Anthony Abbasse

Some careers are defined by what was won; Anthony Abbasse's is defined by how close he came. Twice — in 2016 and 2017 — the Frenchman finished the KZ World Championship one position short of the crown, both times beaten by Paolo De Conto at the peak of his powers. Nobody in the modern era carried a French flag deeper into the Italian-dominated gearbox wars, and nobody wore near-misses with more class.

The karting years

Born in 1989, Abbasse was a KZ2 winner of the Monaco Kart Cup in 2009 and French champion in the class by 2010, the first of five national titles. He became the face of Sodikart's factory programme for roughly a decade — the works driver around whom the Nantes manufacturer built its assault on the KZ elite.

The near-misses were epic rather than tame. At Kristianstad in 2016 he qualified a lowly twelfth, clawed to seventh in the pre-final, then tore through the world final — even leading mid-race — to finish second behind De Conto with the second-fastest lap. A year later at Wackersdorf he was better still: leader after the heats, pole for the final, racing while carrying an injury, and beaten only narrowly by the outgoing champion. Add a vice-European championship, victory at the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas alongside fellow international-era winners like Ardigò and Lammers, and multiple wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans karting classic, and you have one of the most complete records never to include a world title.

What made him different

Abbasse was the great outsider of the KZ era: a French driver on a French kart with a French team, punching at the Italian factory axis of CRG, Tony Kart and Birel year after year. His trademark was the charge — Kristianstad from P12 remains one of the great world final drives of the decade — and his consistency made Sodi a genuine title force rather than a curiosity. Then there is the exit. At 30 he simply stopped, saying he had long known exactly what he did not want his thirties to look like. No slow fade through the ranks; a clean break, entirely on his own terms.

Legacy

Abbasse legitimised Sodikart at world level — the vice-titles, the KZ2 world victory the team took alongside him at Wackersdorf in 2017, and the SuperNats scalps laid the ground for the marque's later champions. He also became a model for life after the factory awning: he took over the Mecamax leisure karting circuit in the Vendée, turned it into a year-round business, and put the sport's grassroots on the other side of his counter. The itch never fully left, though. When the FIA created the KZ2 Masters class for over-35 talent, Abbasse was straight back on a Sodi — and straight onto pole position at the 2024 European Championship opener at Alcañiz. Fast then, fast now. For the drivers grinding through today's KZ2 field dreaming of a works seat, his career is the blueprint — and a warning that even a near-perfect one can leave the biggest prize on the table.