FIA launches global karting shootout as Hitech partners with Tony Kart

Photo: FIA

Junior single-seater team Hitech GP has announced a long-term partnership with OTK Kart Group and its famed kart brand Tony Kart.

It will create a ‘kart to cars programme’ with Tony Kart’s factory team, supporting its drivers aged 13 to 15 who seek to progress to single-seaters. This will include access to Hitech’s factory, simulator and personnel in multiple departments, and those who star in the programme will then get opportunities to do Formula 4 tests.

“Our relationship with Tony Kart goes back to my own formative years racing karts and has gone from strength to strength over the years,” said Hitech founder Oliver Oakes.

“We are very much aligned in terms of our mission and values, but also our methodology. The ‘Karts to Cars Programme’ is the result of a great deal of careful consideration as to how we can create a really significant academy programme to help emerging talents advance their fledgling motorsport careers.”

As a team and chassis manufacturer, Tony Kart has had immense success and won its first world championship in 1986.

OTK’s chief executive officer Roberto Robazzi explained that Tony Kart’s factory team wanted to create a direct link to single-seaters “to guarantee its most talented drivers” have an opportunity to head there.

Engineer Thomas Gomis recently became FIA Karting’s technical manager, and oversaw the inaugural FIA Karting Shootout in Valencia on December 2-7.

The event, only announced on November 18, included practical sessions, workshops and tests as drivers were educated and assessed on and off-track.

Karters in the junior pool were evaluated in Parolin karts, with the top three receiving free tyres, fuel and entries for up to five FIA karting events in 2026. The winner also got funding of €6,000 (£5,244) per event, with second and third winning half of that, but all three could opt for free entry to one of FIA Karting’s Arrive-and-drive continental championships in 2026 instead.

Senior karters tested in Campos Racing-run Formula 4 cars on Pirelli tyres, and competed for €250,000 (£218,517) to spend on a season in F4.

While the FIA stated that 24 drivers earned shootout places through success in its karting events through 2025, there were only eight junior contestants and seven present in the senior pool.

The junior contest had two days of off-track sessions assessing physical, mental and driving skills at Campos’s headquarters. Participants then headed to the nearby Aspar circuit for two days, working with Parolin’s driver trainers while on track.

After intense deliberation from the judging panel, Valerio Viapiana was chosen as the winner ahead of Troy Ferguson and Michele Orlando.

The senior contest began on December 4 and had two days of off-track assessments preceding two days of track action in the same locations. Manuel Scognamiglio did not test at Aspar having withdrawn due to injury, and on the final morning Knud Nielsen and Oscar Goudchaux were eliminated.

The top four embarked on qualifying and race simulations on fresh tyres, and following that 16-year-old Yusuki Sato was picked as winner.

FIA Karting Shootout contestants