We can‘t believe that the week is actually over now, as today we crowned the champions of the 2022 Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals and there was simply incredible racing action out on track.

What a lovely sunny day in the mountains of Portimao at the Kartodromo Internacional Algarve. The sun was shining the whole day and gave us beautiful weather for the traditional Drivers picture before the pre-finals of the RMCGF 2022 started.

Today the Kartodromo Internacional Algarve welcomed us in the morning shrouded in fog what prompted a fifteen-minute delay to the start of our on-track action. But this did not lower the spirit of our racers.

Yesterday saw the first real part of the full-throttle action that is experienced by the whole paddock, as all 394 drivers would brave the changeable weather conditions that saw the final part of Non-Qualifying Practice and the first five of eight classes go out for Qualifying.

After very changeable conditions during yesterday’s first on track action with a hint of sunshine from time to time, all 394 competitors from the 60 nations represented here this week would head out onto the circuit to be challenged during the first set of Non-Qualifying Practices.

We look back at yesterday, when the 2022 RMC Grand Finals were truly opened via the Welcome Briefing in the morning. 394 drivers received their brand new karts through the customary raffle on the main start-finish straight underneath the beautifully sunlit Portuguese skyline. Along with that, drivers would also head to the nearby Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for the mandatory briefings that afternoon, with the paddock tent being a busy hive of activity all day long as the brand-new karts would be prepared fully, with every nut and bolt tightened and fastened.

The Rotax MAX Challenge Euro Golden Trophy took place once again last weekend at Karting Genk in Belgium. 181 competitors from 26 nations dueled at the demanding ‘Home of Champions’ and delivered exciting racing in the alternating weather conditions. In the evening, five class winners were celebrated on the podium. In addition, three drivers were awarded their tickets for the upcoming RMC Grand Finals in Portimao, Portugal, at the last moment.

The 2021 Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals moved into the Pre-Final stages of the event here in Bahrain, as further excitement lay in store for all the drivers around the challenging and fast-flowing 1.414-km circuit. Not only was the surrounding temperature courtesy of the sunshine beating down from up above just as intense as it has been all week, but the action out on track would again welcome the aura of nighttime and floodlight-covered racing. 

After a very windy day yesterday, today the track greeted us with bright sunshine with no real breeze apparent. We take a short look back to yesterday, where Non-Qualifying practice started, and the first action took place under the floodlights and the night sky.

After 167 days since the last day of the 2020 season, the BNL Karting Series would return to action in its 14th season for the 2021 Kick-Off, which was hosted by Karting Genk: Home of Champions, the 1,360-metre circuit based in Belgium’s Limburg region, just over an hour away from Brussels.