Grids Set for Finals After Friday’s Pre-Finals at the RMC Grand Finals in Bahrain

Qualifying Practice, Heat Races, and Pre-Finals are now in the books, and the only session that remains of any importance is the Finals on Saturday. With RMC Grand National Championship titles on the line, one of the best days of the year in all of karting happens tomorrow.

Here is a recap of today’s Pre-Finals!
 

Mini MAX

Pre-Final A – 10 Laps

It was a Great Britain lockout of the front two rows for the start of the Mini MAX Pre-Final A, with Emerson Macandrew-Uren and Lucien Smith in the pole and off pole positions, and Ryan White and Alfie Ward occupying row two. Behind them it was the Japanese driver of Kaito Lloyd alongside Tom Read from Great Britain. Row four saw Portugal’s Vicente Capela alongside Huge Fuentes from Spain. Team USA’s Enzo Digennaro and Romania’s Marc Moia rounded out the top-ten. It was a racy Pre-Final as drivers were moving and shaking in the top-ten, while battling to earn as many points as possible to advance to the main event. In the end, it was a British lockout of the top-three as they finished where they started, led by Macandrews-Uren, who was unbeaten so far in Bahrain, with Smith and White second and third. Fuentes was able to gain four positions to finish fourth, with Digennaro doing the same to finish fifth. Tom Read was able to maintain his sixth-place starting position to finish sixth, while Isaac Yoon (Korea) gained four positions to finish seventh. Capela crossed the line eighth ahead of Moia and Alex Reilly (Ireland).

Pre-Final B – 10 Laps

Four more British drivers started near the front in Mini MAX Pre-final B with Alfie Mair on the pole position, Austin Oman and Riley Murro third and fourth and Joshua Cooke in the sixth position. Sandwiched in the middle of them was UAE’s Oliver Spencer, who would start second, and Germany’s Julian Duemmer in fifth. Italy and Thailand secured positions in row four at the hands of Giovanni Pistore and Patthapol Kaewkarnjanasat, while South African Brodi Cooper Dowling and Switzerland’s Alexander Christov started ninth and tenth. When the checkered flag flew, Oliver Spencer would be at the bottom of the results due to a broken brake pedal as he was forced to retire early. At the top of the charts, Alfie Mair led a Great Britain one, two, three with Cooke up four positions to finish second and Murro up one to finish third. Italian driver Pistore gained three positions to finish fourth on track, while Oman lost two positions to come home in the fifth position. Dowling gained three positions to sixth, while Rivaan Dev Preetham (India) drove himself into the top-ten, moving forward from 12th to seventh. Duemmer crossed the line eighth, just ahead of Kaewkarnjanasat and Cristobal Ricce Olcese (Peru), who gained seven positions to finish tenth. Mair fell to tenth after post-race penalties, but would live to fight another day.
 

Emerson Macandrew-Uren will look to cap off a perfect week in Bahrain, starting from the inside of the front row next to Lucien Smith. The British drivers swept the top seven positions after the Pre-Final points were calculated, with Riley Murro and Joshua Cooke in row two ahead of Ryan White and Austin Oman in row three. Alfie Mair will start seventh.

Junior MAX

Pre-Final A – 11 Laps

Jacob Ashcroft (Great Britain) and Nikita Ljubimov (Estonia) were the drivers to beat in Junior MAX Pre-Final A as they solidified their starting positions on the front row with Team Canada’s Alexis Baillargeon and Slovenia’s Nik Brecelj in row two. Argentine driver Valentino Manta lined up in row three alongside British Rory Armstrong, but just ahead of Jeremy Reuvers (Spain) and Peru’s Amaru Adrianzen in row four with Canadian Leonard Serravalle and Denmark’s William Sterup Nielsen in ninth and tenth. It was an 11-lap race that was largely controlled by Ashcroft, as his Grand Final experience shone through. Behind him, there was a lot of passing happening. Baillargeon moved to second early on before falling to third on lap six. With three laps to go, Nathan Kappen (UAE) was up 13 positions and into the top-ten as he looked to fight his way into the final. As the race continued, Ashcroft scored the win ahead of Ljubimov as the top-two finished where they started. Reuvers was up four positions to finish third at the expense of Baillargeon and Brecelj, who fell to fourth and fifth, respectively. Serravalle was up three positions to finish sixth, while Great Britain’s Kai Clarke was up four to finish seventh. Kappen eventually moved forward a total of 14 positions to finish eighth, ahead of Albie Lapper (Great Britain) and Vilmos Willisits (Hungary). Following the event, Baillargeon and Brecelj both picked up penalties, elevating Cole Medeiros (Team Canada) into the top ten.

Pre-Final B – 11 Laps

Team Canada’s Rayan Ghandour and Japan’s Taigen Sakano would start Junior MAX Pre-Final B from the front row, but right behind them were Great Britain’s Albert Friend and Slovakia’s Martin Soltys. Row three saw the likes of the British driver Harry Freeman and Team France’s Antoine Grisel. The final four positions inside the top-ten were taken by Kevin Pollak (Austria), Thomas Hart (New Zealand), Panu Steinmonkong (Thailand), and Vince Vanderhallen (Belgium). Friend was up two positions early to take the lead over Ghandour as Vanderhallen was out before completing one race lap. Martin Soltys and Hard fell to the tail of the running order on lap four, with Hart retiring and Soltys continuing as he tried to work his way back toward the front. Friend continued to lead from Ghandour and Sakano on lap five with the top-ten drivers separated by only two seconds on track. Friend went on to take the win ahead of Ghandour and Sakano. Majus Mazinas (Lithuania) gained ten positions to finish fourth, just ahead of Zdenek Babicek (Czechia), who also gained ten positions to finish fifth. Max Sandurski (The Netherlands) broke into the top-ten to finish sixth, with Team Canada’s Jeremy St-Cyr jumping forward 16 places to cross the line seventh. Eason Tseng (Taiwan) was up ten with Branislav Rentka (Slovakia) and Hamish Campbell (Australia). Tseng, Sakano, St-Cyr Campbell were victims of on track penalties and pushed down the order with Boaz Maximov, Daniil Voinov, and Harry Freeman and Antoine Grisel into the top-ten.
 

Jacob Ashcroft and Rayan Ghandour will lead the field to the green tomorrow in the Junio MAX final with Albert Friend and Nikita Ljubimov in row two and Alexis Baillargeon and Jeremy Reuvers in row three.

DD2 MAX

Pre-Final A – 14 Laps

There were eight different countries represented in the top-eight of the DD2 MAX Pre-Final A, with Jakub Bezel (Czechia) and Sem Knopjes (The Netherlands) on the front row. Benedeguz Sazbo and Lawerence Herbots (Belgium) were in row two, just ahead of the row three starters, which included Edward Matthews (Great Britain) and Canadian Matthew Taskinen. Team USA’s Pauly Massimino lined up seventh beside Finnish driver Axel Saarniala and ahead of Team Canada’s Lucas Pernod and Harrison Hoey from Australia. Bezel, Knopjes, and Szabo held station at the front of the field as they ran in the positions they started through eight of the 14 laps. Saarniala was on the move and up four spots to fourth early on, with Massimino up two to P5. Lithuania’s Maxim Shchurko was also on a move and drove himself into the top-ten to run sixth after only eight laps, with Herbots falling three positions to seventh. Italian driver Leonardo Baccaglini was up five positions to eighth ahead of Hoey and Vicente Marquez Carpint (Spain). Knopjes was able to sneak by Bezel on the final lap to take the win, with Bezel crossing the line second. Szabo was third when the checkered flag flew, ahead of Massimino, who drove his way to fourth. Saarniala was fifth at the conclusion of the 14-lap heat with Shchurko, Herbots, Hoey, Baccaglini, and Carpint completing the top-ten. Herbots was dropped to tenth on the final results with South African’s Sebastien Boyd moving up to eighth, just ahead of Jason Coetzee.

Pre-Final B – 14 Laps

Dawid Maslakiewicz (Poland) and Rasmus Vendelbo (Denmark) would lead Pre-Final B for DD2 Max to the green as they would look to hold their positions and fight for the win. Behind them, Ivan Parshin (Kyrgyzstan) and Antoine Barbaroux (France) would look to move forward and better their starting positions for the main event, while Gustavs Usakovs (Latvia) and Mika Van De Pavert (The Netherlands) were in row three. Seventh and eighth on the grid were Hannes Morin (Sweden) and Edgar Vilcans (Latvia), as Leo Gusber (Switzerland) and Gianluca Savaglio (Canada) rounded out the top-ten. Maslakiewicz jumped out to the early lead with Parshin up to second early on. Morin was the man on the move in the first three laps, jumping from seventh to third, but fell to fourth on lap four courtesy of Barbaroux. Lenn Nijs (Germany) moved from 17th to seventh in ten laps and was the quickest driver on the track. Leo Gubser had the biggest loss early on, falling from P9 to 19th in five laps. Barbaroux moved to second on lap eight, bringing Morin with him as Parshin fell to fourth. Nijs continued his charge forward to sixth at the mid-race distance. Morin was by Maslakiewicz on the final lap, but some close racing allowed Barbaroux through to take the win. Morin crossed the line second ahead of Maslakiewicz and Vendelbo, who rounded out the top five. Nijs was able to close his Pre-Final in sixth after gaining 12 positions ahead of Usakovs, Parshin, Savaglio, Vilcans, and Van De Pavert. Usakovs and Savaglio both fell to tenth and 12th after post-race penalties, bringing Lucca Zucchini and Jie Kao into the top ten.
 

Following the Pre-Finals, Sem Knopjes and Jakub Bezel will start first and second for the DD2 MAX main event, with Dawid Maslakiewicz and Antoine Barbaroux slotting into the third and fourth positions. Row three will see Bendeguz Szabo and Hannes Morin.

Senior MAX

Pre-Final A – 14 Laps

Cian Geraghty (Great Britain) earned the Pre-Final A pole position as he started alongside fellow countryman Lewis Goff. Team Canada’s Ayden Ingratta slotted into the third position, just alongside Team France’s Mehdi Lassoued, while Thailand’s Toby Gale started fifth, just beside Canadian Ryan Maxwell. Slovakia’s Martin Lichner was seventh on the grid next to Team Japan’s Tomoki Terashima, with Mateja Radenkovic (Belgium) and Sebastian Koch (Germany) rounding out the top-ten. It was a British invasion up front as Goff and Geraghty traded positions ahead of Lassoued, with Maxwell up two positions to fourth after seven laps. Tom Laglois (France) was the biggest mover inside the top-ten, moving from 17th to seventh in the first half of the race. Goff led with six laps to go, with the top three separated by .470. With three laps to go, the top-ten were now within one second as the battle at the front of the field tightened up. Langlois was in fourth with one lap to go as Goff continued to lead. Chaos ensued on the final lap with a lot of contact as Langlois was able to sneak by and take the win ahead of Lassoued in a Team France one–two finish. Austin Gale (Thailand) gained 12 positions to finish third, with Goff battling to hang on to fourth. Toby Gale put a pair of Gales in the top-five in fifth with Geraghty sixth ahead of Japan’s Terashima. Ingratta fell five places to cross the line eighth, just ahead of Lichner and Devyan Roest, who advanced eight spots to finish tenth. Terashima was handed a penalty post-race, dropping him to 17th and bringing Koch back into the top ten.

Pre-Final B – 14 Laps

With one Great Britain at the point in Pre-Final A, it was the same in Pre-Final B as Sean Butcher led the field into turn one alongside Christos Oikonomou (Greece). Dutch driver Ties Van Wijk started behind Butcher in the third position, while Team USA’s Oliver Hodgson was fourth on the grid. Row three was occupied by Toms Strele (Latvia) and Joshua Graham (Great Britain), with Luca Schlegl (Austria) and Harry Bartle (Great Britain) in row four. The top-ten would be completed by Nik Trobec (Slovenia) and Tereza Babickova (Czechia). There was contact at the start of the Senior MAX Pre-Final B as Hodgson, Oikonomou, and Babickova collided in the first corner and fell down the running order, but were able to continue. Macauley Bishop (Great Britain) gained ten positions on the opening lap, avoiding contact to move from 13th to third. Matthew Higgins (Great Britain) was another driver on the move as he was up five positions in two laps to run seventh. Butcher led Strele as they aimed to pull away from the field, but Bishop would have other thoughts as he moved to second, bringing Schlegl with him. Bishop took the lead on lap five as drivers went three wide and through the grass at the front of the field. At the mid-race distance, it was a British one through four with Bishop leading Butcher, Higgens and Bartle. Japanese driver Ryutaro Sakai was up 13 positions into 11th as he was aiming to break into the top-ten as five laps remained. Higgins took the lead on lap 11, but a 360-degree spin while battling for the lead dropped him to seventh as Butcher took the lead with Bartle and Trobec in tow. Butcher went on to take the win ahead of Bartle and Bishop in a Great Britain one, two, three. Trobec for Slovenia was in fourth ahead of Strele and Higgins, who rebounded after his spin. Schlegl, Van Wijk, Graham, and Sakai rounded out the top-ten. At the scale line, Butcher was dropped down the running order with a pushback bumper penalty, handing the win to Bartle. After a host of penalties in the top ten, Bishop was second ahead of Strele, Higgins, Schlegl, Butcher, Trobec, Cas Boshuis, Van Wijk and Graham.
 

The starting grid for the Senior MAX Final is pending.

E20 Senior

Pre-Final – 10 Laps

Jannik Jacobs from Germany and Levente Simon from Hungary were at the helm in the E20 Senior class with Vedant Menon (Bahrain) and Niklas Cassarino (Germany) in row two. Hungary’s Akos Madaras and Spain’s Raul Vargas would look to move forward from row three ahead of Mohammaed Alhasan (Bahrain) and Maximo (Argentina), with Siri Kongsiri (Thailand) and Milan Skoneczny (Poland) rounding out the top-ten. In the ten-lap Pre-Final, Jacobs skirted to the lead early and controlled the pace throughout the race. Jacobs was able to score the win by .300 over Vedant Menon, who climbed 11 places to cross the line second in the ten-lap race. Akos Madaras was third with Levente Simon in fourth. Another big mover was Niklas Cassarino (Germany) as he climbed ten places from 15th to fifth on the results sheets.

Jannik Jacobs is in the pole position for the E20 Senior main event with Vedant Menon to his outside. Levente Simon will roll off the grid third beside Akos Madaras and just ahead of the row three starters, Niklas Cassarino and Mohammed Alhasan.

E20 Master

Pre-Final – 10 Laps

Maurits Knopjes (UAE) secured the pole position for the E20 Master Pre-Final as he was able to secure enough points to beat Julian Falivene for the inside of the front row. Jorge Matos (Ecuador) and Gaston Di Bella (Argentina) started their Pre-Final from row two, just ahead of a pair of Brazilians, Michel Aboissa and Adriano Amaral. Two more Argentine drivers were in the top ten, starting seventh and ninth, respectively, in Javier Fernandez and Emiliano Parisi, with Portugal’s Manuel Martins starting eighth and Germany’s Roman Jager in tenth. Falivene was able to get by Knopjes for the lead as he was aiming to win the Pre-Final and have a shot at the Final pole position. Falivene was able to drive to the win and keep Knopjes behind him with Matos, Di Bella, and Parisi rounding out the top-five.

Maurits has had a terrific event so far and will look to cap it off with a win after earning the E20 Master pole position for Saturday’s final. Julian Falivene will be to his outside with Jorge Matos and Gaston Di Bella in row two. Row three will be occupied by Adriano Amaral and Michel Aboissa.

Micro MAX

Pre-Final – 9 Laps

Benjamin Karajkovic (UAE) topped the points after the heat races to lead the field to the green flag in the nine-lap Micro MAX Pre-Final as he started on the front row alongside Jan Wozniak (Poland). Portugal’s Gustavo Oliveira started third, just ahead of four drivers from Great Britain, including Charlie Page, Dhian Singh Pahal, Albert Pharoah, and Benediktas Masiokas. Maksymilian Raczkowski (Poland) started eighth on the grid, alongside Bruno Miranda and Luhan Louis De Wet (South Africa). Karajkovic led early in the Micro MAX Pre-Final, but it was Charlie Page who took the lead on lap three with Karajkovic falling to second. Pharaoh was up three positions early on to run third, but the biggest mover was Argentine Agustin Perchivatti as he climbed ten positions in three laps to be inside the top-five. However, one lap later, he was back in 19th due to an issue on track. Pharaoh took the lead on lap seven ahead of Karajkovic and Page as Great Britain led the UAE. A lap later, Karajkovic was to the point with Masiokas up three positions to fourth. When the checkered flag flew, it was Pharaoh ahead of Emilis Capkauskas (Lithuania), Page, and Canadian Jayden Francisco. The fifth position went to Benjamin Karajkovic, ahead of Dominic Vera Roa, Alex Noah Moghabghab, who was up 14 places to seventh, Oliveria, Wozniac and Miranda.

Albert Pharoah earned the pole position for the Micro MAX finale, with Benjamin Karajkovic joining him on the front row. Brit Charlie Page and Emilis Capkauskas will start third and fourth, respectively, with Gustavo Oliveira and Jon Wozniak in row three.

DD2 Master MAX

Pre-Final – 14 Laps

Looking to repeat his performances from all week long, Xen De Ruwe (Slovenia) would start the DD2 Master MAX Pre-Final from the pole position with his closest rival, Nicolas Picot (France), to his outside. Dmitrii Kofanov (Kyrgyzstan) lined up alongside Brazilian and ex-Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello, while Jannik Nielsen (Denmark) and Lithuania’s Martynas Tankevicius were in row three. Team Argentina and Gabriel Zughella would start seventh, with Team France’s Charles Seguin eighth. The ninth and tenth-place starters were Alex Fielenbach (Germany) and Michael Hitchcock (Switzerland). Picot jumped by De Ruwe early to move to the point on lap one as he knew he needed to get in front of the recent event winner and put the pressure on. De Ruwe was able to get by at the conclusion of lap three, pushing Picot down to second ahead of Kofanov. Tankevicius was fourth, but a few corners later, he attacked Kofanoc and was by, and then a few corners later, Tankevicius moved by Picot for second. Barrichello was charging as he looked to move into the top-three, as he just held on to the back of the lead group. The race settled down through the mid-race distance as Picot began to defend against Tankevicius, allowing De Ruwe to sneak away. At the mid-race distance, De Ruwe led Picot, who led Tankevicius with Jannik Nielsen in fourth, turning the fastest race lap. De Ruwe was hard on the defense on lap nine as Picot went wide and fell to the fifth position. De Ruwe now led by 1.5 seconds over Tankevicius and Nielsen. Barrichello also ran wide and fell outside the top-ten as De Ruwe now led by nearly two seconds. De Ruwe went on to take the win ahead of Nielsen, Picot, Seguin, and Kofanov. Mat Kinsman slotted into the sixth position, just ahead of Fielenbach, Zughella, Barrichello, and Joao Cunha.

Xen Du Rewe will lead the field to the green on Saturday with Nicolas Picot on the front row. Behind them, Jannik Nielsen and Dimitrii Kofanov will look to move forward and fight for Grand Finals glory, with Charles Seguin and Rubens Barrichello.
 

Tomorrow sees another significant milestone in the history of the RMC Grand Finals as we are joined by 47 international terrestrial and internet television stations, who will broadcast the excitement of the RMC Grand Finals to more than 90 countries around the world.