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Karters put on a show in thrilling third round of Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge at BIKC

Karters put on a show in thrilling third round of Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge at BIKC

  • Tariq Soofi, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Nasser Nass, Mohammed Alhasan, and Abdulla Sajjad triumph in respective MAX classes

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosted an exciting third round of the 2024/2025 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) over the weekend at its world-class grassroots motorsport facility in Sakhir.

The kingdom’s leading karters battled it out wheel-to-wheel along the 1.414-kilometre track at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC), and taking victories were Tariq Soofi in the Micro MAX class, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa in the Mini MAX, Nasser Nass in the Junior MAX, Mohammed Alhasan in the Senior MAX, and Abdulla Sajjad in the MAX DD2.

The meeting was organised by BIC and BIKC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation, Bahrain Karting Commission and Motorsport Marshals Club.

The BRMC is one of the region’s leading national karting championships, featuring participants of all ages and nationalities battling it out in Rotax-powered machinery.

The title winners at the end of the championship will each get the incredible opportunity to represent Bahrain at the annual Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals – one of the most prestigious annual karting events in the world.

Young Tariq was in top form from the get-go this past weekend, topping Micro MAX Free Practice and then capturing pole in Qualifying. He then claimed a dominant victory in the Pre-Final, and repeated his show of class in the nine-lap Final, which he won in a total time of nine minutes 18.967 seconds. Tariq enjoyed a significant gap of more than 11 seconds from Micro MAX runner-up Rashid Almahroos, while Abdulaziz Alsarraf completed the podium-placers.

In the Mini MAX category, Leonard Bossi topped the Free Practice timesheet but Shaikh Ahmed then took charge from Qualifying and rode his momentum into a win in the Pre-Final. Shaikh Ahmed maintained his form to win the nine-lap Final in 8:54.409, beating out runner-up Jude Andrews to the chequered flag by 0.650s. Rayyan Najjar came third 8.025s from the victor.

In the Junior MAX class, Rashid Hilal pipped Nasser by five-hundredths of a second to lead the Free Practice times, and then in Qualifying Leopold Juch beat Nasser to pole by seven-hundredths of a second. But Nasser went on to win the Pre-Final ahead of Khaled Najjar, and then the pair maintained their positions at the end of their 15-lap Final, in which Nasser triumphed with a total time of 13:51.965. He built a comfortable gap of 5.788s ahead of Khaled in taking the chequered flag, while Leopold joined them on the podium 6.716s behind the victor in third.

The Senior MAX class boasted the largest grid in the round with 17 participants hitting the BIKC track, and it was Alhasan who was the standout from the start. He set the pace in Free Practice and took pole in Qualifying, then kept up his strong form to win the Pre-Final. In the 15-lap Final, Alhasan charged ahead of the field and took the outright victory in 13:33.980 after 15 laps, finishing 4.926s ahead of Tye Mejia in second place. Vedant Menon claimed third 5.125s behind, while Gracie Rose Grantham, Musaad Albassam, Yousif Alali, Rakan Alfayez, and Abdulla Alkhater completed the top eight.

In the MAX DD2 category, Oliver Kruglov was the early aggressor and topped the Free Practice timesheet before securing pole in Qualifying. He went on to win their Pre-Final ahead of Sajjad, but in the 15-lap Final completed only two laps, and Sajjad took advantage. Sajjad powered to the victory in 13:28.177 – 4.627s ahead of runner-up Raoul Sadi.

The BRMC’s karters are scheduled to return to action with the fourth round of the season on 29 November, which will be the final event of the calendar year.

The series will then kick off 2025 with round five on 11 January, before holding round six on 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.

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