BIKC brings the excitement in action-packed penultimate round of Rotax MAX karting

BIKC brings the excitement in action-packed penultimate round of Rotax MAX karting

• Abdulaziz Alsarraf, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa, Khaled Najjar, Luca Houghton, and Abdulla Sajjad claim victories in respective categories in season’s seventh event

The seventh and penultimate round of the 2024/2025 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) produced plenty of excitement on Friday at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

The Kingdom’s best karters battled it out along BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA track, and the action was non-stop and intense throughout the meeting.

Emerging triumphant in their respective categories were Abdulaziz Alsarraf in the Micro MAX class, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa in the Mini MAX, Khaled Najjar in the Junior MAX, Luca Houghton in the Senior MAX, and Abdulla Sajjad in the MAX DD2.

The round was organised by Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) and BIKC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF) and Bahrain Karting Commission (BKC).

Abdulaziz Alsarraf secured his victory amongst the Micro MAX competitors after a tough fight from the opening session. Tariq Soofi was the early pace-setter as he topped the practice timesheet but then Rashid Almahroos secured pole in qualifying. Tariq went on to win the pre-final, but Abdulaziz managed to get in front early in the nine-lap final and keep his lead until the chequered flag. He won in a time of nine minutes 39.712 seconds – 3.302 seconds ahead of Tariq. Rashid was right behind to complete the podium placers.

In the Mini MAX, Shaikh Ahmed asserted his dominance from the start and never wavered. He led both practice and qualifying, won the pre-final, and then went unchallenged in the nine-lap final to triumph in 9:06.971. Shaikh Ahmed finished 0.843s from runner-up Austin Gray, while Jude Andrews was third 3.885s adrift.

Khaled Najjar was the winner in the Junior MAX category but needed to overcome a heated challenge from his closest rivals. He set the pace in practice but then Leopold Juch captured pole in qualifying. Nasser Nass later beat Khaled to the win in the pre-final, but in the final, Khaled overtook Nasser on lap two and defended his position well over the remainder of the 15-lap sprint. Khaled won in 14:40.9086 – just 0.216s from Nasser, while Leopold came third 0.594s back.