Ryan Norberg earns a seventh 'Driver of the Year' with the top spot in the 2024 EKN TaG Driver Rankings (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

December is here and the 2024 calendar is about to turn over. It also marks the end of the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School for the 2024 season. A total of 43 races across the United States with 239 drivers earning points toward this year’s standings. A historic year of karting ends with a seventh season for Rolison Performance Group driver Ryan Norberg earning the ‘Driver of the Year’ honor.

Norberg was able to get back in the win column in the first weekend of the season after going winless in 2023. The Florida driver overcame challenges to claim a historic sixth SKUSA Pro Tour championship since 2016 while missing out on a fourth straight United States Pro Kart Series title with vice-champion position. Inter MS driver Alessandro de Tullio has been the most consistent driver over the last two seasons. Finishing third in last year’s EKN Driver Rankings, the Florida driver improves to second for 2024. Swapping positions with de Tullio to end 2024 in third is USPKS champion Austin Garrison (Speed Concepts Racing / CS55). This season was one of his more consistent, improving from sixth in 2023 in the final standings.

Holding onto the fourth position to close out 2024 EKN Driver Rankings is Florida Winter Tour champion Harley Keeble. The driver with most races counted at 19, Keeble started the year with Sodi Racing USA before moving over to Inter MS this summer. Along with the team change, he went from Sodi Kart, to Kart Republic and closed out the year on Tony Kart. The two wins at FWT were his only time at the top of the podium on the year, finishing sixth in USPKS standings and seventh in SKUSA Pro Tour championship.

Moving up into the top five to close out the season is fellow Brit Brandon Carr. His first full season with Trinity Karting Group and Kart Republic saw him win quickly at the SKUSA Winter Series. He followed it up with eight straight top 10 results in USPKS and SKUSA Pro Tour competition before missing out of the SuperNationals. It’s an improvement of four positions from 2023 where he ended the season in ninth.

Rotax Winter Trophy champion Diego Ramos (PSL Karting / Birel ART) also moved up positions at the end of the year to finish sixth in the 2024 EKN Driver Rankings. The Brazilian driver only had one victory at the Orlando Rotax back-to-back weekend but managed two podium results on the SKUSA Pro Tour to help his position in the standings. In the end, Ramos was third in the championship chase for the SKUSA Pro Tour, finishing 24th at the SuperNationals. Sixth is one spot better than his 2023 position.

One of the positive stories of the 2024 season was the breakout performance by Jakub Kolar at the IAME Grand National Championship. A limited schedule saw 10 races toward the EKN Driver Rankings for the Vice Racing pilot with a podium result at the SKUSA Winter Series and victory at the Florida Winter Tour as his best finishes early on. After a couple starts in the summer, Kolar was able to best a stacked field at the Trackhouse Motorplex, holding on in the final laps in wet conditions to claim the big victory. Kolar finishes 2024 in the seventh position of the standings, an improvement of 10 spots from last year.

Down two spots to eight to close out 2024 is Brandon Jarsocrak Racing pilot Pauly Massimino. The Stars Championship Series champion was a contender all season long. Fourth in the USPKS standings and fifth in the SKUSA Pro Tour title chase was earned with top 10 results, on the verge of podium finishes over the course of the schedule. Fifth place at the IAME Grand National Championship was his best score of 2024. A controversial ‘passing under the yellow flag’ call in the heat races at the SuperNationals took away a possible top five starting spot on SuperSunday away, ending up 17th in the final results.

Last year’s IAME Grand National Championship winner Dalton Hanes used that success to establish a full 2024 schedule that went international. Signing with Sodi Racing USA, Hanes was a top five contender at the SKUSA Winter Series and start of the SKUSA Pro Tour. He stepped back his karting schedule in the summer before getting a ride with Racelab once again at the US Trophy Final. Hanes finished runner-up, earning a ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals in Italy. Overcoming qualifying issues, Hanes drove his way forward in the heat races and Prefinal, eventually finishing 10th in the main event. He backed up that performance with a P10 with SLA Racing at the SKUSA SuperNationals.

Completing the top 10 for the 2024 EKN Driver Rankings is Donovan Bonilla (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic). The SKUSA SuperNationals 26 winner was able to earn one victory over the 10 races he contested toward the standings. His SKUSA Winter Series win was his only podium finish, placing ninth at the SuperNationals to end up 10th after finishing 2023 in eighth.

An interesting stat regarding the SKUSA SuperNationals. Both Norberg and de Tullio finished in the same positions in back to back years – Norberg second and de Tullio seventh. Garrison went from third last year to fifth in 2024.

The drivers in the top 10 of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings featured four countries (USA, UK, Brazil, Mexico), eight different teams and six chassis brands.

TaG #1 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

(Photo: Nate Dean – EKN)

A history season for Ryan Norberg in 2024, earning a record setting sixth SKUSA Pro Tour championship and a seventh EKN ‘Driver of the Year’ honor. Despite his winless 2023 season, Norberg returned in 2024 with victory in his first outing. It may not have been the dominant Norberg we had seen before, with two critical DNF results on the season, but six wins on the season helped make it feel like a typical season. The battle at the SuperNationals resulted in a runner-up to international star Joe Turney, duplicating the same finish and points as he did at the 2023 SuperNationals. This left his score unchanged from September, earning him the EKN TaG Driver Rankings #1 plate once again.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

TaG #2 – Alessandro de Tullio
Miami, Florida

(Photo: Nate Dean – EKN)

In his last full-time season in karting, Alessandro de Tullio ended a solid two year run as one of the most consistent drivers in the sport. Earning the SKUSA Winter Series championship to kick off the year, the Florida driver only had three results of his 16 races outside the top 10. That included four third-place finishes in USPKS competition. Like Norberg, the Inter MS driver finished in the same position at SuperNationals 27 as he did in 2023 despite changing from Kart Republic chassis to Tony Kart at the end of the season. Alessandro is set to contest the USF Pro 2000 Championship in 2025.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

TaG #3 – Austin Garrison
Davie, Florida

(Photo: Nate Dean – EKN)

Winning at the United States Pro Kart Series for Austin Garrison dates back to the 2019 season. Year after year, the Florida driver was among the drivers to always factor in as contenders. 2024 was different, as he and the Speed Concepts Racing found that little bit they needed to be there fighting for victories. Winning at the Rotax Winter Trophy, Garrison notched victory in Wisconsin and consistent results prior to claim the USPKS title. The year ended with a second straight podium result at the SuperNationals to keep him in the top three of the EKN Driver Rankings to close out 2024.

Point Breakdown

EKN Driver Rankings Calculation Process
The EKN Driver Rankings are calculated using a driver’s best finishes in major North American races. Assembled using events from the previous 12 months from the current date, we use a driver’s best seven finishes in the TaG and Shifterkart categories to determine their overall current point total. With each new release, results posted from more than one year ago are discarded. To deliver our ranking list, we tabulate the results of all the national programs and selected regional programs. We have also included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, the Rock Island Grand Prix, and other special races.

Each race is initially weighted based on the prestige and history of the event or series with a score of ten (10) being the highest attainable base ranking. For 2024, the SKUSA SuperNationals will receive a score of 10 in its initial weighting in the TaG and Shifterkart categories. A base ranking of 9.5 is awarded to special events of ROK Vegas, US Trophy Final, Rock Island Grand Prix, and IAME Grand National Championship. The core of the schedule featuring SKUSA Pro Tour, SKUSA Winter Series, United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour, and Challenge of the Americas begin with a base ranking of 9. Other programs such as California ProKart Challenge, Stars Championship Series, ROK Sonoma and others given a base ranking of either 8.5 or 8.0.

The EKN staff reserves the right to adjust the rankings of each event throughout the year. A minimum entry total for any event to be considered for the Driver Rankings program is five (5). If an event does not have at least five (5) drivers starting the race, those results will not be tabulated toward the Driver Rankings.

Added to these initial rankings are two variables that help confirm the true importance of an event to the ranking process – field size and field strength. A percentage of one weighting point is added for the size of the field, while the number of existing top-50 drivers entered offers another full point or fraction of a point. The sum of these numbers becomes the overall ranking for any race.

Following a race, drivers receive points based on their finishing positions with 100 points earned for a win. Each subsequent position drops by one point with 99 points given to the second-place driver and so on throughout the field. These points are then multiplied by the overall ranking to produce a driver’s final point total from each event. Using a driver’s best seven races, we calculate each driver’s overall score and subsequent ranking.

EKN TaG Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School – as of December 16, 2024

Share on Facebook

Tweet