After an unforgettable evening yesterday, the 2025 RMC Grand Finals are now in full swing. We officially opened the event with the traditional Welcome Party in the Formula 1 Paddock of the Bahrain International Circuit, where drivers, mechanics, teams, families, and the entire Rotax crew came together to celebrate the start of this exciting week. With live traditional music, great food, and a fantastic atmosphere, it was the perfect way to kick off the Grand Finals.

A combined South African Rotax Max National season opener and the annual winner-takes-all wildcard African Open delivered epic karting at Cape Town’s Killarney Kart Track over the weekend. With over 125 entries including a strong continental contingent from as far afield as Mozambique and Namibia, the twisty Killarney dished up a whole lot of great racing on a cloudy Cape autumn’s weekend.

The Bahrain International Karting Circuit welcomed back the busy paddock with open arms, in what would be a very busy day for all the drivers to really kick start the action out on track another level, with not only high sun and hot temperatures to content with, but also the efforts towards the official Qualifying Practice sessions and the first set of Qualifying Heats.

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 South African Rotax Max Karting Challenge is raring to race once again following its second lockdown laps in two seasons. Club racing already re-starts this coming weekend before the various regional series picks up again through August and then a revised national calendar will resume in September.