CHALLENGE GUENIFEY 2026 · Finale Race⏱ 2h07

Twenty-three teams lined up on the 983-metre circuit of Prestige Karting in Le Luc en Provence for the Final of this 126-minute endurance race held on 24 October 2026. At the end of 99 gruelling laps, it was JOASSIN (kart #23) who took the victory, crossing the line a full lap ahead of the second-place finisher on the road.

JOASSIN secured the win with 99 laps completed, ahead of DOQ/CHAS/CHAZE (kart #24) — also on 99 laps but 8.063 seconds back — and MENARD (kart #9), third at 52.915 seconds. PALOMBIER/HAMIEL (kart #12) finished fourth, one lap down, while GRAILLE (kart #1) rounded out the top five, 25.221 seconds behind PALOMBIER/HAMIEL. Every finisher bar the last (HADJI, 2 pit stops, 21 laps) completed the full 7-stop strategy.

The fastest lap of the race was set by DOQ/CHAS/CHAZE in a time of 1:01.982, the sharpest single lap of the entire afternoon.

Analysis reveals a compelling contrast between outright speed and race management. DOQ/CHAS/CHAZE posted the best pure pace of the field with a median lap time of 1:03.912 — nearly 0.17 s/lap quicker than winner JOASSIN's median of 1:04.081. However, their consistency was more variable (standard deviation 1.41 s vs. 0.86 s for JOASSIN), and a notably slower stint 4 (median 1:05.304) cost them ground they could not fully recover despite a blistering final stint (median 1:02.600, accelerating at 0.26 s/lap).

JOASSIN built their victory on the most consistent performance in the field — the lowest standard deviation overall (0.86 s). Their eight stints were remarkably stable, with the team actually improving as the race wore on: stints 6, 7 and 8 averaged 1:03.881, 1:03.492 and 1:03.571 respectively. This ability to maintain pace without degradation, rather than raw speed, proved decisive.

PALOMBIER/HAMIEL present an intriguing case: third-best pure pace (median 1:04.845) but fourth place overall, hampered by the highest consistency gap in the top four (standard deviation 2.05 s) and a difficult third stint (median 1:08.745). MENARD, fourth in pure pace at 1:04.892, converted that into third place through solid, regular stints. Further down, DAMECOUR (kart #18) stands out as the most penalised by inconsistency: eighth-best median pace but only 13th at the flag, with a sixth stint that deteriorated by 1.01 s/lap — the steepest degradation of any team in the race.

Key takeaways for teams: At Prestige Karting Le Luc en Provence, consistency across stints proved more decisive than peak lap time. JOASSIN's win demonstrates that a tight standard deviation and steady pace improvement over the course of the race can overcome a speed deficit at the top of the timesheet. Managing tyre and driver degradation within each stint — particularly avoiding heavy drop-off in median pace — appears critical on this 983-metre layout. Teams capable of combining a competitive median pace with low stint-to-stint variation, as DOQ/CHAS/CHAZE nearly achieved, will consistently challenge for victory.