Published on Saturday, December 6, 2025

RMC Grand Final Champions Crowned in Bahrain

What an incredible week it has been here in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the RMC Grand Finals 2025. The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying, filled with anticipation, emotion, and world-class racing. Under the intense Bahraini sun, the heat on track was even higher as the Finals began: from the thrilling battles of the E20 E-Kart classes, to the young talents of Micro MAX and Mini MAX, through the fiercely competitive Junior and Senior MAX categories, all the way to the high-speed action of DD2 and DD2 Masters.

The racing was nothing short of spectacular - unbelievably close, fiercely fought, and overflowing with excitement. This evening, we proudly crowned the new Champions of the RMC Grand Finals, the most spectacular karting celebration in the world of international karting.

Today also marked a major milestone: our race action from Bahrain was broadcast to audiences around the globe through partners including DAZN, Viaplay, Motorvision, Douyin, WeChat, El Garage TV, and many more. Fans across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa were able to tune in live or on demand via TV, OTT, and digital platforms. The full list of broadcast partners is available on the website: grandfinals.rotax-racing.com. The world was watching - and the RMC Grand Finals delivered a Finals Day to remember.

But first, let’s have a look on the list of the new RMCGF Champions
Micro MAX: Benjamin Karajkovic
Mini MAX:     Tom Read
Junior MAX: Majus Mazinas
Senior MAX: Macauley Bishop
DD2:               Sem Knopjes
DD2 Masters: Martynas Tankevicius
E20 Senior:     Jannik Jakobs
E20 Masters: Maurits Knopjes
Nations Cup: Team UK

Here is a recap of today’s Finals!

E20 Senior

After a dominant week, Jannik Jakobs (Germany) would lead the E20 Senior field to the green flag as he looked to become an RMC Grand Finals Champion. Vedant Menon (Bahrain) occupied the other position on the front row and would look to take the fight to Jakobs while holding the row two starters behind him. Levente Simon (Hungary) and Ako Madaras (Hungary) shared row two, just ahead of Niklas Cassarino (Germany) and Mohammed Alhasan (Bahrain). With a standing start, Jakobs jumped to the lead as Menon fell to third in the first corner. Halfway through lap two, Menon was back into the second position and hot on the heels of Jakobs up front as Maxim Castro had a spin and fell to the tail of the field. Jakobs continued to lead at the mid-race distance, but Menon had closed the gap from just under one second to less than half a second with five laps remaining. Jakobs opened the lead to six-tenths of a second with four laps remaining as he responded to the pressure from Menon. After several on-track passes early on, things had settled down with the top-five drivers running in the same positions they had started. Unbeaten on the weekend, Jakobs went on to take the E20 Senior victory ahead of Menon, who made history as the first driver from Bahrain to be on the podium. Hungary finished third and fourth with Madaras, Simon, and Cassarino. Team USA’s Ellis Spiezia advanced 11 positions to finish sixth, narrowly missing the top-five. Madaras received a post-race penalty, bumping the #602 entry down to fifth and elevating Simon to the third and final step on the podium.

E20 Master

Seventeen drivers entered the E20 Master class led by Maurits Knopjes (UAE), and Argentine Julian Falivene would take the green on Saturday for the Final, with Ecuador’s Jorge Matos and fellow Team Argentina driver Gaston Di Bella. A pair of Brazilian drivers rolled off the grid from row three in Adriano Amaral and Michel Aboissa. Knopjes had the early advantage over Falivene and Matos, with Amaral moving forward early on to run P3 in class after three of ten laps. Falivene was pushing Knopjes for the race lead, putting a ton of pressure on the leader. Knopjes led by three-tenths of a second with four laps to go, with Falivene stalking the leader. Matos continued to run third just ahead of Amaral and Team Argentina’s Emiliano Parisi. Knopjes went on to take the win by half a second, becoming the first driver to retain two different titles with two different nations in back-to-back years. Falivene crossed the line second ahead of Matos, delivering Ecuador their first-ever podium result in the third position, with Amaral and Parisi rounding out the top-five.

Micro MAX

Albert Pharoah (Great Britain) would be the driver to beat in Micro MAX as he led the field to the green in the final on-track session for the youngest class at the RMC Grand Finals. To his outside was UAE’s Benjamin Karajkovic with fellow Brit Charlie Page in P3. Lithuania’s Emilis Capauskas lined up fourth on the grid, with row three occupied by Portugal’s Gustavo Oliveira and Poland’s Jon Wozniak. The first rolling start of the weekend was good, as all 36 drivers made it through the first corner without incident. Page jumped to the lead early ahead of Karajkovic and Oliveira, with Karajkovic moving to the lead before the end of lap one. Oliveira fell from fourth to sixth on lap two as Dhian Singh Pahal (Great Britain) was up 13 positions to second in three laps. Pahal took the lead at the start of lap four and looked to pull away. Pharaoh ran second ahead of Capkauskas, Page, and Karajkovic, who fell to fifth after leading early. The top-five had opened a small gap on the rest of the field, but the battle was on, just a quarter of the way into the 12-lap race. Page methodically moved to third, and then to second by the conclusion of lap five as the race was on for the win before the midway point. Pahal continued to lead but was on the defensive and was unsuccessful as Page got by for the lead. Contact between the two British drivers saw Page and Pahal take them out of the lead, and Page out of the race, handing the lead back to Pharoah, ahead of Karajkovic. Pahal cut the circuit and slowed down, waiting for the leaders and retaking a position near the front of the field in third. Two-thirds of the way through the race, Karajkovic led Pharoah as they ran nose to tail and were 1.5 seconds ahead of Benediktas Masiokas (Great Britain), who led a train of karts in third. Karajkovic began his defense early and was down the inside into turn one on the start of lap ten. With the defense, Pahal, and the group behind him, were closing the gap quickly, but would there be enough time? Karajkovic and Pharoah went wheel-to-wheel with Pharoah sneaking by for the lead on the final circuit. Pharaoh defended for his life on the final lap, taking the win ahead of Karajkovic by .009 with Pahal in third. Team Chile’s Bruno Miranda gained five positions to finish fourth, with Dominic Vera Roa (Colombia) ahead of Agustin Perchivatti (Argentina) as half a second covered the top-seven drivers at the checkered flag. Pharaoh was dropped down the running order after a post-race penalty, handing the win to Karajkovic with podium results to Miranda and Vera Roa. Perchivatti was elevated to the fourth position with Capkauskas rounding out the top-five.

Mini MAX

Seven drivers from Great Britain occupied the first seven positions on the grid for the Mini MAX main event, with eight in the top-ten. Having a perfect week, Emerson Macandrew-Uren and Lucien Smith started from the front row with Riley Murro and Joshua Cooke in row two. Row three saw Ryan White ahead of Austin Oman, with Alfie Mair seventh. The remainder of the top-ten was rounded out by Giovanni Pistore (Italy), Great Britain’s Tom Read, and Spain’s Hugo Fuentes. Macandrew-Uren lost the lead right at the start as Murro jumped to his inside, pushing Macandrew-Uren down to fourth. Murro led early and by the end of lap one, Macandrew-Uren moved back to the second position with White and Mair following closely. With everyone attacking Macandrew-Uren, Mair was to the lead on lap three ahead of Murro as he went around the outside of Macandrew-Uren to take the lead in turn eight. The top-three had broken away from fourth, having organized themselves to push away from the field. Mair continued to lead after four of 14 laps as Oliver Spencer (UAE) was up 12 positions in four laps to run inside the top-ten, with Ireland’s Alex Reilly up 18 spots to tenth. Murro and Macandrew-Uren were by Mair to take over the top-two positions on lap five, and Macandrew-Uren was back to the point at the end of lap six. Fourth and fifth had caught the top-three as Macandrew-Uren went on the defense with a ton of drivers back into the fight. Murro jumped to the lead on lap seven ahead of Macandrew-Uren and Mair, but a lap later, Mair was at the front. Lap eight saw three British drivers together with Mair, Murro, and Ward, down the running order. Macandrew-Uren went up over the back of a fellow competitor as it was all kicking off up front. Ryan White now led at the end of lap eight with Spencer and Julian Duemmer (Germany) in third. Spencer took the lead on lap nine after starting 21st with five laps to go as Macandrew-Uren had recovered to run fourth. Arthur Pharoah (Great Britain) was up 21 places to run fourth with less than four laps remaining, but it was Macandrew-Uren who fell to seventh after being attacked heavily. Pharoah had a mechanical failure on lap 11 and fell out of the race, advancing the drivers behind him. Spencer continued to lead White and Duemmer. Spencer drove to the win ahead of White, Duemmer, Read, and Marc Moia (Romania). Tom Read was awarded the win after a post-race penalty to Oliver Spencer. At the same time, Marc Moia was elevated to second, with penalties also given to Ryan White and Julian Duemmer, as the podium was completed by Vicente Capala. Chen-Yi Chou (Taiwan) was up 20 positions to officially be classified fourth, just ahead of Alex Reilly (Ireland) in fifth.

Junior MAX

2024 RMC Grand Finals Champion Jacob Ashcroft (Great Britain) earned the pole position for the Junior MAX main event after a solid set of heat races and a Pre-Final. Canadian Rayan Ghandour would start second as he looked to take the fight to Ashcroft. Row two saw Albert Friend (Great Britain) ahead of Nikita Ljubimov (Estonia). There were two Canadians inside the top-five as Alexis Baillargeon lined up fifth on the grid with Jeremy Reuvers (Spain) to his outside. Team Japan saw Taigen Sakano alongside Lithuania’s Majus Mazinas in seventh and eighth with Slovenia’s Nik Brecelj and Great Britain’s Kai Clarke. Ashcroft, looking to be the first driver to win two in a row in Junior MAX, jumped to the lead at the start of the final as the quest was underway. Ghandour tried to go around the outside of Ashcroft on lap one but was unsuccessful. By the end of lap one of the 18-lap final, Baillargeon moved to third with Albert Friend in second. On lap two, the front three were organized, running nose-to-tail, in an effort to pull away from the rest of the field. With a loss of momentum, Ashcroft was forced to defend, but Friend was able to sneak by into turn one on lap three. With the top-seven now in the lead pack, they were separated by only seven-tenths of a second. Kai Clarke moved into the fourth position, brining Ljubimov with him as he looked to regain the positions he lost early. Clarke turned the fastest lap of the race on lap five moving from tenth to third in five laps. Friend continued to lead from Ashcroft and Clarke in a Great Britain one, two, three. Reuvers moved to third on lap three, and Canadian Leonardo Serravalle was up 11 positions to seventh in just six laps. Ashcroft made a bid for the lead into turn eight on lap seven, losing momentum and eventually falling behind Clarke and Reuvers. Clarke took the lead on lap eight as the race was on up front. Ashcroft was back in second ahead of Friend, but Ljubimov was quickly by to take over the third position. Ljubimov went around the outside of turn one to take second from Ashcroft and, looking to do the same on Clarke, lost a ton of momentum, falling to ninth. With 14 karts separated by just 1.4 second, Clarke continued to lead Ashcroft and Friend at the mid-race distance. Zdenek Babicek (Czechia) was up nine positions to fourth as the #254 was looking for the win. Clarke and Friend made contact on lap ten but managed to maintain the top-two positions at the front of the field. Ljubimov lost his front nose cone on lap 11 and was forced to retire as Harry Freeman moved into P4 after starting 11th. With five laps to go, Clarke continued to lead Friend, Ashcroft, Freeman, and Babicek. Several karts retired throughout the race after contact, and on lap 13, Ashcroft was by Friend for second behind Clarke. Friend moved Ashcroft out of the way to take over the second position with Babicek coming with him and into third. Friend, battling for the lead, contacted Clarke and spun off the track and out of contention on lap 15. It was still anyone’s race up front as Babicek was sideways and lost three positions. Freeman now led from Clarke with two laps to go as Ashcroft fell to sixth after some hard racing. Clarke and Frend crashed together with three corners to go, opening the door for Mazinas to take the win for Lithuania. Babicek crossed the line second ahead of Ashcroft in third. Up 32 positions to the fourth position was Boaz Maximov (The Netherlands), while Albie Lapper (Great Britain) was in fifth. After penalties were sorted, Mazinas kept the win ahead of Ashcroft, Lapper, Branislav Rentka (Slovakia), and Thomas Hart (New Zealand), with Babicek, Maximov, and Reuvers falling to tenth, 13th and 14th.

Senior MAX

In what was expected to be one of the best races of the weekend, Lewis Goff (Great Britain) and Sean Butcher (Great Britain) would start the Final wheel-to-wheel on the front row. Team Canada’s Ayden Ingratta lined up third with another British driver, Cian Geraghty, starting fourth. Row three saw the likes of Toms Strele (Latvia) and Harry Bartle (Great Britain), with Dutch driver Ties Van Wijk leading Slovakia’s Martin Lichner, Team France’s Tom Langlois, and Great Britain’s Macauley Bishop. It was a 21-lap Final, as Goff led them through turn one, but Butcher held his own around the outside to take the lead into turn two. The biggest mover on the first laps was Medfi Lassoued (France), up five positions to seventh. Butcher led from Geraghty and Goff, with Ingratta fourth ahead of Strele. It was a calm opening few laps with all 36 karts progressing with no significant contact or retirements. Geraghty took the lead on lap three, disposing of Butcher as Great Britain ran first through third. Geraghty had opened a half-second gap to P2, but Butcher and Goff ran nose to tail in an effort to catch Geraghty. Bishop was on a charge forward as he was up six positions in five laps to move into the fourth position. Bishop moved to third on lap seven with Geraghty leading. Half a lap later, Bishop had moved to second as Lassoured was by Ingratta and into fifth, and then by Goff a lap later into P4. Goff and Lassoured made contact on lap nine and fell down the running order and outside the top-15. Bishop took the lead on lap nine as it was a five-kart battle up front. At the mid-race distance, Bishop led Butcher, Geraghty, Langlois, and Ingratta. Bishop opened a small gap of .608 over Geraghty as the second, third, fourth, and fifth-place drivers began to battle. Bishop and Geraghty were equally spaced up front, about half a second apart with Langlois now into third, almost one second behind Geraghty. Matthew Higgins (Great Britain) was up six positions to eighth, while Mateja Radenkovic had pushed forward nine positions to ninth. Tereza Babickova was the biggest mover after 14 laps, gaining 20 positions to run 11th. Bishop was pulling away from the field, leading by a second over the rest of the field and running the normal racing lines. Strele retired on lap 15 from inside the top-ten as Geraghty was a tenth of a second faster than Bishop on lap 16. Butcher ran third and was on the defensive, trying to hold Langlois, Lichner, Ingratta, and Higgins behind him. With three laps to go, Bishop now led by 1.1 over Geraghty, and stretched it to 1.2 a lap later. Higgins moved to sixth as Butcher brought several drivers back into the mix. Langlois lost momentum and defended, allowing Butcher to open a gap of one second over the French driver. It was all Bishop up front as he drove to the victory, with Geraghty second and Butcher third in a Great Britain one, two, three. Langlois was the best of the rest to come home fourth ahead of Higgins, who was able to get by Ingratta on the final circuit. Babickova was the biggest mover, up 21 positions to finish inside the top-ten. Geraghty was handed a post-race penalty, dropping him from the podium to fourth in the final results, with Butcher and Langlois standing on the podium.

DD2 MAX

With one title already designated for the Knopjes family name on the weekend, with Maurits Knopjes taking the E20 Master title, Sem Knopjes (The Netherlands) was hoping to repeat the performance in DD2 MAX. Leading the field into the final on-track session of the weekend, Knopjes led Jakub Bezel (Czechia), Poland’s Dawid Maslakiewicz, and France’s Antoine Barbaroux. Hungary and Sweden occupied row three with Bendeguz Szabo and Hannes Morein, with Ivan Parshin (Kyrgyzstan) just ahead of Team USA’s Pauly Massimino. Mike Van De Pavert (The Netherlands) and Edgars Vilcans (Latvia) rounded out the top ten. Knopjes took advantage of his inside starting position to take the lead, but needed to defend into turn two, six, and eight to hold the lead. Bezel was aggressive in the opening two laps in an effort to get by Knopjes, but was unsuccessful, allowing Knopjes to pull away by one second after two laps. Maslakiewicz was by Bezel on lap three, but Bezel returned the favor a corner later. Hannes Morin was up two positions into fourth as Vilcans was up three positions to seventh. Knopjes led Bezel by 1.252, and Maslakiewicz, as the second and third-place drivers, battled hard. Knopjes stretched his lead by another tenth and a half on lap six, but Bezel was two tenths faster than Knopjes a lap later. The lap continued to shrink up front, with the gap between Knopjes and Bezel down to nine-tenths of a second at mid-race distance. Maxim Shchurko (Lithuania) was in to the top-ten and ran eighth with seven laps remaining as American Massimino had fallen outside the top-ten. The gap up front remained constant, with Knopjes hovering around one second ahead of Bezel and Maslakiewicz, with Antoine Barbaroux back into the fourth position. Edgar Vilcans ran into trouble on lap 17 and fell down the order after heavy contact with Hannes Morin, falling back to 11th. Len Nijs (Belgium) was up ten positions and into fifth with three laps to go, but it was all Knopjes up front. Repeating his dad’s performance from the E20 Masters class, Sem Knopjes drove to victory in DD2 MAX, making history as the only two family members to win different classes at the same RMC Grand Finals. Behind Knopjes, Bezel secured the second position ahead of Maslakiewicz, Barbaroux, and Nijs.

DD2 Master MAX

Slovenia’s Xen De Ruwe was hoping to reach RMC Grand Finals glory yet again as he would lead the DD2 Master MAX field to the green on Saturday. Pressuring him every step of the way through the week was Nicolas Picot from Team France as he started second, with third and fourth place positions held by Jannik Nielsen (Denmark) and Dmitrii Kofanov (Kyrgyzstan). Team France had another driver starting inside the top-five with Charles Seguin just ahead of Team Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello. Alex Fielenbach (Germany) led Mat Kinsman (New Zealand), Gabriel Zughella (Argentina), and Joao Cunha (Brazil). De Ruwe jumped to the lead with Picot, and Nielsen holding their own. Picot went around the outside of De Ruwe on the opening lap to take the lead, but De Ruwe was quickly back by to take the point. Just a few corners later, Picot was into the back of De Ruwe, pushing him wide and slipping by for the lead. Barichello lost his front nose cone and was out on lap two. Picot was backing De Ruwe up and bringing a large group of drivers together and into battle. De Ruwe took the lead on lap three, but Picot and De Ruwe made contact, opening the door for the drivers behind them. Seguin took the lead ahead of Nielsen and Christophe Capitaine (France), and Martynas Tankevicius (Lithuania) in fourth. Nielsen was out on lap five due to a mechanical issue, as it was all shaking up near the front. Tankevicius was by Capitaine for the second position as Zughella moved into fifth on lap six. Tankevicius moved by Seguin for the lead, but Seguin got him back a few corners later. Picot, who had dropped outside the top-20, turned the fastest lap of the race on lap eight, as he was moving forward and was back to P15. Seguin led Tankevicius and Kinsman at the mid-race distance as things began to settle down. Tankevicius took the lead on lap 12 as the top-three were separated by just two tenths of a second. Seguin and Kinsman began to battle for P2 as Tankevicius pulled away, leading by .854 after 14 circuits. Zughella moved into fourth and Michael Hitchcock (Switzerland) into the fifth position. Picot had battled his way and was just outside the top-ten in 11th as ten different countries occupied the top-ten positions. The gap up front shrank to just over half a second with three laps remaining as Seguin, in second, was the fastest kart on track. Tankevicius led with two laps to go as he managed to keep the gap at just over half a second, weathering the storm. Tankevicius went on to take the win ahead of Seguin and Mat Kinsman. Gabriel Zughella and Michael Hitchcok rounded out the top-five. Kinsman was moved out of a podium position due to a penalty that dropped him to eighth, elevating Zughella to third, Hitchcock to fourth, and Cunha to fifth.

With the 2025 RMC Grand Finals now in the books, the chase for 2026 tickets begins.

The Rotax Team congratulates the new Champions, and we wish you all good luck for the upcoming season and see you again at the next RMC Grand Finals, which takes place from November 21-28, 2026, at the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal.