Oringinally posted on my Substack The FIA International Karting Ranking System is Flawed but full text below as it’s free access anyway:
In most sports, ranking systems are designed to compare competitors who can directly face each other. However, the FIA’s International Karting Ranking (rather coincidentally and unfortunately abbreviated to IKR) system takes a puzzling approach, combining competitors who have no opportunity to race against one another. Even more concerning is that this system merges children with adults in the overall rankings, undermining the entire purpose of a fair and coherent ranking system
A karting ranking system, in theory, isn’t a bad idea - especially in a sport with multiple events that aren’t part of a single, unified league. Ranking systems allow for proper seeding and qualification processes, ensuring top competitors are rewarded by avoiding repeated qualifications. They also provide a sense of prestige and financial incentives for athletes.
However, karting currently lacks substantial prize money, and karters rarely celebrate their rankings. The only major competition with a proper qualification structure is the Rotax Grand Finals, which operates independently of the IKR. Even with that in mind, it’s quite a good idea and has a lot of potential for added meaning and value to karters at the top.
The IKR’s most glaring flaw is its decision to lump junior and senior drivers into a single ranking table. This is nonsensical. Imagine if snooker or darts rankings included junior competitions alongside senior ones—such a system would be ridiculous. Yet, this is precisely what the FIA is doing. A ranking system only works if competitors can actually face each other. When this isn’t possible, the system loses all meaning. While the IKR does allow for rankings to be sorted by class and country, the dominant feature remains the “International Karting Ranking,” where, at the time of writing, the #1 ranked karter in the world cannot even race the person ranked third.
Combining categories like KZ and OK is already questionable, though at least in theory, drivers such as Joe Turney and Lorenzo Travisanutto could compete in the same events. But including juniors in this mix? That defies logic.
Consider Joe Turney, the FIA European Karting Champion, who is currently second in the “Champions of the Future” series. Despite his consistent performance, Turney is ranked third in the world, behind two juniors he cannot compete against. This makes little sense for a sport where rankings should reflect head-to-head competition. Turney should be recognized as the top-ranked karter on the planet, but the system doesn’t allow for that.
An even more striking example is Lorenzo Travisanutto, the FIA European Karting Champion in KZ - arguably the premier professional division in karting. Travisanutto is ranked an astonishing 212th in the world. This low ranking is due to his participation in just two ranking events, but the points he earned in those events were enough to crown him European champion. If his average points from these events were extrapolated across the 8 events that constitute a full ranking score, he would sit sixth globally, which seems more appropriate but still, it raises the question: Shouldn’t the FIA European Championship winning season, if extrapolated to 8 events, rank higher than sixth in the world?
Adding to the confusion, the KZ rankings place Van Walstijn ahead of Travisanutto, even though the ranking is based on the European Championship—an event Travisanutto won. This discrepancy further illustrates the inconsistencies in the system.
In my view, Joe Turney and Travisanutto are currently the world’s top karters. If we must combined categories, based on his number of wins and overall performance, for the sake of argument, Turney should sit as #1.
The ranking system should reflect that reality. While mixing different classes, like Rotax and X30, in the rankings adds complexity, it could make sense with clearer boundaries. A simple division between juniors and seniors is the logical first step. They should not be mixed, and senior classes should be given the weight and respect they deserve.
For a ranking system to be meaningful, it must allow fair comparison among competitors who can race against each other. The FIA International Karting Ranking system, by combining juniors and seniors and introducing other inconsistencies, fails to achieve this. A clear divide between age groups and greater emphasis on senior classes would provide a more accurate and coherent reflection of the sport.
It’s an easy fix, but as with most things karting, I doubt it’ll be done.