Kenzo Craigie

2017–2023: Prominence in Britain and international debut

At six years old, Craigie started kart racing at the local Daytona Sandown Park and debuted in the bambino ranks of the British scene, scoring a podium in his first race.^[6][1] By 2020, he had emerged in club championships across England, placing fifth in the TVKC Autumn Cup and twenty-fourth in the British Championships.^[7][8] He debuted on the international scene in 2021 at the RMC Grand Finals in Sakhir, having improved to ninth in the British Championships.^[7] He dominated the national Cadet class the following year, winning the Ultimate Karting Championship, Kartmasters British Grand Prix, British 'O' Plate, and finishing runner-up in the British Championships, where his successes saw him claim the Mark Hines Memorial Trophy and his nomination to represent the United Kingdom in the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy.^[6][9] He closed his cadet career by winning the TVKC Icebreaker Cup at PF International.^[6] Part of the Mercedes Junior Team from 2023 onwards, he stepped up to the junior international Rotax Max and IAME categories, where he finished runner-up in the RMC Euro Trophy and English Championship with Argenti Motorsport, as well as tenth and twelfth in the X30 Junior and Junior Max categories of the British Championships, respectively; he finished twentieth in the RMC Grand Finals.^{[8][10][11][12]}

2024–2025: World Champion

In 2024, aged 13, Craigie progressed to OK-Junior—the premier under-15 international class—under the wing of six-time World Champion Mike Wilson, finishing nineteenth in the European Championship and third in Champions of the Future.^[13][14][15] His World Championship debut was staged at PF International, where he won a club championship round the year prior, and proved a battle for victory between him and compatriot Noah Baglin; in torrential rain, Craigie closed a three-second gap to Baglin by the final lap, when they swapped positions repeatedly—often going off-circuit—until a final-corner collision saw Baglin in the wall and Craigie becoming World Champion.^[3][16] After closing the season by winning the IAME Warriors Final in X30 Junior, Fabio Marangon of Vroomkart stated karting was "Craigie's world, and we are just living in it" and contrasted his acclaim to Kimi Antonelli.^[17] His battle with Baglin and eventual overtake was named the FIA Action of the Year in karting.^[3]

Craigie's progression to the senior OK class in 2025 was met with mixed results, opening with ninth in the WSK Super Master Series and fourteenth in the IAME Winter Cup.^[18] His highlight of the season was victory in Champions of the Future over eventual World Champion Thibaut Ramaekers and European Champion Christian Costoya, his second international title.^[19] Craigie finished tenth in the European Championship, scoring nearly half of his points with a podium in the season-ending Rødby final.^[18] He closed his karting career with fifth in the World Championship at Kristianstad, the same position he ranked in-class in the International Karting Ranking.^[18][20] Upon his graduation to junior formulae, Sam Joseph of The New York Times proclaimed Craigie as a "prodigy".^[3]