The German Rotax MAX scene started the 2023 season with a bang: On 25 and 26 March, both the Rotax MAX Challenge Germany and the partner format of the RMC Cup Series held their first race of the year in Wackersdorf, Bavaria. Together with the guest series of the GKC100 integrated into the supporting programme, they welcomed a huge starting field of over 160 participants*. If the first test of strength of the year wasn't exciting enough, the weather added to the excitement: sun, rain showers, hail, storms and thunderstorms alternated on Saturday, while Sunday was almost entirely run under wet race conditions. The 26 races were correspondingly turbulent ...

C4 Racing dominates the junior classes

In the youngest drivers, the Micros, there was no way around Max Moor (C4-Racing). The youngster from Bad Honnef set the fastest time in practice and then catapulted to a triple victory. Only in the last race was the day's winner beaten by Henri Möhring (Nees Racing). The Maranello driver received a time penalty but still finished second in the final standings. Julian Dümmer (3G Racing) completed the podium in third place.

Gabrijel Hofmann (Woik Motorsport) won the timed practice of the older Minis before Lenn Abbas (3G Racing) made his presence felt in the first heat and crossed the finish line in first place. However, a spoiler penalty threw him back to second place, so that Maxim Becker (C4-racing) inherited the victory. From then on, there was no stopping last year's Micro champion: the Oberon driver also collected full points in the second and third rounds and thus won the day's classification unchallenged ahead of Gabrijel Hofmann and Niklas Cassarino (Nees Racing).

Juniors: Baltzer and Günther win

Rafael Baltzer (Beule-Kart Sodi Germany) set the bar in qualifying for the national juniors. However, he was unable to convert pole position into a victory in the first race and had to concede it to Hannes Ueberfeldt (Kraft Motorsport). But Baltzer fought back in the last two races and saw the chequered flag in first place both times, which meant he also took victory in the day's standings. Second place in the overall standings went to Mikka Trapp (Nees Racing), who was able to push Hannes Ueberfeldt to third place on the podium.

In the dry qualifying of the Cup Juniors, Theo Lang (Kraft Motorsport) still dominated the action. However, the wet conditions in the races revealed a different balance of power and this saw a new pacemaker in Louis Oliver Günther (Kraft Motorsport). The driver from Lower Saxony won the first race with aplomb and would have been the measure of all things in the second round as well, had a collision and a time penalty not slowed him down. Nevertheless, a third place was enough for him to maintain his position at the top of the day's standings. The places of honour went to Aaron Moser (Kraft Motorsport), who took victory in the second race, and Florian Block.

Seniors: Day wins for Lee and Olbrich

Austin Lee left his mark on the season opener of the national seniors: After setting the fastest time in qualifying, he also won the first heat, benefiting from a double time penalty from Nevio Fischer (Kraft Motorsport), who had originally been flagged off first. Lee then won the second race under his own steam with a clear lead and in the final race of the day he settled for second place behind Luca Thiel (Kraft Motorsport) - knowing full well that this placing would be enough for him to win the day. Alongside Lee, Nevio Fischer and Yuri Tenhaeff (RTM Racing-Team Marggraf) finished second and third respectively on the podium in the evening.

Dean Olbrich (RTM Racing-Team Maggraf) dominated the Cup Seniors. Apart from the dry qualifying, in which Rudi Frais (Kraft Motorsport) was still leading the classification, the Magdeburg driver was the measure of all things. Two clear race wins gave him first place in the day's standings, whose top three were completed by Jacob Trost (Woik Motorsport) and Marik Maak (RTM Racing-Team Maggraf).

DD2: Metz and Lippert in commanding form

The balance of power in the national DD2 class was varied: After Nikita Gense (Exprit) dictated the pace in qualifying, Denis Thum (Kraft Motorsport) came up trumps in the first race. The multiple RMC champion, who also competed in the DD2 Masters, fought his way through the field from eleventh on the grid and was the first to see the chequered flag. He was unable to repeat this performance in the other races. From now on, Tim Mika Metz (Woik Motorsport) took the reins. The 2021 DD2 champion won both the second and the third heat in commanding fashion and stood atop the podium of the day's standings in the evening. With three second places, Niklas Gränz (Forty-Two Competition), another former champion, secured second place on the podium, on which Denis Thum was finally allowed to climb in third place.

The Cup drivers' class was dominated by Lucas Lippert (RTM Racing Team Marggraf), who secured the day's victory with the maximum points ahead of Cedric Loretz (IPK Germany) and Jan Müller (Nees Racing).

DD2 Masters: Grimm and Gräf triumphant

The field of national DD2 Masters drivers saw Denis Thum (Kraft Motorsport) at the top after qualifying. But anyone who thought that the successful RMC veteran was going to make a clean sweep of the field was mistaken. Nico Grimm (Woik Motorsport) was an equal opponent and in the end the man from Frankfurt won the day's classification with 2:1 victories. Third place in the final standings went to Chris Koep (FM Racing).

The Cup class was clear-cut: Tobias Gräf (Kraft Motorsport) brought up the rear in qualifying without setting a time, but was able to turn the tide in the races. With three victories, he won clearly ahead of the fastest in practice, Mark Slevogt (RTM Racing-Team Marggraf) and Tim von Thun (Kraft Motorsport).

GKC 100: Bertram wins at the start

In the supporting programme of the RMC season opener, the GKC100 with its 100cc youngtimer karts of the 90s and noughties also went out. Right from the start, two-time champion Maurice Kleer (CRG) showed the competition what he was made of. He led the pack in the dry qualifying and the rainy first race. Only in the decisive second race did he have to admit defeat and hand over victory to Marcel Bertram (Righetti). The latter thus also beat Kleer in the day's standings. Third place overall went to Patrick Eder (BirelART).

Event organiser Andreas Matis (Kartodrom) drew a positive conclusion in the evening: "The weekend was really an RMC mega-event. Never before have the RMC Germany and the RMC Series started together, which was not easy to implement organisationally. Despite the difficult weather conditions, we were able to ensure that everything ran almost without a hitch - a big thank you to the entire organisational team for this. From a sporting point of view, we also saw exciting races that whetted our appetite for more. I am already looking forward to the next race." And this will already take place in Kerpen in four weeks' time (29/30 April 2023). The combination of RMC Germany and the RMC Cup Series will also compete together again at the Erftlandring.