Cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the FIA Karting Awards Ceremony was held in Paris on Saturday 18th December. The event concluded a busy week for the FIA, with its annual General Assembly and the World Motor Sport Council taking place in the French capital in addition to the FIA Awards. The 2021 FIA Karting Champions were celebrated in turn at the Pavillon Gabriel, not far from the Champs-Élysées.
Although marked by another tightening of health regulations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the evening was very pleasant in a beautiful setting. Most of the guests managed to reach the reception, with the British being the only ones who were prevented from attending due to the recent tightening of travel rules between Britain and Europe. Thanks to the efforts of the organisers and participants, the ceremony was finally able to celebrate the year’s champions in style.
Elected the day before to succeed Jean Todt, the new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem made a point of honouring the ceremony, which was dedicated to karting. During his speech, he insisted on the major role of karting at the base of the motor sport pyramid.
CIK-FIA President Felipe Massa confirmed his interest in his mission as well as in the karting discipline and all its players. He assured that he would do his utmost to pursue his action in accordance with the guidelines established by the FIA and the directives of its new President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The 2021 FIA Karting Championships have been very well attended despite a difficult period. Felipe Massa praised the work of the CIK-FIA team, the close and fruitful collaboration with promoter RGMMC Group, led by James Geidel, and the strong understanding with the main players in the karting industry.
Having already been recognised at the FIA Awards two days earlier, the three 2021 FIA Karting World Champions were once again in the spotlight to the applause of their peers. Sweden’s Noah Milell in KZ, Finland’s Tuukka Taponen in OK and Japan’s Kean Nakamura Berta in Junior were celebrated with honour. The four European Champions, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (ITA) in OK, the absent Freddie Slater (GBR), in Junior, Riccardo Longhi (ITA) in KZ and Giacomo Pollini (ITA) in KZ2 were duly honoured. The ceremony also rewarded the winner of the KZ2 International Super Cup, Lorenzo Travisanutto (ITA), and the top three of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy: Maciej Gladysz (POL), David Walther (DNK) and Oleksander Bondarev (UKR).
Sweden was honoured with the Best Event Trophy of the 2021 season through the Kristianstad Karting Klubb for the very successful organisation of the FIA Karting World Championship – KZ at the Åsum Ring, which was able to welcome many spectators.
The guests proceeded, as usual, to the voting for the 2021 photo contest after having been able to appreciate the quality of the five selected photos. The winner of the 14th FIA Karting Photo of the Year Award was Philippe Kalmès, a French photographer from the KSP Reportages agency.
The guests were able to take possession of their collector’s copy of the “Best-Of” 2021, a superb large-format book richly illustrated with photos, published by the CIK-FIA to record the entire season. The book will be available to order online at www.fiakarting.com in January 2022.