Like the Senior class, the European Junior Championship was conducted for 100cc karts until the introduction of KFj before being replaced by the direct-drive OK junior class in 2016. Traditionally the breeding ground for the world's young aspiring professional drivers, the European Championship almost every year attracts drivers to compete from every other populated continent to compete. It was in the European Junior Championships in years gone by that young talents such as Michael Schumacher, Giorgio Pantano, Fernando Alonso and James Courtney were first recognised. In recent years the Junior Championship has run in conjunction with the OK championship.