ENDURANCE 2H00 · Finale Race⏱ 1h36

The Finale of the endurance race at Racing Kart du Mans (Montfort-le-Gesnois), held on 18 October 2026 over 96 minutes on the 1,150-metre Piste Compétition, brought together 22 teams in a tightly contested battle decided by a mix of pace, consistency and pit-stop execution.

BMW (kart #21) took the chequered flag in first position with 86 laps completed, edging out Alfa Romeo (kart #24) by just 2.943 seconds at the end of the 96-minute race. Porsche (kart #6) rounded out the podium, also on 86 laps, 18.342 seconds behind the winner. Every team in the top field completed exactly 5 pit stops during the race. The top four finishers all ended on 86 laps, with Corvette (kart #11) fourth, one lap down.

Yet the timing sheet tells a more nuanced story. In terms of pure pace, it was Corvette that set the best median lap time across the race (59.444 s), making it the fastest team on raw speed — despite finishing fourth. Porsche posted the second-best pace (59.445 s) and Alfa Romeo the third (59.490 s), while BMW's median of 59.541 s ranked only 4th in pure rhythm. BMW's victory was therefore built on overall race management rather than outright speed.

The fastest lap of the race went to Alfa Romeo with a time of 58.600 s. Corvette's best individual lap of 58.742 s was the second-sharpest single-lap effort of the field.

Lotus (kart #14) was the most consistent team of the day, recording the lowest lap-time standard deviation across the race (σ = 0.99 s) while finishing fifth — a strong performance in regularity at a level ranking 5th in pure pace as well.

Ford (kart #7) illustrated the cost of inconsistency: despite a pace ranking of 7th, a turbulent second stint (median 1:03.362, σ = 2.42) and a difficult fifth stint (median 1:02.466, σ = 1.99) dragged the team down to 10th at the finish. Toyota (kart #19) suffered the race's steepest single-stint degradation in its second relay, losing 1.11 s per lap over just 6 laps, which contributed to an 8th-best pace ranking converting into only 12th place on the results sheet.

Corvette stood out for the opposite reason: the best pure rhythm of the race, the highest consistency (σ = 1.02 s, second only to Lotus), and relays that were almost uniformly stable — yet a one-lap deficit to the top three ultimately cost it a podium spot. Its first and fourth stints even showed measurable acceleration within the relay (+0.18 s/tour gained in stint 1), a sign of strong in-stint management.

Alfa Romeo's sixth and final stint was its best of the race (median 59.051 s, σ = 0.53 s), a commanding close that nearly overhauled BMW at the flag. Only a 2.943-second margin separated them after 96 minutes.

Key takeaways for teams: At Racing Kart du Mans, having the fastest raw pace is not sufficient — BMW won with only the 4th-best median rhythm, while Corvette (best rhythm) finished fourth. Managing stint degradation and maintaining consistency across all 5–6 relays proved decisive. Teams such as Ford and Toyota, despite genuine pace, paid dearly for high-variance stints. The tightest closing stint wins races: Alfa Romeo's σ of 0.53 in the final relay was the most clinical finish of the day, falling just short.