Engi Talent · Finale Race

GROEP 10 took victory in the endurance final held on 24 September 2026 at Worldkarts Kortrijk (850 m), completing 77 laps to finish a full lap ahead of the chasing pack. The event brought together 24 teams in a highly competitive field spread across a wide range of lap counts and strategies.

GROEP 10 led the race with a median pace of 1:21.716, the 2nd best pure pace in the field, built on a remarkably consistent 22-lap stint (relais 4, regularité 0.85 s) that included their personal best lap of 1:19.830. With 6 pit stops, they managed their race efficiently, never falling below a competitive rhythm across their five stints.

GROEP 12 crossed the line in 2nd place (75 laps, 7 pit stops), earning recognition as the most consistent team of the race with an overall standard deviation of just 1.89 s. Seven stints of clean, progressive driving — several showing a positive acceleration trend — allowed them to hold off rivals with greater outright speed.

GROEP 20 completed the podium in 3rd, also on 75 laps but 31 seconds adrift of GROEP 12. Crucially, they set the fastest lap of the entire race: a 1:19.710 recorded during their final stint — which was also their quickest segment of the race (median 1:20.929). Despite finishing 3rd, their pure pace ranked only 4th in the field.

The battle for 4th and 5th was resolved by lap count: GROEP 9 (75 laps, 5 pit stops) edged GROEP 11 (72 laps) with just 0.109 seconds separating them on track. GROEP 9 stands out as the race's biggest strategic overperformer: ranked only 11th in pure pace (median 1:25.304), they converted that into a 5th-place finish through disciplined, longer stints and limited pit stops.

At the other end of the strategic spectrum, GROEP 19 recorded the best pure pace median of the race (1:21.231) but finished only 22nd. Their pace advantage could not compensate for time lost elsewhere over the course of the race — a striking illustration of how pit stop management shapes the final order in endurance karting.

GROEP 18 produced the most pronounced degradation of any team: their 8th stint showed a slowdown of 0.81 s/lap, the steepest fall-off recorded across all 24 teams. Despite showing genuine speed in later stints, the inconsistency across their 9 pit stop stints limited them to 7th place (70 laps).

GROEP 8 (10th, 71 laps) deserves a mention for consistency and raw pace — 5th best median rhythm at 1:23.532 — but could not translate that speed into a higher position, finishing three places below their pace ranking.

Key takeaways for teams: This final at Worldkarts Kortrijk confirmed that outright lap time is only one piece of the puzzle. GROEP 10 won not by being the fastest in absolute terms, but by combining a strong median pace with consistent stints and controlled pit stop count (6). GROEP 9's result shows that reducing pit stop frequency can yield significant time gains. Conversely, teams with high pit stop counts (8–9) and marked intra-stint degradation — GROEP 18, GROEP 11, GROEP 23 — struggled to capitalise on their speed potential. Consistency across all stints, as demonstrated by GROEP 12, remains a decisive competitive asset.