This morning, the FIA Karting European Championship kicked off a race at Karting Genk in Belgium before it all went horribly wrong. The damp track saw one racer after another careen off the asphalt and into the barriers off of the first turn, leaving a massive pile of drivers and karts. Thankfully, it is currently being reported that no one has been badly hurt.
You can watch the short clip below:
The rain was pouring as the race got underway, and with so little grip, it was impossible to stay on the track. Horrified commentators immediately called for a stop to the race, which quickly happened—but not until all the drivers had to ford that dangerous first turn.
The race in Genk is the first of the season, and it’s been damp all weekend long. There are two different divisions racing this weekend, OK and OK-Junior. OK stands for Original Kart and is designated as the top-level karting program for drivers 15 and up. OK-Junior is for younger drivers aged 11 to 15. This big crash took place during the eight-lap OK-Junior heat on Saturday.
When the karts were cleaned up, the race went green again. Thankfully, it sounds like everyone is okay. But it’ll certainly be worth looking into what, exactly, happened and how it can be prevented in the future in the event that some racers aren’t quite so lucky the second time around.
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