RACING drivers from 44 countries and five continents will be battling it out for victory this weekend in Campillos – the first time in history that a town in the Málaga province has hosted the Karting World Championship.
Most Formula One and IndyCar legends – including Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Junior – started out in go-kart racing, so Saturday's and Sunday's competitors might even include some of tomorrow's top motorsport celebrities.
Karting World Championship 2020, in Portimão, Portugal (photo: FIA Karting)
Of the 185 who have entered, three of them are on home territory – Alberto Hurtado, Yeray Vaello and Aarón García come from the province of Málaga – whilst a fourth is from the same region, Álvaro Hernández, who lives in the province of Almería.
By Sunday night, go-kart racing will either have a new junior, or aged 11 to 14, and senior, or over-14, champion, or the two current title-holders will be celebrating a repeat of their achievements last year.
These are both British at the moment – Freddie Slater won the junior world championship and Callum Bradshaw the senior in 2020, with Spain's Pedro Hiltbrand Aguilar coming third in last year's 'main' world championship standings and the UK's Joe Turney second – after the final competition took place in Portimão, Portugal.
The current chairman of the FIA's International Karting Commission is none other than Felipe Massa, Formula One reserve champion in 2008 and Ferrari team-mate of Fernando Alonso for four seasons – and the Brazilian motorsport ace is in Campillos for the event.
He has been spotted in the town hall, signing the 'celebrity visitors' book' and being handed a Campillos coat of arms by sports councillor Miguel Ángel Herrera.
The competition takes place at the international KartCenter Campillos circuit, the longest in the whole of southern Europe at just short of a mile – 1,580 metres – and which was given a complete overhaul in February this year, including total resurfacing.
It hosts numerous national and international championship events every year within the 30-acre complex, of which five acres are car park and just under four used for the paddock.
Kart-racing in La Conca, Italy, which hosted the world championship competition in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2015 (photo: Speedracing/Wikimedia Commons)
KartCenter Campillos is in the dead centre of Andalucía, meaning it is ideally placed – nowhere in the southern region is more than two-and-a-half hours away from it by road.
The championship has only ever taken place uniquely in Spain once before, in 2010, when it was held in Zuera (Zaragoza province, Aragón), although 2011 was a 'five-venue series' which saw Zuera sharing the competition with Suzuka, Japan; Wackersdorf, Germany; Sarno, Italy and Genk, Belgium.
Spain is represented by 23 drivers – the largest national group, accounting for 12% of competitors – whilst Russia has entered 17, another 15 are from France, and 14 come from Finland.
Although spectator tickets have reportedly sold out, the final leg of the competition will be shown live on Sunday (October 31) on the regional television channels Canal Sur TV via Andalucía TV, between 14.00 and 14.45, and streamed live on YouTube through the FIA Karting Championship channel.
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