the top five all completing 36 laps.

LA BONNEAUDE (kart #23) claimed victory with 36 laps completed, holding off FDRACRING (kart #14) by 10.718 seconds and TRINITY (kart #6) by 11.432 seconds. The top three were separated by less than half a lap after 41 minutes of racing — a testament to the intensity of the battle throughout the race. LRFAMILLY and LA TEAM ROCKET rounded out the top five, also on 36 laps but already 54 and 57 seconds adrift respectively. All five leading teams made 3 pit stops each.

The fastest lap of the race was set by FDRACRING with a time of 59.218 seconds. Despite this pace, FDRACRING had to settle for second place, 10.718 seconds behind the winner. LA BONNEAUDE's best lap of 59.771 s was fractionally slower in outright speed, but their overall execution proved superior.

From a pure pace perspective, LA BONNEAUDE led the field with the best median race pace at 1:00.222, just 0.008 s ahead of FDRACRING (1:00.230) and 0.17 s ahead of TRINITY (1:00.392). Crucially, LA BONNEAUDE also posted the best consistency figures of any analysed team, with a lap-time standard deviation of just 0.54 s — meaning their pace was not only quick but remarkably stable across all four stints. Their four relays were all rated stable or improving, with median stint times ranging from 1:00.011 to 1:00.346. This combination of speed and regularity explains why they converted their pace advantage into the overall win.

FDRACRING, by contrast, showed the highest variance (1.27 s standard deviation) among the podium finishers. All three of their final stints showed an accelerating tendency — gaining 0.19 to 0.22 s/lap within each relay — suggesting their drivers found their rhythm after each pit stop rather than hitting peak pace immediately. The approach ultimately left 10.7 seconds on the table versus LA BONNEAUDE.

TRINITY rounded out the podium with a median pace of 1:00.392 and solid consistency (0.84 s), their best relay being a near-flawless opening stint with a standard deviation of only 0.25 s.

One notable statistical story belongs to KART ATTACK (kart #15), who posted the 7th-best median race pace (1:01.741) among analysed teams despite finishing 10th — a deficit partly explained by their 4 pit stops versus the 3 stops managed by most rivals, which cost them track time. At the other end of the spectrum, TIGROU suffered the steepest pace degradation of any team in a single relay, losing 0.51 s/lap during their first stint.

Key takeaways for teams: This race confirmed that at Karting Paul Ricard, combining raw pace with consistency across all stints is the winning formula. LA BONNEAUDE dominated both metrics simultaneously — best median pace and best regularity — and won convincingly. Managing pit stop count also proved decisive: a fourth stop was enough to drop KART ATTACK several positions despite competitive raw speed. Teams aiming for the top spots must also control within-stint degradation, as even moderate lap-time drift compounded over 36 laps creates significant gaps at the flag.