Day 1 – Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals

The annual Rotax MAX Challenge Grand finals return this week in Bahrain after last year’s last minute cancellation.

Australia is officially fielding four drivers, but there are numerous other Australian passport holders competing at the event (see previous posts from Saturday and last Monday).

Great to see this again – all the karts lined up for the chassis raffle; always an impressive sight.
Team Australia driver Christian Estasy and the 35kg of ballast he needs to add to the kart to make weight in Senior MAX!

Rotax has distributed the following press release for “Day One” – see below.

  • Download the event brochure HERE (34-page PDF race program)
  • Live timing is set to be displayed HERE
  • Live stream of track action will be via YouTube HERE, commencing Tuesday evening (local time)
  • Updates will be published as received. Also on Rotax Facebook HERE
Team Australia (in the green shirts) set up in the massive pit annexe
Some of Team Australia at the welcoming get-together in the F1 track paddock

Marhaba and Welcome to the 21st edition of the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) being hosted at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

We are glad the worldwide Rotax Family followed our invitation and we look forward to a week full of thrilling action on the track, friendship, team-spirit and fun during this annual highlight of the Rotax karting season. This year, 378 drivers from all over the world are competing for the top of the podium and for the first time in the history of the RMCGF we will crown the E-Karting Champion.

We are truly honored to be at this extraordinary location along with the competitors, their families and companions in the Kingdom of Bahrain situated in the Persian Gulf, which has over a 5000-year span of both history and culture.



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A lot of our drivers already took the opportunity for the early sporting check-in on Friday. After the registration at the main entrance for the access to the event, they found their way to the big dome at the Formula 1 area, which is really impressive from in- and outside. Nearly the half of the competitors already were checked-in on Friday and the rest followed on Saturday and then enjoyed their time in the paddock area, checked out the huge drivers tent or had some fun with the rental cars at the track.

As soon as the sun set at 05:00 pm on Saturday, we started to set up and align the Karts, which were awaiting this morning for their appearance to impress everyone in attendance. This amazing line-up causes goosebumps even on long-term RMC Grand Finals participants and although we are doing this for so many years, we also are truly overwhelmed.

The kart raffle draw took place today and is one of the starting highlights of the RMC Grand Finals, where all drivers will be given equal machinery to compete with, promoting their skills to their very best.

378 karts provided by the official chassis partners, BirelART, Praga from IPK and SodiKart, were handed out under the Bahrain sun high in the sky, ahead of preparations for the first free practice sessions that get underway tomorrow morning at 10:40 AST (08:40 CET).

We were there to witness the raffle and could not ignore the happiness of all the drivers of the seven categories when picking up their shiny new karts with them now being prepared ready for on-track action tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more information about this amazing event during our Daily Reports in Bahrain.



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