ENDURANCE 8 CV · Finale Race⏱ 3h04

Sologne Karting (Piste Nord, 980 m) – 12 September 2026 – 183-minute Final, 10 teams.

RENAULT clinched the victory on the Piste Nord of Sologne Karting in Salbris, completing 200 laps in 183 minutes to take the top step of the podium. BUGATTI crossed the line 31.652 seconds later on 199 laps, while FERRARI rounded out the podium one lap down in third. Further back, AUDI and TOYOTA were classified fourth and fifth respectively, both on 195 laps, with PORSCHE sixth (196 laps), MERCEDES seventh (193 laps), LOTUS eighth (192 laps), CITROËN ninth (187 laps), and VOLKSWAGEN tenth (182 laps).

All ten teams completed 11 pit stops, with the exception of LOTUS, who made 12 passages through the pits.

The outright fastest lap of the race was set by AUDI (kart #6) with a time of 48.492 s. FERRARI recorded the second-quickest individual lap at 49.602 s, while RENAULT's best of 49.718 s and BUGATTI's 49.781 s completed a tight group at the sharp end of the lap-time standings.

Pace and consistency analysis

In terms of pure race pace — median lap time across all stints excluding pit-lane laps — RENAULT led the field with a median of 50.912 s, confirming that their victory was built on a genuinely superior overall rhythm rather than circumstance. BUGATTI was the closest challenger at 50.988 s and also stood out as the most consistent team of the race, posting the lowest standard deviation of lap times at 0.91 s across 199 laps. Their 12 stints were overwhelmingly stable, with only one stint showing a slight quickening trend of 0.20 s/lap.

FERRARI finished third on the road but ranked only fourth in pure pace (51.527 s median), suggesting that consistency in pit strategy contributed to their podium. Their lap-time scatter was the highest on the podium (σ = 1.20 s), revealing greater variability between stints. LOTUS presents the most striking contrast of the race: eighth on the road yet third in pure pace (51.340 s median), the team was clearly penalised by factors beyond raw speed — their 12 pit stops (one more than most rivals) and higher lap-time variance (σ = 1.60 s) cost them dearly in net laps completed.

AUDI is the most polarising case: the fastest single lap of the day (48.492 s), but ranked only eighth in pure pace (51.813 s median) with the highest lap-time scatter of all (σ = 2.07 s). Their race alternated sharply between very quick stints (medians around 48.9 s) and much slower ones (above 53 s), pointing to a significant disparity between pilot stints. Their final stint also showed the heaviest degradation of the race, losing 0.59 s/lap over just 6 laps.

MERCEDES (seventh on the road) ranked fifth in pure pace at 51.602 s, but a standard deviation of 2.00 s — second highest in the field — underlines the same multi-level rhythm pattern seen in AUDI: some outstanding stints below 49.2 s median alongside others above 52–54 s. VOLKSWAGEN finished last on laps completed but ranked sixth in pure pace (51.692 s), their race truncated to only nine recorded stints.

Key takeaways for teams competing at Sologne Karting

The Finale on Piste Nord rewards teams that combine a strong median race pace with consistency across all stints. RENAULT achieved both and won convincingly. BUGATTI demonstrated that a σ below 1.0 s over 12 stints translates into a solid second place. Conversely, AUDI and MERCEDES showed that even when individual pilots produce the fastest laps on track, excessive rhythm variations between stints result in significant lap-count losses. LOTUS's case is a reminder that pure pace alone does not determine the finishing order: managing pit stop count and lap-time scatter over 183 minutes is equally decisive on this 980-metre layout.