MOTORSPORT – Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, kicks off its 2025/2026 racing calendar this weekend with the first two rounds of the Sakhir Rotax MAX Challenge (SRMC).
BIC’s world-class grassroots motorsport facility, Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC), will host the SRMC’s back-to-back events this Friday and Saturday.
The SRMC is a Rotax-powered championship with participants competing in five different categories – the Micro MAX, Mini MAX, Junior MAX, Senior MAX, and DD2 Max.
The series features four rounds this season.
They are being held as a prelude to the 2025/2026 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC), the kingdom’s premier karting championship, which kicks off at the end of October.
The SRMC is also taking place to help Bahrain’s top karters warm up ahead of their highly anticipated participation in the upcoming Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF), which will be hosted by BIC and BIKC this 29 November to 6 December.
This weekend’s action in the SRMC is set to feature a field of nearly 40 competitors across the various classes.
Racing on both days is scheduled to begin with the free practices at 2.15pm. Qualifying practices will follow from 2.55pm, and then the pre-finals will take place from 3.50pm.
That will set the stage for each category’s final, beginning with the Micro and Mini classes at 5.30pm. The podium ceremonies are scheduled for 8pm.
Competing in the Micro MAX category are Shiv Tummala, Charlie Page, and Abdulaziz Al Sarraf.
In the Mini MAX, last season’s BRMC Micro MAX champion Tariq Soofi is making the climb up a level, and will be racing against Faisal Alnajjar, Leo Saruhan, Rhys Daulat, Rayyan Najjar, Oliver Spencer, and Jude Andrews.
In the Junior MAX class, the grid features Khaled Najjar, Rashid Hilal, Leopold Juch, Demir Abali, Nathan Joseph, Ahmad Jawed, Luca Saruhan, William Lette, and Shun Sekiguchi.
The Senior MAX category promises to be the most competitive this SRMC campaign with the largest entry list of 15 karters.
Defending BRMC Senior MAX champion Tye Mejia will be headlining the field, but he will face some tough competition against Luca Houghton, Mohammed Alhasan, Yousif Al A’ali, Najashi Rashdan, Vedant Menon, Laith Moumiah, Fahad Al Muqla, Mohammed Hilal, Farhan bin Shafeel, Filipa Dorres, Abdulla Fakhri, Rakan Al Fayez, Ishaan Madesh, and Abdulla Abdulaziz.
The SRMC is rounded out by the DD2 MAX category, which features three drivers in Raoul Sadi, Musaad Al Bassam, and Abdulqader Qassim.
Following this weekend’s action, the SRMC wraps up its 2025/2026 schedule with another double-header on 17 and 18 October, when rounds three and four will light up the track.
That will then set the stage for the new BRMC season, which is set to feature eight rounds, flagging off on October 31 and continuing until April of next year.
This weekend’s SRMC events are open to the public. Entrance to BIKC is free of charge.
For more information on the SRMC, BRMC, or other events and activities at BIC or BIKC, visit bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000.
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