Sakhir Rotax MAX karting finale set

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The third and fourth rounds of the all-new Sakhir Rotax MAX Challenge (SRMC) will wrap up the championship’s inaugural season this weekend at Bahrain International Circuit’s (BIC) world-class karting facility.

Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) will be the stage for two-action packed days of exciting grassroots racing tomorrow and Saturday, with some of the Kingdom’s most prolific karters of different ages and nationalities returning to the track to battle it out along the 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track.

This is the first year of the SRMC and it is being held alongside the long-established Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC), which is scheduled to kick off later this 2021/2022 season at BIKC.

Following an exciting opening two rounds held earlier this month, the series is set for more heated action with the inaugural titles in five different race classes on the line.

Luca Houghton has been the star man so far in the SRMC, winning the Junior Max category in both of the first two meetings.

 Alexander Christov and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa shared the honours in the Micro MAX class of the first and second rounds, respectively, as did Charlie Goddard and Shaikh Rashid bin Salman Al Khalifa in the Mini MAX.

In the Senior MAX category, Fahad Alkhaled was the winner in round one and Fahad Almuqla in round two.

The season’s third round will take place on Friday followed by the championship finale on Saturday. Both meetings will follow the same schedule of sessions.

Kicking things off will be Qualifying Practice for all classes, starting with the Micro and Mini MAX together at 3 pm.

The junior competitors will then get out on track at 3.13 pm, followed by the seniors at 3.26 pm and the DD2 karters at 3.39 pm.

The Pre-Finals then get underway at 4 pm with the Micro and Mini classes over seven laps.

The sessions for the juniors (4.17 pm), seniors (4.42 pm) and DD2 (5.07 pm) follow over 11 laps apiece. After a break, the Micro and Mini Final over nine laps will flag off at 6 pm.

The juniors (6.20 pm), seniors (6.55 pm) and DD2 (7.30 pm) Finals are to be held after, set over 15 laps each.

Following all the action, the podium ceremonies awarding each category’s top three finishers will take place in the presence of BIC, BIKC and Bahrain Motor Federation officials.

Highly competitive fields of karters in each category are expected to take part in the back-to-back events.

In the Micro class, Alexander Christov and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa will once again be duelling for race victories, while in the Mini category Charlie Goddard, Shaikh Rashid bin Salman Al Khalifa, Khaled Al Najjar and Ainis Vibriantis will be in the fray.

The Juniors grid will include Luca Houghton, Gracie Rose Grantham, Vedant Menon, Mohammed Alhassan, Santiago Biagi, Sari Al Zubi, Abdulqader Qasem, Muhammad Wally, Louis El Nabulsi, Tye Mejia, Alexander Skjelten, Musaad Albassam and Matthijs Terlouw.

The Seniors will see Fahad Alkhaled, Fahad Almuqla, Shaikha Haya bint Saqer Al Khalifa, Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Najashi Rashdan, Abdulla Jaweed, Yousif Mathkoor and Ahmed Musalam; and the DD2 class will feature Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Anthony Hogg, Henrijs Grube and Ilja Aloskins.

The participants are representing some of the biggest international karting teams, including Praga ME, BirelArt, Forza Bahrain and NorthStar.

For more information on the SRMC or karting at BIKC, visit the official BIC website bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000 or the BIKC Hotline on +973-17451745.