Schledz regains title in intense finale after battle for the lead comes down to the line
The 2025 British Rental Kart Championship (BRKC) 2025 delivered a nail-biting finale, as some of the best drivers from around the world descended on Formula Fast in Milton Keynes to compete for the title of British Champion – as well as a £1000 cash prize.
| Before the Final
There were surprises in store before the final even begun, with some notable names not making it into the last ten. This year saw arguably BRKC’s most competitive field ever, with a huge contingent of international karting superstars.
Previous champions Ruben Boutens and Sean Brierley, plus regular finalists Lewis Manley, Bram Gelten, Ivan Szana, and Sam Slater all failed to earn enough points to reach the last race of the day, despite some standout performances during the weekend.
On the plus side, this allowed them the rare opportunity to relax and watch their teammates take the pressure, in one of the closest showdowns BRKC has ever seen.
| Starting Grid
The starting grid featured Kuba Piechulski (
Poland) on pole position, followed closely by Rico Haarbosch (
Netherlands) and Frederick Navarro (
United Kingdom).
Strong performances throughout the heats, semi-finals, and crucially the pre-Final ‘Superpole’ placed them at the forefront of the championship showdown, whilst former BRKC finalist Eliano de Vos (🇳🇱 Netherlands), Polish champion Ziemowit Werra ( Poland) and 2023 BRKC champion Vica Schledz (🇳🇱 Netherlands) rounded out the top six.
Pre-race drama unfolded as Charlie Ratford ( United Kingdom) was penalised for a qualifying infringement, resulting in a grid placement at the back and promoting Tomek Bernadowski ( Poland), Dylan de Wolf (
Belgium) and fellow Brit (and points leader) Sebastian Miller ( United Kingdom) up to 9th, 8th and 7th respectively for the race start.
| Race Start
The race began at an electrifying pace, with Haarbosch attempting a monster lunge on race leader Piechulski into the main hairpin on lap 1, forcing him wide with heavy contact.
Haarbosch immediately yielded the place back as the move was placed under investigation, leaving Navarro, de Vos, Weera and Schledz to jostle for position. Haarbosch gave a masterclass in damage limitation, slotting back into second whilst simultaneously creating havoc for the other drivers at the front of the pack.
De Wolf and Haarbosch opted for an early pit strategy to get themselves out of the mix, leaving Piechulski under pressure from an on-form Navarro, who was relishing putting his pre-BRKC training programme to good use. Close behind were former-champion Schledz and Werra, who set the pace in the early stages.
Meanwhile, Brits Ratford and Miller were quietly making their way up the field. Miller, showing formidable pace, briefly led after an aggressive move on the leader, but lost the advantage and track position with a ‘bad pass’ flag shortly after.
| Race Performances
- Kuba Piechulski, having defended heavy moves from several big-hitters early on, must have felt like he had a target painted on his back, but despite driving a solid defence from 2nd place throughout the final, saw his hopes for a podium diminish as the early-pitters close the gap, leaving him with no options late in the race with one stop still to go.
- Tomek Bernadoski, meanwhile, drove a strategic race from a lowly 9th on the grid, and despite languishing there for a long portion of the race, profited from the empty track this gave him and ultimately gained places when late-race pitstops from others saw him leap-frogging into 4th overall.
- With an almost opposite story to Bernadowski was Eliano de Vos, who, despite qualifying in 4th was elbowed down to 6th after the opening laps. De Vos largely kept out of trouble, reaching a high of 3rd before his first stop, but was unable to match the pace of the leaders and ended up in a disappointing 7th after his second stop.
- Brit Charlie Ratford drove a mature race after his grid demotion, completing his pitstops before the halfway point and getting his head down with some exceptionally consistent times. Ratford made his way up as far as 5th position, but unfortunately wasn’t able to capitalise on the early-stage opportunities, nevertheless ending his day in a BRKC career-best 8th place.
- Dylan de Wolf chose to remove himself from harm’s way by pitting on lap 2, but sadly despite stellar performances in the Heats and Semi-Finals during his first BRKC wasn’t able to make progress through the midfield, topping out in 5th position late in the race before his final stop demoted him to 9th overall.
- A characteristically eventful drive from Rico Haarbosch saw several dramatic overtakes, providing maximum entertainment for spectators, if not for Race Control and his unlucky victims. Eventually Rico fell victim to himself after a mis-timed exit from Gate 1 invalidated his pitstop, requiring an extra visit back to the pitlane and effectively ending his challenge.
- Miller’s strategic problems allowed Ziemowit Werra, who opted to leave both pitstops until the last moment, to climb into the lead for most of the race, one eye fixated on the time gap between himself and early-stopper Schledz, who had emerged from his own stops with a healthy advantage.
| Closing Stages
As the final entered its final stage, a flurry of last-minute pitstops instigated by the ‘Pit Closing’ board revealed the true running order and a ‘winner takes all’ dash to the chequered flag.
Frederic Navarro exited the pitlane for the final pitstop of BRKC 2025, slotting into a well-earned 5th position after an accomplished performance.
As the last pit window closed, it was Schledz, Miller and Werra emerging top of the scoreboard, with Miller – taking the fastest lap of the race – hot on the heels of Schledz, who was forced to keep up a furious defence of the lead as the clock ticked down to zero.
Entering the last lap, and after 30 minutes of racing and 20+ pitstops, only 11.8 seconds separated the entire grid, with the top three neck-and-neck. Werra closed up to within 0.5 seconds of the leader, making for a nervewracking last lap, with both Werra and Miller and putting Schledz under unrelenting pressure as they entered the final corners.
However, it was Vica victorious once more as the chequered flag dropped and the sparks flew, marking the end of BRKC 2025, with new champion Schledz edging over the line ahead of Miller, Werra and a resurgent Bernadowski who had closed the gap to the frontrunners in the last lap.
| Post-Race
“Very exciting – it was a hard fight!” said newly-crowned double champion Schledz after the final.
On his pit strategy and defending from Miller, Schledz said:
“The other guys can drive fast, and can come in front, so we have to drive [without pitting] until the last five minutes and then defend like crazy.”
“He [Miller] did a lot of pressure, of course he wants to win also and that is the moment, this is the final, you have to do it. He tried everything.”
The overall positions after the final were as follows:
- Vica Schledz
- Sebastian Miller
- Ziemowit Werra
- Tomek Bernadowski
- Frederic Navarro
- Kuba Piechulski
- Eliano de Vos
- Charlie Ratford
- Dylan de Wolf
- Rico Haarbosch
Vica Schledz took the BRKC Champion’s trophy on the podium along with a £1000 cash prize. Schledz, Miller and Werra also take a free entry to the Kart World Championships 2025, of which BRKC is the official qualifier.
A warm congratulations to our new Champion, well done to our finalists, and a huge thank you to all drivers, spectators, organisers and staff involved in making BRKC 2025 one to remember.
| BRKC 2026
BRKC – the UK’s top level indoor karting championship, and the official qualifier to the Kart World Championship – will return in January 2026.
We look forward to inviting you back. Do stay tuned, as further announcements will be made in due course.
Phil Stanley
Race Director, BRKC | Owner, Formula Fast
