How Turney was denied once again in karting’s biggest race

Photo: KSP Reportages

Joe Turney was forced to be runner-up in the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship for a third time yesterday as Thibaut Ramaekers beat him to victory in the final at Kristianstad, and after superheat heartbreak too

The biggest race in senior karting, the OK final of the world championship, was decided through final lap drama last year that crowned Ethan Jeff-Hall at the expense of category veteran Joe Turney. While Jeff-Hall earned the backing of the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team and a step up to British Formula 4, Turney stuck with what he knows best: developing and racing Kart Republic’s chassis in the most competitive championships and races in the world.

Turney’s 2024 heartbreak came after being runner-up in 2020, when he returned to karting after his own impressive but short-lived spell in British F4, and breaking his ankle in a horrific accident after retirning from the lead of the 2023 final.

But after twice coming third he finally won the CIK-FIA European Championship in 2024, in wet conditions at Kristianstad. He also became a two-time Champions of the Future champion, with the Swedish track tipping his title fortunes as erstwhile leader Thibaut Ramaeker’s season collapsed.

This year Ramaekers and Turney came second and fifth in CotF, and were fifth and 16th in the European championship.

Both came into the World championship confident, and this time it was not left to the last moment to decide who would win.

Ramaekers was the faster of the two at the start of the event, going third fastest overall in qualifying behind Daniel Kelleher and Thomas Pradier. Turney was sixth in the group topped by Davide Bottaro, and 61st overall.

Kelleher went on to win four of his five heats and Ramaekers won three, but the main star of the early races was James Anagnostiadis who took four victories and a second place behind Noah Wolfe.

Final results (25 laps) [Top 10]

Zac Drummond was a two-time winner and Lev Krutoholov won once to be third and fourth in the intermediate classification, ahead of Ramaekers, and Turney was seventh despite only making the podium twice.

Anagnostiadis’s form continued into the wet weather of Sunday, where Turney also excelled. In superheat A, Anagnostiadis had pole and Turney started from fourth place. He instantly overtook Ramaekers, and passed Drummond on lap three. There was then a 1.6-second gap to eat into, which he achieved in four laps on a drying track before taking the lead on the next.

His first move came when Anagnostiadis left the door open, but it was a ploy to have a better exit speed. Turney rode the kerbs at the next hairpin to lead again, while Anagnostiadis repeated his tactic on the outside. He had the pace to sweep back past but not the room, and a few corners later there was contact as he picked the inside.

Turney built a 2.1s gap of his own but on lap 13 he suddenly slowed to a near-halt. After power returned to the engine he was able to lug his way to the end of the lap 7.5s down in fifth.

Anagnostiadis took an easy win by 3.215s over Ramaekers, and Borys Lyzen fought past Drummond for third a further 1.971s behind. Once back to racing speeds and as rain returned to the track, Turney made it to the finish in sixth.

The track remained wet for superheat B, in which the field had two false starts then 15 went off at the chicane on lap one and 20 drivers went on to cop time penalties.

Poleman Kelleher led the first four laps, with Wolfe, Pradier and Krutoholov initially engrossed in fighting for second. Wolfe gapped the others on lap three, and was on the leader’s rear starting lap five.

He quickly got a pass done, with Kelleher not fighting back and Krutoholov passing him on lap seven.

Final results [P11 to P20]

Wolfe had 1.4s in hand, and only came under pressure on lap 15 of 17. Krutoholov leveraged the inside into the final corner to boldly take the lead, and Wolfe fought back into turn one but the win was decided.

Kelleher lacked pace and finished seventh, while Kenzo Craigie escaped a great three-kart scrap for fourth to finish third on-the-road before a five-second penalty demoted him to sixth.

Anagnostiadis had earned himself pole for the dry final, with Drummond, Krutoholov, Kelleher, Ramaekers, Pradier, Turney and Wolfe filling the top eight spots on the grid.

There was pre-race drama as Matthew Higgins, one of the biggest names in the Rotax Senior kart class, failed to get going and a second formation lap was added as he was wheeled off.

A false start led to another formation lap, and once racing began the top eight initially held ground. After Drummond made a move for the lead, Kelleker also was able to take third and Turney rose to fifth.

Krutoholov reclaimed third into turn one on lap two, and Anagnostiadis snatched back first place. Turney was then able to execute two passes, and Ramaekers went down Krutoholov’s inside on lap three to demote him to fifth.

Drummond led again as lap five began, and Ramaekers squeezed into third. It became second as Anagnostiadis was shuffled down to fifth. A bold move by Krutoholov on lap six pust him past Turney, but a few corners later he similarly darted past.

Pradier got involved on lap eight, except he clashed with Krutoholov at turn one and with Kelleher two corners after. The lead also changed hands, with Ramaekers seeing a gap and going for it to get past Drummond. In response, Drummond tried to dive down his inside at the last corner but there was slight contact and it allowed Turney into second.

Final results [P21 to P30]

The top two began lap nine 0.081s apart, and Turney’s attempt to overtake put him under threat from behind. And when Krutoholov took third from Drummond, it then allowed the top two to break free.

Ramaekers’s gap grew by less than 0.04s per lap for a while, then on lap 18 he started doubling that pace advantage. They were small gains, but once he had a 0.96s lead there was little time for Turney to close back in and the title was won by 0.76s.

The world champion was unsurprisingly “very happy”, while Turney credited Kart Republic’s results across the event before reflecting on finishing second:

“A good result for myself. Probably hurt a bit in the pre-final, and then maybe I could have done a bit different in the final. But in the end, I think I have enough [to be able to win this].”

OK rookie Krutoholov was a lonely third, and there was a four-way fight for fourth. Kelleher overtook Anagnostiadis on lap 16, and Craigie went past his fellow Mercedes-AMG F1 junior at the last corner a lap later.

Drummond spent several laps under pressure from Kelleher, and they made contact, but the latter missed his opportunity and later dropped behind new CotF champion Craigie.

Anagnostiadis used his superheat tactic of higher exit speeds on the outside line to fuel moves that brought him back up to fourth by 0.1s over Craigies, 0.164s on Drummond and 0.251s to Zac Green.

Aston Sharp, racing for Charles Leclerc’s team, rose 22 spots to finish eighth. The position was inherited from Christian Costoya, the fastest driver on track but recipient of a five-second bumper penalty.

Final results [Non-classified]