Karol Basz

Karol Basz is a Polish racing driver currently racing in International GT Open for Olimp Racing and GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for GetSpeed.
He is a two-time Lamborghini World Finals champion, having won it in the Pro-Am class in 2019 alongside Bartosz Paziewski and overall in 2021 alongside Mattia Michelotto. In addition, he also won the Karting World Championship in 2015 in the KF class and is also a Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and International GT Open class champion.

Early career

Basz was born on 12 November 1991 in Kraków. He began karting in 2001, racing mainly in the Polish Karting Championship and winning the 2004 edition of it in the K60A class. After getting a karting license in 2004, Basz won the next two editions of the Polish Karting Championship in the ICA-Junior class. In 2007, Basz began racing full-time in Europe, along with a campaign in the WSK International Series.
After stints with Robert Kubica's karting team and Birel Motorsport, Basz joined Tony Kart and won the 2013 International Super Cup and the 2014 WSK Champions Cup in the KF class. Basz then joined Kosmic Racing Department in 2014 and stayed with them until the end of his karting career in 2018. With Kosmic Racing Department, Basz won the WSK Gold Cup and the Karting World Championship in the KF class in 2015, and also won the WSK Final Cup in 2016 in the newly-rebranded OK class.

Career

Stepping up to car racing in 2017, Basz joined Antonelli Motorsport to compete in the Super GT Cup class of the Italian GT Championship. In the 14-race season, Basz took his best result of second at Mugello, and scored three more podiums to finish 11th in the standings.
The following year, Basz joined Imperiale Racing to compete in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe alongside Vito Postiglione, along with joining the Lamborghini Young Driver programme the same year. Basz won race two of the season-opening Monza round, before taking further wins at Silverstone and Misano and taking the points lead following the midway point of the season at Spa. But after winning at Nürburgring, Basz retired in the final round of the season at Vallelunga and finished runner-up in the standings. During 2018, Basz also competed with the same team in the Italian GT Championship on a part-time basis.
After finishing runner-up in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East in early 2019, Basz returned to Imperiale Racing for the Super Trofeo Europe season partnering Bartosz Paziewski. After switching to the Pro-Am class at the final round of the Super Trofeo Europe season, Basz won the Lamborghini World Finals with Paziewski in the Pro-Am class at Jerez.
Remaining in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe for 2020, Basz joined Vincenzo Sospiri Racing alongside Andrzej Lewandowski. Basz won both races at Misano and Nürburgring in Pro-Am to lead the standings early on. Despite a retirement at Barcelona in race one, the Polish duo won the next three races in class to clinch the Pro-Am title a round early.
Basz stayed with Vincenzo Sospiri Racing for the 2021 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season, alongside Andrzej Lewandowski in the Pro-Am class. The Polish duo won five times in their class, but after missing the Nürburgring round, Basz finished runner-up to Lewandowski in the Pro-Am standings. Staying with the team for the World Finals, Basz partnered up with Mattia Michelotto and won both races at Misano to become 2021 Lamborghini World Finals champion overall. During 2021, Basz also made his debut in International GT Open for Olimp Racing alongside Marcin Jedlinski on a part-time basis, and also made a cameo in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for JP Motorsport's McLaren.
In 2022, Basz returned to Olimp Racing for his sophomore season in International GT Open, as the team switched from Mercedes to Audi machinery. In the 13-race season, Basz scored three Pro-Am wins, which included two overall podiums scored in both Le Castellet and Barcelona, on his way to his maiden class title in International GT Open. During the year, Basz also raced in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe for Micanek Motorsport, represented Poland in the FIA Motorsport Games, and also raced for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing in Italian GT and the 24 Hours of Spa.
Staying with Olimp Racing for a third season, Basz swept both Red Bull Ring races in Pro-Am and took further class wins at the Hungaroring and Monza to finish runner-up in the Pro-Am standings. During 2023, Basz returned to Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, driving for Mičánek Motorsport alongside Broněk Formánek.
Returning to Olimp Racing for 2024, Basz rejoined Marcin Jedliński as the sole Audi R8 LMS Evo II in the team. Basz took pole for the season-opening round at Algarve and finished third overall in race one, before winning in class at the following round in Spa. After five further Pro-Am podiums, Basz finished runner-up to Marco Pulcini for the class title by eight points. During 2024, Basz also drove for Madpanda Motorsport and Eastalent Racing in select races between GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.
Basz returned to Olimp Racing for 2025 as the team fully committed to the Ferrari 296 GT3. Basz also joined GetSpeed's Silver Cup effort in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, aboard a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Finishing 18th in the Silver Cup standings of the latter, Basz found more success in GT Open, in which he scored a Pro-Am podium at Spa and ended the year sixth in the class standings.