BIKC flags off full week of high-intensity karting in Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Racing got underway today in the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) 2025, which is being hosted all this week by Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

The event, one of the biggest in the world held each year in grassroots motorsport, has brought nearly 400 of karting’s very best to the Kingdom, representing 60 nations worldwide to battle it out in eight high-octane categories.

Team Bahrain headline the field, with 11 drivers competing on their home track. The squad features Tariq Soofi racing in the Micro MAX class, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa and Jude Andrews in the Mini MAX, Demir Abali and Rashid Hilal in the Junior MAX, Tye Mejia in the Senior MAX, Abdulla Sajjad and Abdulqader Qasem in the DD2, and Yousif Alaali, Vedant Menon, and Mohammed Alhasan in the E20 Senior.

Following three days of preevent formalities, including registration, scrutineering, the kart raffle, track walk, official drivers’ presentations, and a welcome party held in Bahrain International Circuit’s Formula 1 Paddock, the on-track action finally kicked off with the non-qualifying practices.

These sessions continue today and tomorrow, after which the qualifying practices and qualifying heats are set to take place tomorrow and Thursday. The pre-finals and finals are then set for Friday and Saturday, respectively, wrapping up another huge occasion at BIKC.

All are welcome to attend from Wednesday onwards and enjoy the high-intensity, wheelto-wheel racing. Entrance is free of charge and will be on a firstcome, first-served basis.

BIKC will be opening its gates to fans from 10am until the end of track activity on each day, except on Friday, when spectators can access the circuit from 4.30pm.

This year’s RMCGF marks the third time in five years that Rotax karting’s most prestigious meeting is being held in Sakhir, following the success of the previous events in 2023 and 2021.

The karters are lighting up BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track in both daytime and night conditions, in a top-class facility that has also hosted world championship events in the past featuring drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell, and many more who are amongst the biggest stars in F1 today.

BIKC was designed to the highest international standards and is capable of hosting world championship races under the CIK-FIA. The track made motorsport history in 2012 when it became the first karting venue ever to host a world championship-level event at night, thanks to BIKC’s high-specification floodlight system.

For more information on this year’s RMCGF, visit bahraingp. com, call the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000, or follow the circuit’s official social media channels.