Why the FIA International Karting Ranking System, a Good Idea, is Flawed

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.

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I didn’t even know who Turney was until he raced skusa. I guess that speaks volumes about FIA stuff stateside.

Karters are very insular. Most people only care about their next race and there isn’t much consumption of the sport from those within it. This is partially because in the modern era the divide between elite and average competitors has been eroded somewhat. And rather than the normal karter looking up to the elite competitors, there’s more a feeling of apathy because there isn’t a belief in the ‘elite’. Which is all fine. Just the way it’s gone.

The ranking system has potential though. It’s just been implemented in such a weird way.

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What about adopting a seed point system similar to that which is used in FIS alpine ski racing…?

For each event, you earn a points result. a formula is used to calculate the points by relating a racer’s time to the winner’s time. The winner is given 0.00 race points, and then a penalty is calculated and added to each racer’s points to produce the racer’s results.
*Lower is better
*The top competitor in the world in a give discipline has 0.00 points
*Your point result for a given event starts with the points the winner has, and then you add “penlty points” to the winner’s current seed points. Race points are based on the time differential between you and the winner. So, if you finish right on the bumper of the best, you get a really good (low) seed point result.

It has been used in ski racing for 70 years…but ski racing is a time trial type event…you are not racing each other at the same time…

Points | my.usskiandsnowboard.org

Sounds complicated. The FIA need to collate points via different result systems. So adding time difference to an already convoluted system would be a headache, even though it’s an added dimension which makes sense.

With skiing, and other sports, the ranking does have a function.The IKR combines drivers who can’t possibly race against each other thus its actual function is purely marketing.