Masters Karting Paris Bercy was an indoor
karting
Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
competition which was held from 1993 to 2001 on a temporary circuit at the
Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy in December. Founded in 1993 by former
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver
Philippe Streiff, it was intended to gather the best drivers from all disciplines of motorsport and karting. In 2011,
ERDF decided to revive the competition with electric karts.
Elf Masters (1993-2001)
The first edition of the Elf Masters took place on 18 and 19 December 1993. Two races were held each evening, a relay race contested by teams of three drivers (a Formula 1 driver, a driver from another discipline of motorsport and a young kart driver) and stroke accounting for the CIK Championship. This weekend marked the
last duel on the track between
Alain Prost and
Ayrton Senna.
In 1994 the team relay was replaced by a simple race between the big names in motorsport. It was a battle between
Alain Prost and
Michael Schumacher the held the Bercy arena in suspense. French driver
Jean-Christophe Boullion won the first race on Saturday and
Alessandro Zanardi won on Sunday.
In 1995, Prost and Schumacher did not participate and it was a young French driver,
David Terrien
David Terrien (born 27 October 1976 in Nantes) is a French racing driver. He has competed in such series as International Formula 3000 and the French Formula Three Championship
The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for ...
who won the first race ahead of
Gianni Morbidelli. On Sunday
Luca Badoer won the race ahead of
David Terrien
David Terrien (born 27 October 1976 in Nantes) is a French racing driver. He has competed in such series as International Formula 3000 and the French Formula Three Championship
The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for ...
.
In 1996, the relay race returned and
Michael Schumacher came back to Bercy and started all the weekend's races. He won the CIK race on Sunday.
In 1997,
Jacques Villeneuve started at Bercy. On Saturday
Alessandro Zanardi won the F1 race.
Mika Salo won on Sunday.
In 1998,
Mario Andretti,
Jody Scheckter and
Mick Doohan came to Bercy.
[{{cite news , url = http://www.kartcom.com/fr/news/2011/5/16/le-master-elf-de-karting-1998 , title = Le Masters Elf de karting de 1998 , first = David , last = Bénard , work = Kartcom.com , publisher = Kartcom.com , date = 2011-05-16 , accessdate = 2011-05-16] Also competing were names such as
Dario Franchitti
George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...
,
Tony Kanaan and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso DÃaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
who would later find success in higher racing categories.
Emmanuel Collard won on Saturday and
Jean-Christophe Boullion won on Sunday. That year
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso DÃaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
won the first CIK race and
Giorgio Pantano
Giorgio Pantano (born 4 February 1979) is an Italian professional racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He also raced in Formula 3000. He retired from racing at t ...
won the second.
In 1999, no high profile motorsport and F1 stars were present.
Stéphane Sarrazin
Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French professional racing driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and ...
won the first superfinale and
Franck Montagny the second. This year
Robert Kubica won the second CIK race.
In 2000, the three-driver relay race was reintroduced and it was the French team of
Sébastien Bourdais,
Jean-Christophe Boullion and Julien Poncelet that won on Saturday. The European team of
Franck Lagorce,
Clivio Piccione and
Félix Porteiro won on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton won one of the support races.
In 2001, the relay team of
Vitantonio Liuzzi, Davide Forè and
Franck Lagorce won the superfinal.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
won the junior race ahead of
Nico Hülkenberg. It was the last edition of the Elf Masters.
References
External links
Philippe Streiff's official website
Kart racing
Kart racing events
Motorsport competitions in France
Sports competitions in Paris