The first KF1 World Championship

Could the Karting des Fagnes dream of a better birthday present? Inaugurated 20 years ago, the circuit of Mariembourg will have the privilege of hosting on 20-23 September 2007 the flagship event of every Karting season: the CIK-FIA World Championship. It will be the 44th edition of this prestigious event. Organised for the first time in 1964, it is the oldest FIA World Championship after that of Formula One which was created in 1950. Additionally, it is a good expression of the FIA’s will to promote young Drivers and Karting, and to help them to climb as high as possible in the Motor Sport hierarchy. With Formula One, Rallies and Touring Cars, Karting is one of the four disciplines for which the FIA organises a real World Championship.

A major page of Karting was turned at the beginning of the season with the replacement of the usual 100 cc engines, which had become fragile because of their engine speed in excess of 20,000 rpm, by so-called “long life” 125 cc more modern and mainly more reliable engines, thanks in particular to the adoption of a rev limiter (16,000 rpm).

In total, 60 Drivers from thirteen nations are entered. Crowned European Champion in 2007 for the third consecutive year and winner in May of the World Cup for KF1 held in Japan, the Italian Marco Ardigo is the firm favourite. He has become the leader of this generation of Drivers who have more or less turned into professional kartists; this generation includes Davide Fore (World Champion four times over), Sauro Cesetti, Gary Catt, Jonathan Thonon, Arnaud Kozlinski and Armand Convers. Facing them, the up-and-coming generation should be led by Michael Christensen, Kazeem Manzur, Jason Parrott, Matias Laine and James Calado.

The programme of the World Championship meeting includes another prestigious event, the World Cup for KF2, which is to Karting what GP2 is to F1. 64 Drivers have entered it after having gained the right to participate thanks to selection criteria based on their results in the CIK-FIA continental Championships or on their classification in national championships. Finally, the event will see a demonstration of historic karts, some of them being driven by former World Champions.

There will be a live television coverage of the World Championship final on Eurosport International as well as on the public Belgian channel, the RTBF (13h45-14h30). All the results of the event, from non-qualifying practice on Friday to the finals on Sunday, will be published live on www.cikfia.com.