G.Laporte and Grooten World Champions!
August 11, 2008
Belgians Gregory Laporte (Blue Star Racing A) and Mathias Grooten (Talent Promotion Belgium A) are the 2008 Indoor Kart World Champions. Both were able to edge early favorites Marc Viskens and Bart Van de Vel in what turned out to be closest Indoor Kart World Championship to date.
Coming into the final, Mathias Grooten's teammate, Marc Viskens, enjoyed a 6 points lead over 2nd place, and did not even need to win the Final Grand Prix to win the Championship. But the Final Grand Prix was his toughest race in the 2008 IKWC, and a 7th place finish no longer guaranteed the Title. After points were calculated both finished with the same total points (117), however Grooten beat Viskens in the tie breaker criteria, with 4 wins against Viskens 3. In 3rd place, Pedro Washington (TopKart - C&C Lofty) from Brazil, just 5 points behind.
In the Light Class, things were even closer, with 5 drivers within 6 points from the lead coming into the final. No real advantage to anyone here, and any driver hoping to be Champion would have to win the Final Grand Prix to clinch the title without having to depend on the other's results. It looked like things could not get closer, but did when victory at the Final GP went to a driver outside of those top 5, Sidney Van Nieuwenhove (Blue Star Racing A). Once the points were calculated, Belgian Gregory Laporte (Blue Star Racing A) was able to edge both drivers Romano Franssen (Team Netherlands 1) and Bart Van de Vel (Talent Promotion Belgium A) by a mere 0.5 point. Franssen and Van de Vel finished in a tie themselves for 2nd place, but Van de Vel had the tie-breaker advantage of 2 wins, against Franssen's 1. This would have been the closest finish ever in the history of the Indoor Kart World Championship, if not for the even closer result in the Heavys.
Team Talent Promotion Belgium A was able to repeat the feat of 2008, taking the Indoor Kart World "Team" Championship. A small margin of 3.5 points over Blue Star Racing A in 2nd. Talent Promotion's B team was 3rd, in an all Belgian podium.
For full points & results see links below:
IKWC Light: http://live.kartgrid.be/results/ikwcpointslight.pdf
IKWC Heavy: http://live.kartgrid.be/results/ikwcpointsheavy.pdf
IKWC Teams: http://live.kartgrid.be/results/teampoints.pdf
Complete recap of the 2008 IKWC coming soon.
The IKWC would like also like to post recaps of the 2008 IKWC from the drivers point of view. If you would like to send a review of your performance (or your team's) at the 2008 IKWC to be considered for posting on this site, please send it to carlos@racingschools.com with photos, if available.
The 2009 IKWC is planned to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Full information on next year's even will be released some time in November or December (if not sooner!!) on this site. The IKWC would like to thank all Teams, Drivers for their dedication and sportsmanship. A big thank-you also goes to Worldkarts Kortrijk for providing a very closely matched fleet of karts, as well as all the sponsors and contributors that helped make this year's IKWC such a great event!
Lucas Motta Wins 2008 Brazilian Indoor Kart Championship! | Back to News | Grooten & Borremans win 2008 Belgian Championships
