MOTORSPORT – BAHRAIN-based karting team NorthStar Racing are upbeat ahead of their upcoming campaign in the Sakhir Rotax MAX Challenge (SRMC) 2025, which flags off this weekend at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.
NorthStar are coming off a hugely successful 2024-25 season, where two of their drivers, Tariq Soofi and Tye Mejia, were crowned champions of the Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC), the kingdom’s premier karting championship.
The SRMC is being held as a prelude to the 2025-26 BRMC, which is scheduled to kick off at the end of October. It is also taking place to help Bahrain’s top karters warm up ahead of the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) 2025 in November and December, when NorthStar’s champion drivers will be flying the kingdom’s flag as part of Team Bahrain.
Tariq and Tye are set to spearhead NorthStar’s seven-member squad in the SRMC, which will feature four rounds. The first two are to be held today and tomorrow, while the last two meetings will also be taking place back-to-back on October 17 and 18.
Tariq was last season’s Micro MAX champion in the BRMC, and he will be making the step up this year to the Mini MAX class. In the SRMC, he is to be joined in the category by NorthStar teammates Leo Saruhan and Faisal Alnajjar.
Luca Saruhan will be competing for NorthStar in the Junior MAX division, while Tye and Farhan bin Shafeel are to race in the Senior MAX. Raoul Sadi completes the team’s line-up in the DD2 MAX class.
NorthStar team manager and coach Khalifa Al Yaqoobi said that the SRMC will be the ideal platform for the team to gauge their drivers’ skills following their summer development programmes, while helping them prepare for the new BRMC battles ahead.
“This is the right time now for us in the SRMC to test their skills – to see how they have improved over the summer,” Al Yaqoobi told the GDN.
“Most of our drivers practised in Bahrain, while others also had time in Europe. We will now get to see their progress from their summer development. From there, we can adjust and work with them moving forward, based on the results from the SRMC.”
Al Yaqoobi noted that a few new members on NorthStar continue to work on their racing prowess as they plan to line up on the grid for the BRMC campaign.
“We have other drivers on our line-up for the BRMC – only 70 per cent of our team will be competing in the SRMC,” Al Yaqoobi explained. “They are continuing to learn everything they need to know to be competitive, and inshaallah they will join the BRMC from the first round.”
NorthStar have grown from strength to strength since their inception in 2022, and are today one of the leading squads in the national karting scene.
Racing on both days of this weekend’s SRMC rounds 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. The championship is open to the public and entrance to BIKC is free.
The 2025-26 BRMC calendar begins with its first round on October 31. It will feature eight meetings in all until April of next year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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