McChallenge Juniors · JR Gold Race Race⏱ 26 min

The JR Gold Race at Worldkarts Kortrijk (Kortrijk, 850-metre circuit) brought together 12 starters for a 25-minute endurance race on 20 September 2026. At the chequered flag, it was HALLAERT Finn (kart #55) who took victory, completing 14 laps and finishing a lap ahead of the chasing pack on the road — a margin confirmed by the "Ronde 15" gap in the official results.

VANHAVERBEKE Achilles (kart #58) crossed the line in second place, 5.556 seconds behind the winner, while BAELE VAN ISEGHEM Aryan (kart #52) completed the podium at 5.836 seconds. TRAENS Damien (kart #61) finished fourth at 9.015 seconds, with DE VRIES Ruben (kart #59) and SEYS Senna (kart #68) rounding out the top six at 15.531 and 16.816 seconds respectively. Behind them, JONCKHEERE Maxent (kart #67) placed seventh at 19.660 seconds, TAZI Nathan (kart #70) eighth at 24.322 seconds, BURGGRAEVE Rémy (kart #60) ninth at 26.945 seconds, ROELS Maxim (kart #69) tenth at 35.547 seconds, KINDT Owen (kart #62) eleventh at 38.805 seconds, and DESMET Marvin (kart #56) twelfth at 44.339 seconds. The fastest lap of the race was set by HALLAERT Finn in 1:18.100.

Pace analysis: Hallaert dominant across the board. HALLAERT Finn led not only on the road but also in pure pace, posting the best median lap time of the field at 1:18.460 and the lowest overall consistency figure at just 0.33 seconds standard deviation. His two stints were both characterised as stable, with a slightly improved median in the second stint (1:18.441 vs 1:18.481). With 2 pit stops, he combined speed, regularity and efficient pit strategy to seal a commanding victory.

VANHAVERBEKE Achilles held the 2nd-best median pace (1:18.604) despite making 3 pit stops. His first stint showed the most pronounced pace drop of the race, slowing by 0.28 s/lap, before he responded with a strong second stint that improved by 0.20 s/lap — finishing with a best lap of 1:18.172, the second fastest of the race.

BAELE VAN ISEGHEM Aryan also showed a positive trajectory in his second stint, improving by 0.24 s/lap to post a median of 1:18.462 — good enough for 3rd-best pace overall. TRAENS Damien was similarly progressive in his final stint (+0.22 s/lap), holding 4th place in both the race standings and the pace rankings.

One notable observation from the data: TAZI Nathan (kart #70) finished 8th on the road but ranked 7th in pure pace (median 1:19.368, standard deviation 0.54 s), suggesting his final position did not fully reflect his raw speed over the course of the race.

Key takeaways for teams: At Worldkarts Kortrijk, this race demonstrated that pace and consistency must go hand in hand — HALLAERT's victory was built on both the best median time and the best regularity on track. A 2-stop strategy proved decisive at the front, while teams on 3 stops needed strong pace in each stint to compensate. Any notable time loss per lap in an early stint is difficult to recover, as illustrated by VANHAVERBEKE's first-stint degradation despite his second-stint recovery. Managing a stable rhythm throughout remains the priority on this technical 850-metre circuit.