Bahrain karters set for Rotax thrills

TDT | Manama                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

A full grid of 42 competitors will be battling it out in the second and third rounds of the 2022/2023 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC), taking place on back-to-back days this weekend at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

The world-class grassroots racing facility at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” will be bustling with activity today and tomorrow as the Kingdom’s top karters of various ages and nationalities go wheel-to-wheel in their very own Rotax-powered karts for podiums, points and bragging rights.

The Kingdom’s leading karting series will see action in five competition categories, including the Micro MAX, Mini MAX, Junior MAX, Senior MAX and DD2. All five winners from the season’s opening round last month are back to contest their classes.

They include Ali Almoayed, Nasser Nass, Luca Houghton, Najashi Rashdan and Omar Alderayan. Ali will be leading the Micro MAX field where he will be joined by Mohamed Waleed and Adam Awan. In the Mini MAX category, Nasser features amongst a group of seven, which also includes Isa Almoayed, Yousif AlGhaith, Rashid Kanoo, Shonal Kunimal, Rashid Hilal and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa.

The Junior MAX category is 13-strong with Houghton at the head of the pack. He will be competing against Abdulqader Qasem, Tye Mejia, Sager Almousherji, Khaled Najjar, Yousif Alali, Gracie Grantham, Mohammed Alhassan, Jaber Alsabah, Musaad AlBassam, Vedant Menon, Shanthos Kumar and Rakan Alfayez.

The Senior MAX class features the largest roster of participants, to be led by Rashdan. He will be up against 16 others, including Lewis Smith, Shaikha Haya bint Duaij bin Salman Al Khalifa, Fahad Alkhaled, Fahad AlMuqla, Muhammad Wally, Stefan Brotac, Oliver Kruglov, Tijl Joep Huisman, Leen Al Arifi, Talal Al Attas, Ahmed Almosalam, Abdulla Jaweed, Ahmed Kashwa, Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Abdulla Dashti and Shaikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

The entry list is completed by Alderayan and Ahmed Alsaleh in the DD2 class. Both rounds will follow a similar schedule, with on-track action beginning at 11am on each day with the Qualifying Practices. The Pre-Finals will then get underway from 12.08am, setting the stage for the start of the Finals at 1.56pm.

The podium ceremonies will then be held from 4.41pm. The Micro MAX and Mini MAX participants will be taking to the track together in the same sessions, while the Junior MAX, Senior MAX and DD2 karters will each be running in separate sessions. This year’s BRMC features eight rounds in all.

This weekend’s second and third meetings are the last of the calendar year. Rounds four and five will mark the first races of 2023 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 Bahrain International Circuit (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.