MOTORSPORT – Team Bahrain’s karters showed that they can hold their own against the very best in grassroots motorsport following their impressive campaign in the just-concluded Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) 2025.
The week-long karting spectacle came to a thrilling close Saturday night at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir, with the kingdom’s squad making their presence felt amongst the massive and high-quality field of nearly 400 competitors coming from 60 countries worldwide.
Six of the home team’s 11 talents qualified for their respective final races, with Vedant Menon spearheading their results.
Menon made motor racing history by becoming the first-ever karter from Bahrain to step onto the RMCGF podium by taking second overall in the E20 Senior class.
“This is a mind-blowing event,” Menon told the GDN of the RMCGF’s prominence. “When you go from the national level to these grand finals, you see the massive jump, and you realise how big these occasions are.
“It makes you feel really amazed and happy to be a part of it.”
Menon was joined in the E20 Senior final by teammates Yousif Alaali and Mohammed Alhasan, who ranked eighth and 15th, respectively.
Meanwhile, Team Bahrain’s Tye Mejia was a solid 27th in the Senior MAX title-clinching race, Tariq Soofi came 31st in the Micro MAX final, and Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa was classified 36th in the Mini MAX decider.
“I feel all right about the results this weekend – they weren’t the best for me and not the results that I wanted, but I’m happy to have made the final for the second year in a row,” Mejia, the defending Senior MAX champion in the Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC), told the GDN.
“I’ve proven yet again that I can put it in the front as long as I get everything together – be in the top eight or top 10 on pace and be with the best guys in the world.”
Tariq and Shaikh Ahmed, two of Team Bahrain’s youngest competitors last week, said they took away some valuable lessons from the experience.
“I learned a lot of things like dealing with pressure and distractions, and exercising at an advanced level,” Tariq, the BRMC’s reigning Micro MAX champion, told the GDN. “These lessons will help me get better.
“I feel proud of myself and am very happy that I got to show my heart of a lion on the track.”
Shaikh Ahmed, the Mini MAX title-holder in the BRMC, added: “It was a really great experience to compete with the world’s best drivers. I have learned a lot from it and it motivates me a lot to keep going.
“I am very excited for what’s to come in my racing future.”
Menon acknowledged how racing against international karting’s most talented drivers also brought the best out of him and his teammates.
“The quality of the drivers here and how hard you have to race is really at a different level,” said Menon. “You are really pushed to your limits.
“It makes me proud to see that we on Team Bahrain were able to compete at a high level. It’s a really good sign for the future of motorsport in the country.”
Racing in this year’s RMCGF has also added fuel to the fire burning inside Team Bahrain’s drivers as they aspire to continue climbing the ladder in international motorsport.
“I need to go to other places and try to move up in Europe,” said Mejia. “I’m looking for backing to go drive there and prove that I can be one of the best from Bahrain and the Middle East.”
Added Team Bahrain’s Junior MAX competitor Demir Abali: “Being chosen by Bahrain to race in the grand finals makes me feel very proud, and it has encouraged me to strive for a career in motorsport – not necessarily Formula One, but like in GT and sports car racing, which would be nice.”
Other karters who flew the kingdom’s flag in this year’s RMCGF were Jude Andrews in the Mini MAX, Rashid Hilal in the Junior MAX, and Abdulla Sajjad and Abdulqader Qasem in the DD2.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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