KARTING – Two 14-year-old Bahrain karters will be flying the kingdom’s flag high today in the final of the Junior Max category of the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) 2023 at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC).
Luca Houghton and Tye Mejia, both representing the BIKC team, will start in P3 and P30 in the 36-kart grid after producing solid performances in the second pre-final yesterday.
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Luca, born in the kingdom to an Australian father and Dutch mother, and Tye, also born in Bahrain to an English mum and American dad, finished in P3 and P13 respectively in pre-final B to lock up their slots in today’s final.
Both are already experienced karters – both started at age eight – but, while Luca has raced in the RMCGF before, Tye is making his debut in the competition, making reaching the final on his first try a truly momentous occasion for him.
The field will be led by French teenager Louis Comyn, another 14-year-old who has impressed constantly in this year’s competition and who won yesterday’s pre-final B while Timo Jungling, of Great Britain, who aced pre-final A yesterday, will start in second.
Meanwhile, another BIKC youngster will be part of a 15-kart lineup in today’s E20 Senior final.
Lewis Smith, who is highly spoken of in karting circles, will start in P15 with German Mats Johan Overhoff in pole and Phillip Loacker, of Switzerland, in second.
The other three BIKC karters who competed in different categories failed to make the finals.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa and Nasser Nass failed to make the cut for the 36-kart Mini Max final after finishing 45th and 65th overall after the two-prefinals.
And Mohamed Alhasan also failed to make it to the 36-kart final of the Senior Max category after finishing 44th in the overall standings following the two pre-finals yesterday.
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