Six past European Champions have progressed to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship: Michael Schumacher (1987, ICA), Jenson Button (1997, FSA), Lewis Hamilton (2000, FA), Sebastian Vettel (2001, ICA-J), Max Verstappen (2013, KF and KZ), and Lando Norris (2013, KF-J). Other previous champions to win FIA World Championships in auto racing include Yvan Muller (1986, FK), Sébastien Buemi (2002, ICA-J), Kévin Estre (2004, ICA), James Calado (2005, ICA), Michael Christensen (2005, ICA-J), and Nyck de Vries (2009, KF3).
The European Nations' Cup was the first competition held by the CIK-FIA upon its founding in 1962, won by Great Britain against Belgium, France, Italy, and Germany.
The individual European Championship was first held in 1970, running a 100cc class won by Belgian driver François Goldstein, who retained his title in 1971. In 1979, Cathy Muller became the first woman to win a European title, doing so in the 100cc class. The senior category was contested under 100cc Intercontinental A (ICA) regulations until the introduction of the 135cc Formula K (FK) class in 1982.
The gearbox category was first contested in 1974 in the Formula C (FC) class, won by Dutch driver Aad van Daalen. Between 1979 and 1981, a secondary gearbox class (FC-2) was held. Gianfranco Baroni won four FC European Championships from 1976 to 1981.
FK ran from 1982 to 1990, and again in 1992, as the primary senior class, until it was replaced by Formula A (FA) and its Super sub-class (FSA). In 1988 and 1989, the Formula Super 100 (S100) class was contested as a main senior competition. Michael Schumacher won the 1987 ICA European Championship, going on to become the first European Champion to also win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, in 1994.
In 1989, Jos Verstappen became the first driver to win two European Championships in the same season, with wins in FS100 and ICA — a feat only repeated in 2013 by his son Max. ICC replaced FC as the primary gearbox class in 1983. Walter van Lent became the first non-Italian ICC European Champion in 1990, and the last in the primary gearbox class until Jonathan Thonon in 2008.
From 1993 to 2000, FSA became the pre-eminent class in the senior category, run alongside the secondary FA class and ICA. The 2000 season was notable for marking the start of the fierce rivalry between CRG teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who finished first and second respectively in that year's FA European Championship. FA succeeded FSA as the lead class upon the latter's European demise at the end of the 2000 season.
In the gearbox category, ICC was again replaced by FC as the main class in 1996, later renamed Super-ICC from 2002. The 250cc Superkart category was contested for the first time in 2002, going on to be contested at 18 successive European Championships.
In 2007, the primary senior class became KF1 and the primary gearbox class became KZ1 as the CIK-FIA attempted to re-brand global karting. The secondary divisions KF2 and KZ2 replaced ICA and ICC respectively. KF3 succeeded Junior Intercontinental A (ICA-J) as the junior class, later renaming to KF-J in 2013.
In 2009, the entire podium — Nyck de Vries, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat — went on to graduate to Formula One, the only time this has happened at the European Championship.
Between 2005 and 2008, Marco Ardigò won four consecutive senior titles with Tony Kart, remaining the only driver to complete a four-peat in the European Championship as of 2024. Ardigò is also the only driver to have won five European Championships, adding a fifth title in KZ in 2016.
In 2013, Max Verstappen won both the KF and KZ European Championships with CRG, becoming the first — and to date, only — driver to win senior and gearbox titles in the same season.
KF2 became the primary senior category in 2010, replacing KF1. After nine seasons of KF regulations in the senior category, the CIK-FIA shifted towards Original Kart (OK) regulations from 2016. In 2017, Spanish-born Moroccan driver Sami Taoufik became the first non-European champion in a primary class, winning the OK European Championship with FA Kart.
In 2020 and 2021, aged 14 and 15, Andrea Kimi Antonelli won back-to-back OK European Championships, becoming the youngest driver to win multiple primary senior European titles. The 2020 Superkart European Championship, originally scheduled to be hosted at Le Mans–Bugatti, was cancelled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, ending its 18-year tenure under the CIK-FIA banner.
The KZ2-Masters class debuted at the 2024 KZ European Championship as a senior gearbox division limited to drivers aged 35 and above. Italian driver Riccardo Nalon won its inaugural edition, driving for Parolin.
The senior, junior, and gearbox European Championships are contended on separate dates at various kart circuits across Europe. As of 2025, the direct-drive category is run across four separate three-day events. On day one, drivers participate in free practice preceding qualifying practice, setting up Qualifying Heats (QH). These races set the grids for Super Heats (SH), which in turn set up the Final (F), with points awarded in all three rounds. The gearbox category is run across two separate three-day events and follows the same QH/SH/F structure.
The primary direct-drive class as of 2024 is OK. Italian drivers have historically dominated the KZ gearbox class, winning 39 of the 52 championships altogether as of 2024. Gianfranco Baroni and Francesco Laudato hold the joint-record for most KZ European Championships, each with four; in 2002, the championship was shared ex-aequo by Laudato and Sauro Cesetti, who both scored 86 points.
George Russell is the only driver to win multiple junior European Championships, winning back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris are the only two junior European Champions to also win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
The championship is broadcast live on YouTube by the FIA, with live timing provided via the FIA Karting website. The opening race of the 2021 direct-drive season at Genk had a record viewership of over 46 thousand people.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.