New continental karting cup places F1 on Africa’s horizon

Karting Africa, powered by WORR Motorsport, will showcase its plans to develop future African Formula One drivers at an international karting showrun in Angola this October. The event will offer a preview of the Karting Africa Cup, which will run over five rounds across Africa in 2027.

The Karting Africa Showrun will bring 39 drivers from across the continent to Benguela, Angola on 10 and 11 October for an event that forms part of the Angolan National League. WORR Motorsport describes it as the biggest karting showrun ever held in Africa.

According to WORR Motorsport’s and Karting Africa Founder and head coach, Wesleigh Orr, the initiative has the full support of the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Expected attendees include FIA Vice President for Sport (Africa) Rodrigo Rocha, FIA Regional Coordinator for Africa Miguel Tiago, and presidents of national motorsport authorities from 14 African countries.

WORR Motorsport has named 11 of its own drivers that are expected to compete, including Lwashu Mathebula, Yaseen Panday, Radhi Harris, Thendo Biscay, Ithan Guerras, Zuan Breytenbach, Anele Nzimande, Liam Pilay, Gianna Pascoal, Bulelani Shongwe, and Pranjal Tejura.

Drivers are expected from South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Seychelles, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique,Zimbabwe and Eswatini, alongside host nation Angola, setting the stage for a tightly contested continental showcase. For WORR Motorsport, however, the racing weekend is just part of the story as it pursues its broader ambitions for African motorsport.

The South African karting development team based in Vereeniging, Gauteng, created the Karting Africa concept and is organising the initiative together with the Angola Motor Sports Federation (FADM). Its longer-term goal is to establish a championship capable of becoming one of the most important motorsport competitions for young drivers on the continent.

Orr says, “The goal is to build a world-class series on African soil, run by Africans for Africans. We want our drivers to have a championship that is held in the same esteem as the African Cup of Nations in soccer. Everybody wants to become a world champion in motorsport, but we want young talented racers to soon say, ‘I want to win the African Championship.’”

Laying the groundwork for a five-race African series

Before that can happen, the championship’s foundations still need to be agreed. Representatives of the participating national motorsport federations will use the Angola meeting to answer critical questions such as which countries are equipped to host rounds of the five-race series and what it should cost drivers to enter.

They will also discuss how drivers should be selected and developed within participating countries, and whether entries from individual countries should be capped. The latter is particularly important to WORR, which wants to avoid an African championship in name that is overwhelmingly dominated by competitors from one country. Driver spots for the Karting Africa Cup will therefore be strictly limited for the first year, with entries opening in November 2026.

“We want the Karting Africa Cup to be a genuine African championship. We want drivers from countries such as the Seychelles lining up against drivers from South Africa and the rest of the continent. We want to be part of promoting grassroots development across the entire continent, not only South Africa,” notes Orr.

In keeping with this, the Angola showrun will demonstrate an approach intended to underpin the future championship – namely using uniform equipment, including brand new Karting Africa chassis brought in specifically for the event, and ensuring that engine makes and kart sizes are identical across categories.

This approach is intended to maintain a level technical playing field that places greater emphasis on driver performance than differences in machinery, in keeping with WORR Motorsport’s aim of reducing the barriers that prevent talented young drivers from reaching higher levels of the sport.

A continental championship will need broad support

For Orr, building a respected African championship with the appropriate financial backing and partners would address another of the greatest challenges facing local drivers: the need to travel abroad to access high-level competition.

“We’re making sure that talent doesn’t have to leave Africa to race competitively, which will help to address the prohibitively high cost of competing. Karting is already an expensive sport, and international campaigns add travel, accommodation, equipment, and logistical costs that can quickly place competing out of the reach of most families.

“We want young drivers to hone their skills by racing here in championships that are so competitive that even European drivers will want to join. For that, we first need to improve access.”

WORR Motorsport says it already has international partners to support driver development and help African talent gain recognition beyond domestic competition. The aim is to give promising racers opportunities to be scouted by Formula 1 and other leading international teams, with WORR confident that future Formula drivers will emerge from the series.

As plans develop, the organisers are seeking further financial supporters and strategic partners that can help build the infrastructure, equipment base, and development programmes needed to grow competitive karting within the various countries.

Where those structures still need to be established, the intention is for local partners to take the lead, with Karting Africa providing the knowledge, expertise, and equipment needed to support them. This could help countries strengthen their own karting ecosystems while building a pool of drivers capable of competing at the continental level.

“Ultimately, we want to see stronger driver pipelines capable of producing racers who can successfully represent their countries. We want to build a system that significantly strengthens motorsport across the region, raises the standard of competition across Africa, and gives local talent a credible pathway to compete at a high level without having to leave the continent to find it,” Orr concludes.