5.6 million to become the new Fernando Alonso

900,000 euros for seven years in karting at a national and international level. 500,000 for one season of Formula 4. Later, €1M to move up to Formula 3. And €3M to compete with a top F2 team, the prelude to F1; the goal that boys and girls dream of when they start competing. In total, 5.6 million euros.

“Motoring is not cheap“, recognized in an interview with EFE Nacho Aviñó, president of the karting commission of the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation (RFEDA) and head of the Spanish Championship (CEK).

Shelled calculations are for a peaceful career. Starting at eight years old in CEK’s ‘Mini’ category and at 14 leaving karts to move to single-seaters at 15, increasing year by year in the category. A performance at the level of the world’s best. Few succeed, but many try.

At the first CEK meeting at Karting Campillos de Málaga there was a record of registered on the circuit, 166. It surpassed last season’s. After the pandemic, the youngest – and those who are not so young because the highest category KZ has participants over 40, – look more at karting.

“The numbers after the pandemic, strange as it may seem, have increased. Costs have gone up, because life in general has gone up. We try to contain costs as much as possible. possible, with everything in our power”, pointed out Nacho Aviño.

“I attribute this increase to a change in philosophy, from being at home to going out to do what you want. When we are in good health, we train more,” he completed.

A Spanish Karting Championship that in his first test, out of four, with two races each to save costs, bringing together 23 different nationalities and had the highest number of female participants with 14 girls, three more than the previous season.

“This is an important fact, but I am more proud that in motorsports women are equal to men, we give them the same tools. They are completely the same. They wear helmets and they are numbers, we are not separated. That is the ultimate equality. And more girls are signing up every year. Ten years ago there were two or three; now there are 14″, thought the leader.

INVEST IN SPONSORSHIP

Currently, CEK has the support of ‘Finetwork’, with a ‘naming’ agreement. Before they were Banco Santander and before LaLiga. All of them, based on Law 49/2002, of December 23, on the tax regime of non-profit entities and tax incentives for patronage.

In other words, CEK sponsors have benefits in their respective income tax returns. “This is an issue that the Federation has achieved,” said Nacho Aviño.

“The quality of the Championship is very high. It costs a lot and you have to find companies like Finetwotk who pulled forward. It is not an option to lower the quality, you have to ask for support and Finetwork is a key pillar,” he said.

Agreements that allow a championship to continue with a budget of more than 300,000 euros, which are not economically profitable, but as a means of “promoting the sport,” recognizes Nacho Aviñó.

Of course, according to data sent to EFE by the Federation, last season CEK had an impact of more than 2 million euros in each region within three days of duration. Hotels, restaurants, work… around a CEK that passes through Motorland (Teruel), Chiva (Valencia), Campillos (Málaga) and Zuera (Zaragoza).

The Circuit of Fernando Alonso in Asturias is not on the calendar, although Nacho Aviñó does not “rule out the possibility” that they will visit him in the future.

AN EXPENSIVE ROAD

A Fernando Alonso who left CEK, like Carlos Sainz or Álex Palouand the name appears in academy groups such as Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc or Daniel Ricciardo.

The road is difficult and expensive, a base of 5.6 million euros, a perfect climb to the top, even with many sides and extra costs., but also facilities. A good performance on the track can get you noticed by an F1 team academy and together, but this is not the case for everyone.

A kart in the ‘Mini’ category is around 6,000 euros and the ‘KZ’ around 13,000, to which fuel, tyres, maintenance and mechanics must be added.

“Motorsport is certainly not cheap.“, recognizes Nacho Aviñó. “The first to do more expensive are the parents, who spend every weekend in the circuits doing the tests; worth more than four CEK races”, he pointed out.

In addition, it recognizes that having economic support or not, be it family, sponsors or being inside a powerful structure, can mark the future of CEK men and women.

“The first filter we see is the economic one. Motorsport has a tool, the kart, that is not cheap, which is tiring… Of course, there are other sports with other types of expenses; when you enter the competition, it stops being cheap”, he pointed out.

And when they leave karting and go for single-seaters with dreams of reaching F1, the costs go up. The production of the season of Formula 4 costs 500,000 euros; from F3, €1M; and in F2 it reaches up to €3 M to a team from the top of the grid. Just for joining. You need to add trips, training…

A path to the elite who have to put together a sporting performance above the norm, with important sponsors or financial support, but that starts with a karting where, eventually, the drivers always return.

“The closest thing to an F1, with four wheels, is the gear kart; the common one used by everyone. At the level of physical demand, it is the best there is and at the level of concentration it completes them,” said Nacho Aviñó.