Akbar Ebrahim, President, FIA International Karting Commission (CIK-FIA), stressed that the organisation is laser-focused on reducing the cost of karting worldwide.

He listed some of the initiatives the FIA is taking, including introducing an FIA Global Kart.

“Today, if you buy a CIK-homologated chassis with a CIK-homologated engine, the kart costs between €8,000 and €10,000. Our target is to bring the cost of a complete FIA Global Kart package down to around €4,000,” said Akbar on the sidelines of the first round of the Indian National karting championship recently.

Recently, Formula One champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen also spoke about the alarming rise in karting costs and the need to rein it in.

“We are trying to create an alternative pathway. FIA’s Arrive and Drive is one part of it. Scholarships are another. Ultimately, though, if we want to grow participation, we need to lower the cost of kart genuinely. Eventually, we also want to enter the recreational karting market. That’s where motor-sport begins. We want to create an intermediate step between recreational and competitive karting — a true mass-participation category. Our goal is to build a structured pathway from recreational karting into competitive racing while making the sport accessible to far more people,” he said.

The former FMSCI President revealed that he is working to bring an FIA-Karting event to the country.

“It has always been one of our priorities because India has never hosted an FIA karting event. We have one CIK-homologated circuit at MIKA (Madras International Karting Arena), and two more could come up soon. We wanted to host one this year, but because of the geopolitical situation, we couldn’t. We definitely want India to host its first FIA Continental Arrive and Drive Championship and, eventually, the Arrive and Drive World Cup, which would be fantastic,” added Akbar.