The karting season is now well under way and French Championships will be heading north for the pivotal Ostricourt GPO, with over 130 entrants. Usually at this third meeting of the year drivers consolidate their positions and start to look at the best strategy to conquer the different titles involved. On this occasion, French Championship competitors racing in the "Nationale" class will be on the track for the first of their three rounds.

In KF3, foreign participation is growing with the arrival at the GPO of a Russian driver, Nikita Mazepin, and of a driver from Singapore, James Pull, within the Chiesa Corse Team, which had already been joined by Callum Ilott on a Zanardi/Parilla. Julien Darras (Tony Kart/Parilla) will make his return in his homeland. Valentin Naud will be at the meeting behind the wheel of a Kosmic/Parilla, while the Belgian Amaury Bonduel will be back in the GPO with a new kart, an ART GP/Parilla, which will also be driven, among others, by Bastien Leguay. The battle for leadership in the Championship will involve first and foremost Paolo Besancenez (Sodi/Parilla), 407 points, who has a comfortable lead, while the fight for contenders for the second place will be tight: Bryan Elpitiya (Zanardi/Parilla), Gabriel Aubry (Birel/TM), Jérémy Demarque (Sodi/Parilla), Thomas Landais (Sodi/Parilla), and Arthur Lehouck (Sodi/Parilla), who are all very close.

So far Charles Leclerc (ART GP) has proved both consistent and competitive as leader of the KF2 class, ahead of Valentin Moineault (Tony Kart/Vortex), who has strong skills, and of a very promising Paul Boutonnet (Tony Kart/Parilla). Two drivers in full progression are eager to climb onto the podium: an increasingly confident Victor Compère (Kosmic/Vortex) and Sébastien Bailly (Swiss/Hutless/TM), a driver who has both experience and titles, on a kart that keeps improving race after race. And finally Pascal Belmaaziz (DR/Vortex) could be back at the top after a collarbone injury he suffered last May and blow up the situation on his return. Recently back from Portugal, where he raced in the U18 World Championship, Hubert Petit (Sodi/Parilla) will discover KF2 at the GPO in Ostricourt.

Two drivers who will try and stand up to domination by Maxime Roy (Tony Kart/TM), who is solid leader in KZ2, are Charles Fiault (Sodi/Maxter) and Julien Poncelet (ART GP/TM), in full confrontation for the second place in the provisional classification, and perhaps also Pierre Ragues (Sodi/Maxter), who last month competed at Le Mans 24H race in LMP2. Two newcomers will join the group of entrants: Julien Deharte (CRG/Vortex), a regular at the 125 gearbox class and a girl - a very rare event in the category - Lucille Cypriano (Tony Kart/TM) for her baptism of fire in KZ.

There will be many drivers competing in the "Nationale" class on the first round of the French Championship. Attracted by the formula, about 40 of them will be there for the second season, more than half of whom in the top 10, including Vice Champion Mathias Vaison (Tony Kart) and Antoine Jouvanceaux (CRG), who was third last year. Maxime Bidard (CRG), Thomas Laurent (Tony Kart), Pauline Pourchaire (Zanardi), Thomas Drouet (DR), Dylan Gilliers (Intrepid), Emmanuel Reviriault (CRG), and Alexis Coursault (Birel) are leaders of their regional Championships. Alexandre Pouliquen (Tony Kart) and Nathan Hucher (Energy), who competed in the Cadet class, Luca Antonucci (Sodi) and Julien Andlauer (Intrepid), who raced in the Minime class, will be in the Nationale class this season.