Top karters set for Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The national karting season is set to level up on intensity this coming weekend as the first round of the 2022/2023 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) taking place at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC), the world-class grassroots motorsport facility of Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The BRMC is the headlining championship of Bahrain’s local karting campaign, and it follows the recently completed Sakhir Rotax MAX Challenge.

The season-opener this Saturday will be the first of eight fantastic rounds of action, scheduled to be held until March of next year.

The BRMC will feature the Kingdom’s best karters battling it out over five categories as individual entrants and teams.

The classes include the Micro MAX, Mini MAX, Junior MAX, Senior MAX and DD2. Each participant will be getting behind the wheel of their very own Rotax-powered karts.

The competitors will be taking to BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track from morning until mid-afternoon.

The action is scheduled to begin with Qualifying Practice from 11am.

The Pre-Finals are then scheduled to take place from 12.08pm, which will set the grid for the Finals starting at 1.56pm.

The Micro MAX and Mini MAX classes will be going out together for a nine-lap Final, while the Junior MAX, Senior MAX and DD2 categories will each have separate 15-lap Finals.

All are welcome to attend the day’s events. Entrance to BIKC is free of charge.

A stacked field of 33 racers will be battling it out in the BRMC’s first round.

In the Micro MAX category, the trio of Ali Almoayed, Nasser Nass and Mohamed Waleed will be vying for glory.

The Mini MAX class will feature the quartet of Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Isa Almoayed, Yousif Alghaith and Shonal Kunimal.

The Junior MAX and Senior MAX classes have the largest number of entries.

The Junior MAX will see Luca Houghton, Abdulqader Qasem, Tye Mejia, Charlie Godard, Sager Almousherji, Khaled Najjar, Yousif Alali, Gracie Grantham, Mohammed Alhassan, Jaber Alsabah, Musaad Al Bassam, Vedant Menon and Shanthosh Kumar hitting the tarmac.

The Senior MAX participants include Lewis Smith, Shaikha Haya bint Duaij bin Salman Al Khalifa, Muhammad Wally, Oliver Kruglov, Tijl Joep Huisman, Najashi Rashdan, Leen Al Arifi, Talal Al Attas, Ahmed Almosalam, Abdulla Jaweed and Ahmed Kashwa.

The field is rounded out by Ahmed Alsaleh and Omar Alderayan in the DD2 class.

The karters represent some of the top karting teams in the Gulf, including Birel ART Bahrain, Praga Middle East Racing, Forza Bahrain Racing, NorthStar Racing and Accelerate Motorsport.

Following this weekend’s championship-opener, rounds two and three will be held on successive days this 9 and 10 December.

Rounds four and five will then see the first races of the new calendar year at BIKC on 13 and 14 January.

The action will continue to heat up when rounds six and seven roll into the desert on 10 and 11 February.

That will set the stage for the season-finale on 17 March to mark the end of yet another spectacular national karting campaign.

The racing is being organised by BIKC in cooperation with BIC, the Bahrain Motor Federation and the Motorsport Marshals Club.

For more information, contact BIKC on +973-17451745 or visit bahraingp.com or the social media channels of BIKC and BIC.