Le Parisien TOP DEPART · Course Race⏱ 1h03

Twenty teams took to the 964-metre Karting Paul Ricard circuit on 30 September 2026 for a 62-minute endurance race. At the flag, it was R12 (kart #12) that clinched the overall victory with 47 laps completed, finishing one lap ahead of Citroën Visa (#13, 46 laps) and CX Pallas (#21, 46 laps), who secured third place 26.226 seconds behind second.

The result, however, tells only part of the story. R12 crossed the line first despite holding only the 4th-best pure pace among all 20 starters, posting a median lap time of 1:07.557. Their victory owed much to consistent execution: three pit stops managed cleanly, and a strong third stint of 13 laps anchored around a median of 1:05.318 — their fastest of the race, producing their best lap of 1:03.748. The first stint (11 laps, median 1:06.017) and the fourth (12 laps, median 1:09.090) were both rated stable, underlining the team's ability to maintain a steady tempo over long runs.

Citroën Visa was the runner-up in both the race result and pure pace rankings (2nd-best median at 1:05.724). Their two recorded stints were both rated stable, with opening laps down to 1:03.333 — the team's best of the race. They pushed R12 all the way but could not close the one-lap deficit at the flag.

CX Pallas was the undisputed pace leader of the entire event. Their median lap time of 1:03.642 was the fastest of any team across 20 starters, and it was their kart #21 that set the fastest lap of the race: 1:01.772. Yet despite that outright speed, CX Pallas finished third — illustrating how raw pace alone does not guarantee the top step in endurance racing.

Further down the order, 205 Junior (5th, 3rd in pure pace) and BX Break (9th, 7th in pure pace) both punched slightly below their rhythm in the final standings. BX Break was notably the most consistent team of the race with the lowest lap-time standard deviation (σ = 2.27 s), matched equally by Renault Avantime — a quality that, combined with an average pace of 1:08.522, was not fully rewarded in the classification. Renault Avantime (12th, 6th in pure pace) suffered from a first stint where lap times degraded by 0.41 s/lap, which likely compromised their overall tour count.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Citroën XM finished 8th despite ranking only 15th in pure pace (median 1:12.420), making them the team that most over-performed relative to their natural speed — a testament to strategic discipline across four pit stops. Meanwhile, Fiat Multipla was the only team to make four pit stops (vs. three for all others), completing just 28 laps and finishing 10th.

Among the back-markers, AMI6 (19th) recorded the steepest pace degradation of any stint in the race, losing 0.96 s per lap through their fourth relay — the sharpest drop observed across the entire field.

Key takeaways for teams: This race confirmed that pure speed must be paired with strategic consistency. CX Pallas had the fastest kart on track but finished third; R12 won with the 4th-best rhythm by managing each stint and pit stop with precision. Consistency (low σ) and degradation control were the differentiating factors over 62 minutes at Paul Ricard. Teams with strong opening-stint pace that fades over the relay — as seen with several mid-field runners — left significant time on the table.