European Championship at SLOVAKIA RING already this week!

Orechová Potôň, 17. jún 2024 - FIA Karting European Championship starts at SLOVAKIA RING this week, from June 20th to 23rd! The Slovak Karting Center will experience a surge of world-class talent. Of course, there will also be Slovak participants.

The Slovak Karting Center will host up to 252 young competitors, including 15 "wild cards," from 62 countries and five continents. There will be 95 drivers in the OK category, 106 competitors in the OK-Junior category, and 51 young talents from 51 countries in the Academy.

The Slovak track is shorter than the previous circuits, with a length of 1172 meters. It features many narrow and moderately slow technical corners, reminiscent of older, original types of karting circuits. The track goes counter-clockwise.

In the OK-Junior category, Belgian Dries Van Langendonck is in the lead. Spaniard Christian Costoya and Italian Iacopo Martines are eager to shake up his position. Englishmen Roman Kamyab and Sebastian Minns aim for the top five, while the talented Niklas Schaufler (Austria) should not be overlooked. Rocco Coronel (Netherlands), son of the famous touring car racer Tom Coronel, was very convincing at the first event in Val d'Argenton, France.

The Slovak round of the FIA Karting European Championship in the OK category could experience a new twist in the battle between the British Joe Turney and Brazilian Gabriel Gomez. Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium), Matheus Morgatto (Brazil), Lewis Wherrell (England), and Louis Iglesias (France) are also expected to be involved in close fights.

The situation in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy standings is also very interesting for Slovakia: our Jakub Gašparovič and Dan Allemann (Switzerland) lead the standings! After some bad luck in France, the true potential of racers Nikolaos Karagiannis (Greece), Lilian Soares (France), Sacha van't Pad Bosch (Netherlands), and Erik Poulsen (Sweden) will be revealed.

Schedule:

Friday June 21

08:00 – 13:20 : Free Practice

13:25 – 15:13 : Qualifying Practice

15:50 – 19:05 : Qualifying Heat

Saturday June 22

08:00 - 09:39: Warm-up

09:50 - 18:45: Qualifying Heat

Sunday June 23

08:30 - 09:55: Warm-up

10:05 - 10:40: Qualifying Heat - Academy

10:45 - 12:20: Super Heats - Junior & OK

13:55 - 16:35: Finals

Interesting facts:

štartovné na jedno podujatie je 1050 eur (za jazdca). Celý pretekársky víkend profesionálneho tímu však stojí až 15-20 tisíc eur! Pre menšie súkromné tímy (ako aj slovenské) to vychádza na približne 6000-7000 eur za víkend (plus štartovné). Celá sezóna tak môže vyjsť tie najväčšie tímy aj na pol milióna eur a samotný konkurenčný vývoj už pripomína Formulu 1. Záleží aj, aké drahé materiály používate, koľko motorov či pneumatík si dokážete zabezpečiť a pod. Najlepšie tímy menia na každý tréning novú sadu pneumatík (220 eur)...

Niektoré deti jazdia už od svojich štyroch rokov (napr. Max Verstappen), no väčšie súťaže začínajú približne od 5-6 rokov.

Max. rýchlosť na našom okruhu SKC je 122 km/h, čo je vlastne diaľničná rýchlosť na otvorenej motokáre bez pásov, kde sedíte takmer na zemi a v konkurencii tuctov ďalších pretekárov okolo vás. Pričom motokáry OK majú 150 kg a juniorské 145 kg.

Preteky na SLOVAKIA RINGU môžete sledovať zadarmo a naživo priamo na okruhu, alebo aj v oficiálnej aplikácii FIA Karting Championship (www.fiakarting.com) a na sociálnych sieťach promotéra. Slovensko zastupuje sedem pretekárov vo všetkých troch triedach.

Ďalšie informácie nájdete poriežne na www.slovakiaring.sk.

The entry fee for one event is 1050 euros (per driver). However, a whole race weekend for a professional team can cost up to 15-20 thousand euros! For smaller private teams (including Slovak ones), it comes out to approximately 6000-7000 euros per weekend (plus the entry fee). The biggest teams can spend up to half a million euros for the whole season, and the competitive development itself is starting to resemble Formula 1. It also depends on how expensive materials you use, how many engines or tires you can secure, etc. The best teams change to a new set of tires (220 euros) for every practice session.

Some children have been driving since they were four years old (e.g., Max Verstappen), but bigger competitions start around the age of 5-6.

The maximum speed on our SKC circuit is 122 km/h, which is essentially highway speed on an open go-kart without seat belts, where you sit almost on the ground, competing with dozens of other racers around you. Meanwhile, OK karts weigh 150 kg and junior karts 145 kg.

You can enjoy races as a spectator for free, or use the official FIA Karting Championship app (www.fiakarting.com) and also check out the promoter's social media. Slovakia is represented by seven racers in all three classes.

For more information, please visit www.slovakiaring.sk.