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Rotax MAX karters step up intense battles as second half of season gets underway at BIKC
Rotax MAX karters step up intense battles as second half of season gets underway at BIKC
- Rashid Almahroos, Rayyan Najjar, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Rashid Hilal, and Abdulqader Qasem take victories in respective MAX classes
The Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) kicked off the second half of its 2025/2026 season over the weekend with an exciting fifth round at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.
Rashid Almahroos, Rayyan Najjar, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Rashid Hilal, and Abdulqader Qasem were all triumphant in their respective competition categories.
The meeting featured plenty of high-octane, wheel-to-wheel battles along BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track as the fight for wins, podiums, and championship points continued to intensify.
The BRMC is the Kingdom’s premier national karting championship, and it features competitors of various ages and nationalities racing in their very own Rotax-powered machinery.
The championship is organised and run by Bahrain International Circuit and BIKC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation and Bahrain Karting Commission.
Rashid took his victory in the Micro MAX category. Enzo Younes started the day strong by topping the practice timesheet, but Rashid took pole position in qualifying and charged to the victory in the pre-final. He then won the nine-lap final from pole in a total race time of nine minutes 14.157 seconds. Enzo followed 2.937s behind as the runner-up, while Sami Albandak came third 7.773s from first place.
Rayyan captured his win in the Mini MAX class. Faisal Alnajjar was the pace-setter in practice and he also took pole in qualifying. But in the pre-final, Rayyan emerged victorious, and then he led the final from start to finish to take the chequered flag in 8:52.810 after nine laps. Leo Saruhan followed 0.248s back, while Faisal came third 0.363s adrift.
Amongst the Junior MAX fleet, Shaikh Ahmed claimed the all-important win. Jude Andrews began the meeting by outpacing Shaikh Ahmed by a mere 0.005s in practice, but Shaikh Ahmed powered to the top in qualifying and the pre-final. He then rode his momentum into the 15-lap final where he secured a pole-to-flag victory in 13:45.907. Leopold Juch came second 0.148s from the victor, while Ryan Suckling rounded out the podium 8.129s behind.
In a tight Senior MAX final, Hilal inherited the victory despite finishing fifth on the road after 15 laps, with all four drivers ahead of him being handed post-race penalties.
Luca Houghton had led practice and qualifying before Khaled Najjar won the pre-final. But in the decisive stage, and with the Senior MAX class featuring a packed 17-karter grid, the order was jumbled in the first few laps and a series of penalties were later issued by the stewards.
Hilal was eventually promoted to first with a winning time of 13:35.763, while his fellow-podium finishers Yousif Alaali and Mohammed Hilal also benefited from the penalties. Alaali was classified second overall 0.520s behind Rashid Hilal after finishing eighth on the road, while Mohammed Hilal rose to third 1.680s back after originally taking ninth.
In the DD2 MAX class, Rakan Alfayez led practice and Abdulla Sajjad took pole in qualifying, but Qasem took charge in the pre-final. He went on to win the final from pole in 13:17.436 after 15 laps, followed by Alfayez 0.232s behind and Mohammed Sajjad with a 14.030s gap.
After all the action, the winners and other top-three placers were presented their respective trophies in the podium ceremonies.
The BRMC features a total of eight rounds in its 2025/2026 calendar. Round six is scheduled for 13 February, and then the seventh and penultimate meeting will then be held on 28 March. That will pave the way for the championship finale, slated for 18 April at BIKC.
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