BIC flags off national racing season : National grassroots racing returns with Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge’s first round on Friday at BIKC

sports September 25, 2024

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, kicks off its 2024/2025 season this weekend with the very best of national grassroots racing, featuring plenty of the kingdom’s top talent. The first of eight rounds in the 2024/2025 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) takes place on Friday at the world-renowned Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir. The BRMC is one of the region’s leading karting championships and it brings together participants of all ages and nationalities, battling it out in their very own Rotax-powered machinery. Competition will be held in six different categories this campaign, including the Micro MAX, Mini MAX, Junior MAX, Senior MAX, MAX DD2, and MAX DD2 Masters.

Global Opportunity

Participants will vie for wins, podiums, points and bragging rights in each exciting meeting, and the champions who will be crowned at the end of the season will get the incredible opportunity to represent Bahrain at the annual Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals – one of the premier global events in all of karting. Friday’s action is scheduled to be held from 11.50am to around 6pm.

All are welcome to attend and entrance to BIKC is free of charge. Free practices kick things off in the six categories, to be followed by qualifying practices starting from 12.30pm. The pre-finals will be held from 1.37pm onwards, and they will set the stage for the finals, beginning from 3.30pm. The podium ceremonies are scheduled for 6.15pm. More than 30 competitors are provisionally entered for the meeting, which is being organised by BIC and BIKC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation, Bahrain Karting Commission, and Motorsport Marshals Club.

Defending Champions

Set to compete this weekend in the Micro MAX category are defending champion Tariq Soofi, Rashid Almahroos, and Abdulaziz Alsarraf. Racing in the Mini MAX class will be Faisal Alnajjar, Austin Gray, William Lette, Rayyan Najjar, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Leonard Bossi, and Faisal Alshaer. The Junior MAX will feature returning champion Khaled Najjar, who will be up against Rashid Hilal, Leopold Juch, Demir Abali, Shaheen Shaheen, and Nasser Nass – last season’s Mini MAX title-winner who has graduated to this higher class.

The Senior MAX will see the biggest field on Friday. The racers will be spearheaded by defending champion Mohammed Alhasan, who will be tested by a grid composed of Mohammed Al Thani, Gracie Rose Grantham, Talal Alattas, Mohammed Alarayedh, Tye Mejia, Abdullah Alkhater, Mohammed Hilal, Evdokiia Karpenko, Yousif Alaali, Musaad Albassam, Abdulla Fakhri, Vedant Menon, Rakan Alfayez, and Zain Elhommossany.

Competing in the DD2 MAX class will be Oliver Kruglov, Raoul Sadi, and Abdulla Sajjad; while racing in the DD2 MAX Masters are Erik Juch and Mohammed Mahroos. The BRMC’s 2024/2025 calendar is set to feature eight rounds, running until February of next year. Following this weekend’s events, round two will be held on 12 October.

The third and fourth meetings will then take place on 15 and 29 November, respectively, as the final BRMC events of the calendar year. Racing resumes in 2025 with round five on 11 January, and then round six is slated for 24 January. The seventh and penultimate meeting will take place on 8 February, setting the stage for the BRMC finale two weeks later on 21 February. The BRMC is part a packed calendar of exciting championships and motorsport experiences that can be enjoyed at BIC and BIKC in 2024/2025.