MOTORSPORT – Team Bahrain’s Vedant Menon made motorsport history yesterday after becoming the first-ever karter from the kingdom to step onto the podium in the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF).
This year’s edition of Rotax karting’s showpiece event wrapped up last night at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir, with Menon headlining the results of the six Bahraini participants who were in action yesterday.
Menon took an impressive second place overall in the E20 Senior category.
Amongst the other karters competing on home soil, Yousif Alaali and Mohammed Alhasan finished behind Menon in eighth and 15th, respectively, in the E20 Senior final; Tye Mejia gained six places for 27th on the final classification in the Senior MAX final; and both Tariq Soofi and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa were both unlucky, with Tariq placing 31st in the Micro MAX final and Shaikh Ahmed 36th in the Mini MAX title-decider.
This year’s RMCGF featured nearly 400 of international karting’s very best, coming from 60 countries around the world.
Aside from the aforementioned categories, racing was also held in the Junior MAX, DD2, DD2 Master, and E20 Master classes.
Team Britain, meanwhile, won the Nations Cup as the top-performing squad in the RMCGF 2025. Team Canada finished as runners-up while Team UAE were third.
Menon started the E20 Senior final from the front row alongside pole-sitter and eventual winner Jannik Jakobs from Germany. Menon pushed him until the chequered flag and only 0.492 seconds separated the pair after 10 laps of battles.
“I feel very happy and proud to get this achievement at such a huge world-scale event,” Menon told the GDN yesterday of becoming Bahrain’s first-ever RMCGF podium-finisher. “I feel finally rewarded for all my hardwork and patience.
“Bahrain is my second home – I started my karting journey in this beautiful country, and I have a lot of support from everyone at the track, who help me in whatever possible ways.
“I feel happy and proud to have achieved this for Bahrain and hopefully we will soon get to see a lot more Bahraini karting talents on the international podiums.”
Jakobs triumphed in nine minutes 17.649 seconds, while joining them on the podium in third was Leventre Simon from Hungary, who finished 1.621s from the victor.
Alaali also had an impressive showing in the race, claiming a top 10 classification in eighth, 10.427s from Jakobs, while Alhasan took 15th overall one lap behind.
“Today’s final was definitely not an easy one, considering the experienced drivers we were up against,” added Menon. “But I kept my cool and raced the way I normally do.
“I was confident to give a good fight for the win today but a good fight from other drivers for second position pulled me back and I had to settle for second.
“I am happy with whatever best I could achieve today.”
In yesterday’s Senior MAX final, Mejia battled over 21 laps and improved on his starting position from row 17.
He crossed the finish line 23.622s behind winner Macauley Bishop from Britain, who finished in 18:56.764 at the head of the field despite starting from 10th.
Bishop spearheaded an all-British podium, with Cian Geraghty finishing as runner-up 1.198s behind and Sean Butcher in third 4.924s adrift.
In the Micro MAX class, Tariq – Team Bahrain’s youngest competitor in this year’s RMCGF – was handed a five-second penalty, which put him in 31st place for the final, 15.935s from winner Benjamin Karajkovic from the UAE.
After starting from second on the grid, Benjamin took the chequered flag in 12:37.687 as he enjoyed a 0.362s gap ahead of Bruno Miranda from Chile.
Dominic Vera Roa from Colombia came third 0.404s behind.
In the Mini MAX, Team Bahrain’s Shaikh Ahmed was classified 36th after suffering some kart trouble right at the very start.
Tom Read from Britain won the final despite starting from ninth. He completed the hotly contested 14-lap sprint in 13:56.721, narrowly pipping Marc Moia from Romania by 0.078s.
Vicente Capela from Portugal joined them on the podium 0.267s back.
Majus Mazinas from Lithuania triumphed in the Junior MAX final from eighth on the grid. He took the chequered flag in 16:58.675 – just 0.482s ahead of Jacob Ashcroft from Britain.
Albie Lapper made it two British drivers on the podium with third place, 1.054s from Majus.
The DD2 final saw Sem Knopjes from the Netherlands take the chequered flag after 21 laps in 18:42.714.
He too won from pole, with Jakub Bezel from the Czech Republic finishing as the runner-up with a 1.653s gap. Dawid Maslakiewicz from Poland took third 1.856s adrift.
In the DD2 Master final, also run over 21 laps, Martynas Tankevicius from Lithuania stormed through the field having started 13th on the grid to win in 18:55.501.
He narrowly beat Charles Seguin from France by 0.615s. Mat Kinsman from New Zealand completed the podium-placers 1.100s behind.
Maurits Knopjes from the UAE won the E20 Master final from pole as he completed the 10-lap final in 9:37.965.
Julian Falivene from Argentina was second 0.514s behind, and Jorge Matos from Ecuador third 0.716s back.
At the end of last night’s podium ceremonies, Rotax officials announced that next year’s RMCGF will be held in Portimao, Portugal.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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