A sunny day set the stage for the race heats of Round 1 of the Rotax MAX Challenge Winter Series at Cremona Circuit.
 

Today, 15 heats took place on the track in San Martino del Lago, determining the starting grids for tomorrow’s pre-finals, a crucial day for crowning the first winners of the season.
 

Jef Verbeke (Bouvin Power) reaffirmed the strong form he displayed yesterday, once again topping the standings on Saturday. The Belgian driver secured two wins and a second-place finish. Lining up alongside him is Leo Livings (KR Sport), while Tom Read (SFR Motorsport) made an impressive charge from 13th to 3rd place. Just behind him is fellow Brit Oliver Spencer (KR Sport), with Marc Andria Quessada (MKC Motorsport) completing the top five.
 

A standout performance came from Harry Freeman (KR Sport), who leads the standings ahead of yesterday’s pole-sitter, Japan’s Shun Sekiguchi (Dan Holland Racing). Cole Denholm (Dan Holland Racing) sits in third, followed by Romanian driver Dragos Avasilcutei (MKC Motorsport) and Rayan Ghandour (KR Sport), who dropped positions after a tough third heat.
 

It’s an all-British “poker” in Senior MAX, with Macauley Bishop (Dan Holland Racing) and Kai Hunter (Hunter Motorsport) maintaining their 1-2 from qualifying. The KR Sport duo of Archie Walker, who climbed his way up from 15th, and Sean Butcher, secured third and fourth. Armand Hamilton (Strawberry Racing) made a remarkable recovery, gaining 26 positions across five heats.
 

Will Elswood (Kraft Motorsport) and Ragnar Veerus (Kartletix) remain at the front, confirming their qualifying performances. However, the real star of the day was Xen De Ruwe (SCC), the Masters class leader, who dominated by winning both of his heats.
 

February 16: from 08:30 AM Warm-up; from 10:20 AM Prefinals, from 1.40 PM Finals.