User:Thomvd2/sandbox

The Kart World Championship (KWC), previously called Indoor Karting World Champion (IKWC) is a karting/kart racing championship where participants race with the karts provided by the hosting track/circuit. This is also called sports karting, rental karting, arrive & drive karting, indoorkarting, etc. The competition has been staged annually since 2005 (starting as IKWC, renamed to KWC after the 2011 edition, when the organisation also saw some changes in management) with an increasing number of contestants from an increasing number of nations.

The aim is to race with equal conditions; all drivers must have the exact same weight (added balast to equalize), and everyone drives a different kart every race. The karts are mechanically as equal as possible.

The Kart World Championship is not to be confused with the Karting World Championship, which is ruled by the CIK-FIA, where drivers bring their own gear and mechanics etc.

The KWC is accessible to all drivers (for now), so anyone can participate and no qualification is needed. However a serious level of experience and skill is recommended to race with the best of the world. If you are not deemed skilled enough and/or you present a danger to other drivers on the track, the organisation has all the rights to exclude you from the event.

A lot of countries organise events and championship that can be seen as 'feeder series' for the KWC. The winners usually get a free KWC entry, and/or other related prizes. These events can give a good idea of the level of the KWC. If you can race at the front here, you won't likely be racing at the back in the KWC itself.

The prize for winning the KWC is usually 1000 USD cash, and a free entry for the event the year after.


 * KWC site: http://www.kartworldchampionship.com/
 * IKWC site: http://www.indoorkartworldchampionship.com/

Competitions
The KWC consists of some sub-competitions as well. These have been changed a bit throughout the years, and not all of them existed when the KWC was founded. An overview below.

Main
The main class consists of all drivers aged 18 and up. All drivers drive on the same weight of 90 kg (only the 2008 event was a one-off with 2 main classes).

In the current format the championship consists of nine races; six 30-minute races for all participants, one 60-minute race for all participants, one 45-minute race for all semi-finalists, one 60-minute race for all finalists. (This format has been changed and tweaked a bit throughout the years.)

Junior
There is also a junior class for drivers under the age of 18. Previously they drove in a seperate class on 75 kg, but as of 2015 they drive in the main class, but at the end of the championship there is a seperate ranking for juniors only. Note: the minimum age to participate in the KWC in 14, unless vouched for by a national representitive...

Women
The (adult) women also drive in the main class, and at the end of the championship there is a seperate ranking for women only.

Masters
All drivers aged 40 and up also drive in the main class, but at the end of the championship there is a seperate ranking for these drivers only.

Nations Cup
Usually the day before the individual championship there is also an endurance team-races. Each team represents a (part of a) country, and consists of 4 drivers, of which at least one must be a passport-holder of the specified region.

Team Championship
All individual drivers can belong to a team, with a limit of 4 drivers per team. Each round, the 3 best scores for the drivers of that team are added. At the end of the championship, the team with the highest score is the winner of the team-championship.

Statistics
All kinds of statistics can be found on Ruben Boutens' statistics page.

If you compare race wins/participations and podiums/participations as well as points, one can again see that the most succesful drivers appear to be the likes of Mathias Grooten, Robin Borremans, Kenny Geldhof, Ruben Boutens, Gregory Laporte, Felipe Vieira, Mats de Jong, Maximilian Beer, Werner Truegler, etc.

2005
40 drivers from 9 different countries

"For the 1st time ever, drivers from across the world met to compete in an Indoor Kart World Championship event held at a rental kart facility. The historic event, organized by Racingschools.com, brought together in competition 40 drivers from 9 different countries at the F1 Race Factory Indoor racing facility in Phoenix, Arizona - USA. Drivers from Brazil, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia, even Jamaica and Ukraine, as well as plenty of Americans, took on the challenge. In the end, after 2 grueling days of racing where drivers ran 4.5 hours of racing + practice, 33 year old Austrian driver Werner Truegler (Team CartofCart.com / kartsport.at / kcm.at) took home to Vienna, Austria, the World Championship Title, as well as US$2000, and a free entry for next year's event (US$500)."


 * IKWC 2005 results


 * IKWC 2005 report

Women
There were 2 women participating in the event, but sub-competitions didn't exist yet so there were no special ceremonies.

USA's Lexxie Flotto finished in 20th position while here compatriot Valerie Smith ended not too far behind in 26th.

Junior
Sub-competitions didn't exist yet and no real junior drivers participated.

Masters
Sub-competitions didn't exist yet.

Nations Cup
Didn't exist yet.

2006
84 drivers from 14 different countries

"The 2006 Racingschools.com Indoor Kart World Championship was once again an Austrian affair, and this time, 23 year old Alex Gumpenberger from Aigen-Schegl, Austria, driving for Team Plus-City.at, was the one able to emerge above all others and clinch the overall driver's Indoor Kart World Championship Title.

The change in format of the 2006 IKWC proved to be a big challenge for organizers. The IKWC was a tough competition in 2005, but the much larger number of drivers and the greater number of shorter races in 2006, created a much more competitive scenario. There were dozens of top quality drivers in this competition, all champions and race winners at their home tracks, all of course, with high hopes to finish at the top in their races."


 * IKWC 2006 results


 * IKWC 2006 report

Women
"There were 6 women racers in the 2006 IKWC, as opposed to just 2 in 2005. Though there was no official "womens" competition, Justine Vanwynsberghe from Belgium (Team BlueStar-RacingTeam.be finished as the best female driver, with a 45th place overall. As 2nd best, only 3.5 points behind, came Valerie Smith from the USA (Team MotorsportsMania.tv) with a 50th overall finishing position, and in 3rd, Paula Cordeiro from Brazil (Team TopKart.com.br), who finished in 70th place."

Juniors
Sub-competitions didn't exist yet.

"The youngest driver in the race was 13 year old Chris Pratl from Austria (Team Plus-City.at). Chris was able to score 1 victory and a fastest lap in Round 2, but 3 later results in the 12 point range kept him out of the final. Pratl scored a 33rd overall IKWC finish."

Masters
Sub-competitions didn't exist yet.

"The oldest driver in the race was 56 year old Otacilio Oliveira from Brazil (Team TopKart.com.br). Otacilio had a relatively good performance, which included a 2nd place in Round 4, and missed making the final by just 3 positions. Oliveira scored a 27th overall IKWC finish."

2007
85 drivers from 13 different countries

"After 4 days of competition at F1 Race Factory Indoor Karting center in Phoenix - USA, 20 year old Brazilian driver Rodrigo Faulhaber (Team NOVA Top Kart) was able to overcome all odds and obstacles, and emerge as the 2007 Indoor Kart World Champion!

Eighty-five drivers from 13 different countries flocked to the mega-sized F1 Race Factory Phoenix facility for a shot at the 2007 World Title of kart racing's most popular class: 4cycle rental kart racing. After 4 days of competition, which included 5 races ranging between 30 minute sprints and 1.5 hour long endurance events, Rodrigo Faulhaber was able to beat the 2005 World Champion, Austrian Werner Truegler (Team Plus-City Kartsport.at), for this year's Title by just 3.5 points, the smallest margin ever. Truegler himself edged 3rd place Mathias Grooten (Team Talentpromotion.be) from Belgium by a mere 1 point. Grooten actually finished in a tie for 3rd with his team mate Bart Van de Vel, but had the tie-breaker advantage of 3 wins over Van de Vel's 1 victory during the event. The 2005 and 2006 IKWC points races had been close, but this one was the closest.

After a 3 year run at the F1 Race Factory in Phoenix, the 2008 IKWC will likely take place in Belgium. This would kick off a new calendar system for the IKWC, which would have the event performing a yearly rotation between Belgium, Brazil, and the USA. The expansion hopes open the series to an even broader world audience of drivers and fans, and to improve the overall level of the sport from every aspect of its infrastructure."


 * IKWC 2007 recap & results

This was the first edition of the KWC where the Belgian powerhouses like Mathias Grooten and Robin Borremans competed, both widely regarded amongst the best drivers on the planet.

Grooten seemed to be clearly the strongest throughout the event, and won almost every race. He had bad luck with a mechanical failure in 1 race, which dropped him all the way to 12th in the standings. A convincing victory in the final could only bring him back up to third.

Juniors
Junior sub-competition didn't exist yet.

2008
92 drivers from 15 different countries

"After 3 years at the F1 Race Factory Indoor Racing Center in Phoenix - USA, the Indoor Kart World Championship finally got enough strength and support to truly "go global". It was decided after the 2007 IKWC that the event would now be run on a yearly rotation between Europe, North America, and South America, and the decision was very celebrated by the IKWC participants. The move however, was not without a few bumps on the road, but once all organizational sides came into agreement, the 1st IKWC held outside the USA was confirmed in February 2008. It would be in Europe in early August 2008, and the track ultimately chosen was Worldkarts - Flanders Indoor Karting, in the city of Kortrijk, in Belgium.

However, one of the major problems the IKWC encountered with the tracks in Europe, was that although there are a significant number of tracks that have big enough facilities to host the Indoor Kart World Championship event, none could meet certain current standards of competition that were already in place. The most significant of these limitations was ballast. The Indoor Kart World Championship has always been an event where drivers of all ages and sizes compete directly against each other, so a ballast system that can add 100lbs (45kg) to the karts was developed for the chassis used at F1 Race Factory in Phoenix, allowing all drivers to race at a 200lbs (90kg) minimum weight. A track with a similar ballast system (or willing to implement such a ballast system) could not be located in Europe. The decision was then made that the 2008 IKWC at Worldkarts would be run with 2 divisions: a Light Class (75kg), and a Heavy Class (at 90kg). This would be an exceptional case, for 2008 only.

Curiously, "home track advantage" had never been a factor at the Indoor Kart World Championship events that took place at the F1 Race Factory in the USA. The South American and European drivers consistently overshadowed the best local drivers from Phoenix and USA in general. However, the story was very different in Kortrijk, and the locals were the class of the field. The Belgian drivers were very fast in practice, took most of the pole position spots on "Pole Day", went on to win 16 of the 26 races run (8 out of 12 races on Race Day 1, 3 out of 6 races on day 2, another 3 out of 6 races on Day 3, and both Final Grand Prix races on day 4), with 2 Belgians ultimately winning the Championship."


 * IKWC 2008 recap


 * IKWC 2008 results

This was the first edition that took place in Europe. The IKWC management picked Belgium, as it is -together with Brazil- one of the countries with the best drivers out there. At the time however, Belgium (or even Europe) had no tracks that provide karts that can hold additional ballast. For this reason the decision was made to run the IKWC in 2 different weight-classes. This would be the case for the 2008 event only.

As the venue of choice was located in Belgium, many Belgian drivers competed and showed off their raw pace and racing skills. They could walk away with many of the top 10 positions...

Women
"The 2008 Indoor Kart World Championship Woman's Category, which included all women drivers regardless of weight division, was won by Belgian driver Lindsey Vigne (Team Talent Promotion B) with 85 points, followed by Nicole Kronsteiner from Austria (Team Austria 2) with 61 points, and Camille Verstraete (Team Eurokart.be) from Belgium in 3rd, with 55 points. A record 6 women drivers competed at the 2008 IKWC, and all actually ran together, directly against each other in the Light Weight Category. They finished 17th, 31st, and 37th respective in the overall Lights World Championship results."

This was the first edition where a female driver also reached the final of the event (the very fast Belgian Lindsey Vigne).

Juniors
Junior sub-competition didn't exist yet.

Masters
"The 2008 Indoor Kart World Championship Masters Category, which included all drivers 40 years old and older regardless of weight division, was won by 40 year old Pablo Marlangeon (Team TopKart / Kart Granja Viana / Margeon) from Brazil, with 40 year old Colombian Diego Morales (Team Formula Americas) in 2nd. It was another close finish. Both drivers qualified for the Heavy Final GP, and their results in the Final would determine who between the two would be the 2008 Masters Champion. Marlangeon finished 14th in the race, with Morales not too far behind in 16th. The result gave the Title to the Brazilian. The 3rd place in the Masters went to 58 year old driver "Slow" Assis from Brazil, who did not qualify for the Lights Final GP, but had managed to score enough points (66 pts) to guarantee 3rd place even before the Final had been run. Marlangeon finished in 17th overall position in the IKWC (Heavy), with Morales in 18th."

Nations Cup
"This was the 1st year that the Nations Cup would be run as a separate event, and it was planned as a 3 hour Endurance race for teams of 4 drivers. Originally, the new Nations Cup rules required a minimum of 3 drivers from the same nation to form a team, but this rule was found to be restricting entry to certain teams such as Hong Kong and Austria, which wanted to compete but had less than 3 drivers from their countries available. In the name of promoting camaraderie and more competition, the minimum number of drivers was reduced to 1, and the IKWC also extended an exceptional entry to Hong Kong, which is a "Special Administrative Region" of China, but not a country/nation on its own

Team Hong Kong took the victory. At first, a win by Hong Kong over such favorites as Belgium, Austria, or Brazil may sound surprising, but not quite. The team, led by Hongkonger Steven To, is composed by all local drivers with plenty of experience driving at the WorldKarts indoor kart track. To, is actually the only Hongkonger in the team, which also included Belgians Gregory Laporte, Kenny Geldhof, and Geoffrey Mertens, all top quality Belgian drivers.."

2009
111 drivers from 12 different countries

"Maxwell Jansley (Team LariMax) from Brazil is the 2009 Indoor Kart World Champion! It was a tight battle at the top of the points, and Belgian driver Kenny Geldhof (CORTEX BlueStar A) reached the final day of competition leading the championship after a steady run of victories and 2nd places. But luck would not be on his side on the last day, and a podium slipped through his fingers after two 12 point finishes in the Semi and the Final. Things were not easy at the end for eventual Champion Maxwell Jansley. The Brazilian, competing this year for the first time in the IKWC, was able to open a healthy lead on the final race while a train of karts battled for 2nd place, only to see it evaporate on lap 30, when a heavy crash cause the race to be run under a yellow flag and pace car for 5 laps while the track was being fixed. This bunched up the field, and fell right into the hands of the drivers who had chosen to do an early pitstop. On the restart, Jansley was overtaken by Dutchman Ruben Boutens (Team CORTEX BlueStar), who opened up a lead, but still had to make his pitstop. The race was incredibly exciting from this point on, with the crowd of fans on the edge of their seat, cheering with every move. The final was eventually won in superb fashion by American driver Jordan Pembleton (Team USA Victory Lane Indoor Karting Center Charlotte) with a large roar of approval from the crowd, ahead of Pedro Washington (Equipe Top Kart Indoor Karting Center A) from Brazil, and Robin Borremans (Team Belgium Novavie) from Belgium. Fourth place went to Gustavo Loureiro (Equipe SRKI), and the result was able to grant him the 2nd Place in the Championship. The bronze trophy for 3rd Place at the 2009 IKWC went to Dutch driver Ruben Boutens, who without winning a single race, was able to finish consistently close enough to the top to score enough points to beat Belgian Kenny Geldhof by only 1.5 points. Final GP winner Jordan Pembleton from the USA ended up 5th in the Championship."


 * IKWC 2009 recap


 * IKWC 2009 results

The first edition on Brazilian ground saw many Brazilian drivers in the field, but at the top of the sheets there were still many international drivers to be found.

Belgian Kenny Geldhof looked to be the strongest and the only one who was clearly faster than the best Brazilians, but lady luck was not on his side and he saw the championship slip away on the final day, which dropped him to fourth in the standings.

Winner Maxwell Jansley is technically still young enough to compete in the junior class, but this year's junior class was actually a minus 50 kg class, and thus he chose to compete in the main category.

Team
"There was unfortunately some confusion over the Team Championship result. A mistake by the scoring department resulted in the announcement at the track of Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium as the Champion, with Team Novavie Belgium in 2nd, and Equipe Top Kart Indoor Center in 3rd. However after a review, a scoring mistake was found 2 days later, which reshuffled the top 3 teams' results. The correct order would show Equipe Top Kart as the rightfull Champion, Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium in 2nd, and Team Novavie Belgium in 3rd. An immediate protest followed from Team CORTEX BlueStar, as they had already been announced as Champions. The protest was understandable, but a request to be listed a co-Champions was rejected, as the official result must be objectively based on the points accumulated during the races, and after the review it became clear that Team CORTEX did not have enough points to be Champions. ..."

Women
"The Women's Championship ended in a points tie between Belgian driver Justine Vanwynsberghe and Brazilian Monica Costa. The scoring department had to dig deep into the results to break this one, as both their best, 2nd best, and 3rd best results were also equal. The tie-breaker became their 4th best race result, with Vanwynsberghe taking the title and becoming the 1st person to win two individual driver Championships in IKWC competition. The Belgian won the Women's Championship in 2006, and now again in 2009."

Juniors
The junior sub-competition was actually a 'minus 50' competition (drivers weighing less than 50 kg), which was sort of the same, and only junior drivers competed.

Masters
"The Masters class was easily won by Brazilian driver Luis Sanchez (Equipe Top Kart Indoor Karting Center B), followed in a distant 2nd by Antonio Peru (Equipe APIKA), also from Brazil. The story for 3rd was different, with Brazilian drivers Valdir Rodrigues (Equipe Thunder Kart), Jose Sanches (Equipe Calangos do Cerrado), and Gustavo LaBlanca (Equipe Double T), who all finished in a 3-way tie for points. However, Valdir Rodrigues took home the trophy on the best-result tie breaker criteria. ..."

2010
49 drivers from 9 different countries

"After officially compiling all the results, 17 year old Belgian Kenny Geldhof took the top step of the podium and was presented with the 2010 world title, a nice trophy, and US$1000 in cash. Ruben Boutens from the Netherlands finished in a very impressive second place, after being 3rd in Brazil. Grooten, having led the standings throughout the event, completed the top-three, repeating the 3rd place finish he obtained at F1 Race Factory at the 2007 edition of the IKWC. Miles Calvin, with his Final win, ended as the top American in fifth. Logan Calvin of the USA, finishing 10th, earned the Junior crown, with the Masters title going to Ed Cordeiro of Brazil in 17th."

Some more words about the much-deciding semi-final:

"With Belgium's Robin Borremans, America's Ronald Jones and Belgium's Mats De Jong completing the top-four of the grid, the stage was set for an entertaining race. That proved to be the case, and in more ways than one. A very strong thunderstorm passed over the track turning the road outside the track into a raging river. Inside, the roof sprung three leaks at different parts of the racetrack, two of those on the racing line, making it quite tricky for the drivers. Conditions were dry, except for the breaking zone for two turns on the south portion of the racetrack. The Belgians who are used to running wet indoor kart races on slicks at indoor/outdoor tracks in their home country, made the most out of the situation, with Robin Borremans strengthening his championship cause at the checkered flag, leading local ace Truman Godfrey and Belgian Mats De Jong to the stripe.

After this race, Race director John Ahrends delayed the start of the next race in an effort to try and dry the track. The storm passed, and track staff were able to dry the track in about 30 minutes."


 * IKWC 2010 recap


 * IKWC 2010 recap final day & top 20 results IKWC 2010 all results

Throughout the training-sessions the Belgian monsters Robin Borremans, Mathias Grooten and Kenny Geldhof showed the pace, with the rest following a couple of tenths behind. Grooten dominated the first 4 days of the event. A risky strategical decision on the second-to-last race did not pay off however, and Geldhof could jump him in the standings. Further bad luck struck, and although being able to start on the front row just behind Geldhof for the final race, Grooten had drawn one of the slowest karts, with which it was soon clear it would be impossible to take home the victory. Grooten's defending looked to be successful to secure second place, but in the final stages of the race he still had to yield and lost significant ground, and eventually even second place in the championship.

Nations Cup
"The race could not feature the traditional LeMans style start due to the seat belts used at the Phoenix track which can be quite tricky to latch when put in a hurry. An F1 style standing start was used as an alternative. The driver switch was also changed this year, with the replacement driver waiting to go off in a new kart, ensuring each team would drive at least 4 different karts during the race.

Team Belgium Bluestar, consisting of 2008 World Champion Gregory Laporte, Kenny Geldhof, Mats de Jong and Robin Borremans, in the end scored the win, completing a total of 450 laps. Team USA/Colombia SoCal (Dave Messimer, Diego Morales, Logan Calvin and Miles Calvin) however kept the pressure up all the way to the checkered flag, eventually taking home second place, only a few kart lengths behind the winners. Giving the host country some momentum heading into the individual IKWC races, Team USA NorCal Umigo Indoor Karting (Jerot King, Jon Kimbrell, T.A La and Zach Becker) joined in the podium celebrations, finishing third, one lap back."

Juniors
The junior class this year was no seperate event, but was just a sub-classification.

Women
There was no real women sub-classification this year because there was only 1 female participant, Germany's Tanja-Carina Muller, who finished 28th overall with 127.0 points.

Team
"There was unfortunately some confusion over the Team Championship result. A mistake by the scoring department resulted in the announcement at the track of Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium as the Champion, with Team Novavie Belgium in 2nd, and Equipe Top Kart Indoor Center in 3rd. However after a review, a scoring mistake was found 2 days later, which reshuffled the top 3 teams' results. The correct order would show Equipe Top Kart as the rightfull Champion, Team CORTEX BlueStar Belgium in 2nd, and Team Novavie Belgium in 3rd. An immediate protest followed from Team CORTEX BlueStar, as they had already been announced as Champions. The protest was understandable, but a request to be listed a co-Champions was rejected, as the official result must be objectively based on the points accumulated during the races, and after the review it became clear that Team CORTEX did not have enough points to be Champions. ..."

2011
188 drivers from 18 different countries

"Belgian driver Kenny Geldhof has successfully defended his 2010 World Championship Title won in Phoenix USA, by also winning the 2011 Indoor Kart World Championship at Eupener Karting in Belgium! Geldhof beat 188 drivers from 18 different countries in the process, and has become the 1st driver to ever win the Indoor Kart World Championship two times. The margin of victory was very small, with only 3 points separating the Belgian and Maximilian Beer from Germany in 2nd place. In 3rd place was Ruben Boutens, who has also become a familiar face at the Championship podium, having placed 3rd in 2009 in Brazil, 2nd in 2010 in the USA, and now 3rd again in 2011 in Belgium.

It was the biggest and toughest Indoor Kart World Championship to date, with 188 drivers from 18 different nations competing for the 2011 World Championship Title."


 * IKWC 2011 short recap


 * IKWC 2011 results

Eupener Karting is one of the biggest and best indoorkarting facilities in Europe. Located in the East of Belgium, it is a Mekka for Europe's karting talents. In Belgium, close to Germany, The Netherlands and France, and not too far from Austria, Hungary, Poland and Scandinavia, all big races see a big international crowd.

Maximilian Beer was the favorite to win the event, being very familiar with the track. Kenny Geldhof, despite the lack of training compared to others (and not karting all that much anymore), instantly matched his pace. Other top runners were Mathias Grooten (who drove an incredible final race, with a slow kart, much like in 2010), Robin Borremans, Ruben Boutens and Amandio Costa Paz, all of them not very used to the track! Impressive stuff. Yoan Medart was the fastest local, while Maxwell Jansley was the highest ranked driver that had never been to the venue at all before.

On the narrow track of Eupener Karting it is pretty difficult to make clean passes. Unfortunately, this resulted in some drivers who didn't finish their championship, and thus finished lower than they could have (Daan Vanhamme, Marcel Kouijzer, ... to name a few). Some incidents even resulted in the organisation having to deny people entry for the final races.

Nations Cup
Strategy seemed to be key in this year's Nations Cup.

Team Vantrico took pole (Mats de Jong), who could build a lead after the start. The lead was managed by Bart Van de Vel. These two drivers drove the majority of the race. Kenneth Goris consolidated but lost some terrain, while their slowest driver Anthony Van Trier only drove the final lap, in which he was more than 2 seconds slower than the fastest on track, but the narrow track in Eupen provided no passing-ability, so he could still take the checkered flag! Team Bluestar had bad luck with their kart draws, but still managed a very respectable third.

Juniors
The junior class this year was no seperate event, but was just a sub-classification.

Maxwell Jansley finished in 11th place overall with 177.0 points, but it was unclear by the rules if he was still young enough to be considered "junior"... Since he already won the main event (2009), he was classified in the main class.

Women
Belgium's Jessica Van Der Perren was the only female driver actually starting in this year's event, so there was no real women's class. She finished 43rd overall with 124.5 points.

2012
111 drivers from 14 different countries


 * KWC 2012 results

The organization saw some changes, and the name of the championship was changed from IKWC to KWC. The regulations saw only minor changes and tweaks. A new organisation (some new people and some people from the previous IKWC organisation) and a new event, so they didn't see the need to change to another continent, and again a track in Europe was chosen.

This time the hosting venue was Daytona Kartbahn in Essen, Germany, which is the home track of 2011 IKWC's vice champion Maximilian Beer, who was obviously the favorite going into the event.

The only driver clearly able to match the very fast local German drivers' pace was the experienced Belgian Robin Borremans, who was able to take the crown after an intense week of racing which culminated in a breath-taking final day, which eventually even saw the home-favorite Beer drop off the podium to finish in fourth place.

Defending and two-time champion Kenny Geldhof also showed some impressive pace, without almost any training and while barely karting anymore. He was able to finish sixth.

2013
72 drivers from 16 different countries


 * KWC 2013 results

The event took place in Denmark, again in Europe (third year in a row). Racehall has the biggest indoor karting track in Europe, a hall that used to have an indoor soccer field.

Karting and life (and food and drinks) in Denmark is pretty expensive compared to the norm, and the local karting-scene is not as blooming as lets say Belgium, Germany or Brazil, so we saw a light decline in the number of participants.

The organisation put in some effort to attract some known drivers (nationally and internationally), who have had their roots in (indoor)karting, and some of them now race cars, or have done so in the past. Biggest name amongst these is probably Giorgio Pantano, the an Italian racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock, and was also successful in Formula 3000. Others are Jean-Philippe Guignet, Benjamin Bailly, Léo Roussel, Julien Rabineau, Brandon Maisano, and local drivers like Jannik Nielsen (also participated in KWC 2012), Mikkel Jensen and Mark Kamstrup.

Biggest absences were many of the top German drivers (aside of Sebastian Papke), who seemed unhappy with the failure of taking the crown on home turf in 2012.

Favorites were local drivers Nielsen and Kamstrup, the international powerhouses that are always fast, whenever and wherever, but everyone was also curious to see how the 'celebrity drivers' would perform.

Some drivers needed a bit more training, while others got the knack pretty quick. The fastest in training were the local favorites, together with the likes of Robin Borremans, Mathias Grooten, Gregory Laporte and Yoan Medart. Medart sadly could not participate in the event as a family emergency urged him to return back home, the night before the first race.

Eventually, it was the reigning Belgian world champion Robin Borremans who could prolong his title, just as Kenny Geldhof did two years prior. He took the crown with a margin of only 1 point ahead of Portugal's Filipe Vieira (Belgian-raised) (who had hardly trained at all after arriving only a couple of hours before the start of the event). Local Danish favorite Nielsen's chances were ruined when he picked up a penalty by failing to do a post-race-weight-check (without this penalty, he would have been on the final podium in third place!). Well-known Mathias Grooten had a lot of bad luck with the kart-draws and got spun in a deciding race, which meant he was unable to repeat his 2008 succes yet again.

Of the celebrity drivers the fastest and best were arguably Bailly, Guignet and Pantano.

Women
Only 3 women competed, and Annelien Boutens was the only one who could put in competitive laptimes.