6H Open Kart · Course Race

The Le Mans Karting International – Alain Prost circuit (Piste Alain Prost B, 980 m) hosted a fiercely contested endurance race on 19 September 2026, with 35 teams on the grid. At the chequered flag, SPIRIT OF KART (kart #2) took the victory with 282 laps completed, one lap ahead of FLM RACING TEAM (kart #7) and two ahead of INFINITY RACING GT1 (kart #21).

The top three finishers all made 8 pit stops, underlining the tight strategic alignment at the front. TEAM GR KART (kart #18) and KISS COOL BY AEA (kart #43) rounded out the top five with 278 and 277 laps respectively, also on 8 stops. AEA BY KISS COOL (kart #80) and FLM RACING TEAM 2 (kart #19) completed the top seven, separated by just 10.991 s and 6 laps from the leader. ALPINE KARTEAM PRO (kart #17) finished 8th, a further 10.991 s behind its sister car on the road.

The fastest lap of the race was set by FLM RACING TEAM in a 1:03.029. Paradoxically, the race winner SPIRIT OF KART posted its own best lap at 1:03.045 — just 16 thousandths slower — while carrying the best pure pace median of the entire field at 1:03.912, making them the dominant force on both outright speed and consistency.

Analysis reveals a clear gap between those who converted their raw pace into results and those who could not. FLM RACING TEAM delivered the best overall consistency (σ = 0.96 s) among the frontrunners, with remarkably stable stints throughout the race. Their opening stint of just 10 laps was particularly sharp, with a median of 1:03.348 s and the fastest lap of the race set in that window. FLM RACING TEAM 2, their sister squad, was the most consistent team across the entire 35-car field (σ = 0.85 s), translating that regularity into 7th place with a median pace of 1:04.951.

One of the most striking contrasts came from TEAM RACLETTE (kart #29), which ranked 7th on pure pace (rythme médian not published in the repères but confirmed as 7th), yet finished only 20th — a significant gap between potential and classified result, likely explained by its 11 pit stops versus 8 for the leaders. ENDURANCE RACING TEAM (kart #92) told the opposite story: ranked 18th on pure pace, they used their strategy of 8 pit stops to climb to 9th place in the final classification, outperforming their raw speed by nine positions.

The sharpest tyre degradation of the race was recorded by KISS COOL BY AEA, whose second stint saw pace drop at a rate of 0.74 s per lap — the steepest loss in the field. The team recovered well across subsequent stints, stabilising their pace to finish 5th.

Further down the order, LES BIRDYIES (kart #27) finished 34th after accumulating 16 pit stops, the most of any team, finishing 47 laps off the lead. REPTILIA RACING (kart #22) closed the classification in 35th with 228 laps and just 7 stops — the fewest of any team — suggesting a different race unfolded for them.

Key takeaways for teams: At Le Mans Karting International on 19 September 2026, victory came from combining the sharpest pure pace (SPIRIT OF KART, median 1:03.912) with a disciplined 8-stop strategy and consistent lap times. Teams running 11 or more stops conceded substantial track time and struggled to match their pace potential in the final classification. Limiting tyre degradation within stints — particularly avoiding the kind of 0.74 s/lap drop seen in KISS COOL BY AEA's second stint — and maintaining low lap-time variance (σ below 1.0 s) appear to be the clearest differentiators between the top eight and the rest of the field.