Being a flag-bearer for your country in any sport is no small honour, and today at Silverstone four young karters are going head-to-head for the prize of representing the UK at the 2024 FIA Karting Academy Trophy.

Jorge Edgar, Kian Burnard, Riley Cranham and Lewis Goff are set to be put through their paces in a final shoot-out to determine the UK candidate for the prestigious international championship for 12–14-year-olds.

The FIA Karting Academy Trophy is a unique competition designed to pit the best young kart racers from around the world against each other on equal terms. Drivers are randomly assigned karts with OTK chassis and equipped with Vortex engines from the OK-Junior category, plus a controlled tyre.

2021 British IAME Cadet Open Champion Edgar will compete against Burnard, who finished second in the Wera Tools British Micromax Class in 2022, UKC race winner Cranham and 2022 JKC Mini Max Champion Goff.

On Tuesday, the quartet will undergo a fitness assessment with Porsche Human Performance at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone, with a variety of fitness tests. The panel will not only look at results but how the drivers motivate themselves to dig deep and achieve their best.

The following day the action moves to driving ability, with an assessment on a karting simulator at KartSim, Silverstone, followed by a practical driving assessment at Whilton Mill. The panel will be looking at key performance areas across these assessments, covering kart control, tyre management, consistency, performing under pressure, taking on coaching points and giving accurate feedback.

The judging panel, comprised of Dan Parker (Head of Karting, Motorsport UK), Jordan Albert (Professional Driver/Stunt Driver), Piers Sexton Racing and Jack Wilson (Porsche Human Performance) will assess the drivers’ performance across all areas and nominate one driver to bear the flag at the 2024 FIA Karting Academy Trophy, which kicks off at Val d’Argenton, France from 25–28 April, before heading to Slovak Karting Centre, Slovakia on 20–23 June and concluding in Kristianstad, Sweden from 1–4 August.

Dan Parker commented: “Year on year we’re seeing a really high calibre of applicants for the FIA Karting Academy Trophy, so it’s great to see how many talented young karters we have coming through the ranks. We’re looking forward to seeing how the four finalists fair in the upcoming selection assessments.”

Past representatives who have flown the flag for Motorsport UK have gone on to achieve great success in motorsport with this year’s representative, Harry Bartle, recently becoming the 2023 IWF IAME Junior Champion. 2020 representative, Theo Micouris recently secured the 2023 Radical SR1 Champion and Henry Joslyn, 2022 participant, finished 12th overall in the 2023 Ginetta G40 Series.