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Bahrain Rotax MAX flags off new season with plenty of exciting karting action at BIKC
Bahrain Rotax MAX flags off new season with plenty of exciting karting action at BIKC
- Winners from round one include Benjamin Karajkovic in Micro MAX class, Alex Reilly in Mini MAX, Leopold Juch in Junior MAX, Musaad Albassam in Senior MAX, and Rakan Alfayez in DD2 MAX
The 2025/2026 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) kicked off over the weekend at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir, featuring the Kingdom’s best karters battling it out for glory in one of the region’s most competitive grassroots motorsport championships.
Action was held in the BRMC’s five different categories, and emerging triumphant were Benjamin Karajkovic in the Micro MAX class, Alex Reilly in the Mini MAX, Leopold Juch in the Junior MAX, Musaad Albassam in the Senior MAX, and Rakan Alfayez in the DD2 MAX.
Racing took place along BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track, with the talented competitors of various ages and nationalities going wheel-to-wheel in their very own Rotax-powered karts.
The meeting was organised by Bahrain International Circuit and BIKC, in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation and the Bahrain Karting Commission.
In the Micro MAX class, Benjamin Karajkovic made a clean sweep of all the sessions for a fantastic start to the new campaign. He first topped the practice timesheet and then clinched pole in qualifying. In the pre-final, Benjamin won ahead of Rashid Almahroos, setting the stage for a comfortable victory in the nine-lap final, taking the chequered flag in 9:19.817. Rashid was the runner-up 8.279 seconds behind, while Abdulaziz Alsarraf came third 10.734s back.
In the Mini MAX category, Ari Kallenberg got their battles underway by setting the practice pace, and then Tariq Soofi, last season’s Micro MAX champion, clinched pole in qualifying. But Alex Reilly powered to victory in the pre-final and he carried over his momentum into the nine-lap final, which he took in 8:55.396. Alex won with a 4.541s gap from runner-up Oliver Spencer, while Vladimir Gugo took the other podium spot 4.746s adrift.
In the Junior MAX, Rayan Ghandour topped the classification in practice, qualifying, and the pre-final, but in the final was narrowly beaten to the finish by Leopold Juch, who overtook him on the 15th and concluding lap. Leopold won in a time of 13:55.328 – a mere 1.202s ahead of Rayan, while Jude Andrews followed in third place 4.703s from the winner.
The Senior MAX category features the BRMC’s largest grid, and the packed field did not disappoint with plenty of action in all four sessions. Luca Houghton nearly made it a perfect weekend, setting the pace in practice and qualifying before winning the pre-final. In the 15-lap final, he out-duelled Musaad Albassam to finish in first place on the road, but was later handed a 20-second penalty by the stewards, dropping him all the way down the order to 10th. Albassam inherited the victory in a time of 13:34.553, while Mohammed Hilal placed second 3.532s back and Demir Abali was third 4.914s behind.
The DD2 MAX rounded off the day’s programme. Abdulqader Qasem was the early pacesetter, topping the practice timesheet before Rakan Alfayez captured pole in qualifying. But Qasem then took the win in the pre-final after pipping defending DD2 MAX champion Abdulla Sajjad at the line, only for Alfayez to triumph in the 15-lap final despite starting from last place. Alfayez had a brilliant start and stormed through the field to eventually gain the lead on lap six. He held on from there, taking the chequered flag in 13:24.902 and finishing 1.753s ahead of runner-up Maxim Shckurko. Qasem had to settle for third 2.289s back.
Following all the action, the winners were awarded their respective trophies in the round’s podium ceremonies.
The BRMC’s 2025/2026 calendar is composed of a total of eight rounds. Action resumes with rounds two and three on back-to-back days on 12 and 13 December, and then round four will kick off the new calendar year on 10 January. That will be followed by round five on 30 January, round six on 13 February, and then the seventh and penultimate round on 28 March. The championship finale will then be held on 18 April at BIKC.
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