This year’s edition of the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Festival took the annual BRP-Rotax event for Micro MAX and Mini MAX drivers across the English Channel for the first time on the weekend of September 20-22 for some intensely fought competition. The Warden Law Kart Club at Karting North East in the United Kingdom played host to the special event organised by Motorsport UK for the Rotax youngsters. The Rotax UK E Plate was included in the race program with the Junior- and Senior MAX classes sharing the grid. In total, five RMC Grand Finals tickets were presented to the winners along with prizes awarded by Rotax Authorised UK Distributor J.A.G. Rotax on Sunday. It was excitement-plus to the finish!
The Rotax Grand Festival continues to provide competitors entering the wider Rotax community with an opportunity to compete locally, as well as in an international field, as the event relocates to different nations from season to season. The majority of entries were from within the United Kingdom in this case, where the competition ideally showcased the latest up-and-coming talent of Rotax drivers from within the region. Team UK secured another five members for their RMC Grand Finals campaign when they head to Sarno, Italy, this October to defend their Nations Cup.
Celebrating the victory in the Rotax Micro MAX category as the new RMC Grand Festival 2024 champion was Austin Oman (Sam Pollitt Racing), following in the footsteps of his successful Rotax racing dad. He had already won his RMCGF ticket earlier this month as the vice-champion at the British Kart Championship. The nine-year-old E Plate winner will be joined by runner-up Lucien Smith (KR Sport), who was presented with the Grand Finals invitation, to represent their country at the end-of-season highlight event.
In the Rotax Mini MAX class, it was the RMCGF 2023 Rotax Micro MAX champion Jenson Chalk (Strawberry Racing Team) who came away with the Grand Festival and E Plate titles in an action-packed final. He has featured on the podium numerous times over recent years and this adds two more championships to the honour list for the young British competitor. Jenson won his ticket to race against the top Mini MAX drivers from around the world next month in Italy, where he is aiming to repeat his excellent performance from the Kingdom of Bahrain last December.
The RMC Grand Finals Junior MAX champion from Portimão in 2022, Scott Marsh (Strawberry Racing), claimed the MSUK E Plate title in this tough field with a convincing victory on Sunday. Following on from his round 4 success at the RMC Euro Trophy in Lonato last month, Scott has now qualified once again to be racing at the showdown in Sarno. Next to take the chequered flag was Kai Clarke (KR Sport) who received his RMCGF ticket to be racing with Team UK at the Circuito Internazionale di Napoli from October 19 to 26 as well.
Rookie Joshua Graham (KR Sport) sealed his E Plate win in Rotax Senior MAX, classified P1 after the close dash to the finish line. This is the 15-year-old’s first title since stepping up from Juniors, where he was runner-up in his national championship in 2022. A guest appearance in the Rotax E20 Junior E-Kart at the deciding round of the RMCET in the UK last season proved to be a winner for Joshua, which could be to his advantage now. Having won a Grand Finals ticket to compete in the 2-speed gearbox Rotax DD2 line-up for Sarno as the leading driver in his class last weekend, he will already be familiar with the type of chassis used sporting front brakes.
The RMC Grand Festival was met with some adverse weather that brought a bitterly cool change and heavy fog rolling in from along the coast, but the competition still remained exciting until the end. The popular race format with qualifying, heats and super heats offering double points to determine the final grid positions from the combined tally kept things even more interesting too.
Rotax Micro MAX class - Maximilian Abrahart, Austin Oman, and Lucien Smith
When it came to results throughout the weekend, Austin Oman was almost unbeatable in the Rotax Micro MAX class, qualifying on pole with a 1:11.85 and going on to win all but one of his Heat races, up to and including the Final Sunday. In second place, Lucien Smith was only one of the evenly matched contenders who battled it out for the podium, producing non-stop track action in every session. He had won the other heat, although it was Joss Huschka, Arthur Pharoah, and recently-crowned BKC champ Luke Milward who filled the first two rows for the Super Heat in front of him. Oman’s next victory Sunday morning meant he still led the final standings when the points were calculated, leaving Smith and Milward separated by just one point. The Final was another good scrap. The gap at the line with Oman leading was 0.18 seconds to Smith and the first independent entry of Maximilian Abrahart directly behind to complete the top three. Rotax UK Distributor J.A.G. also rewarding the leading privateer finishing P3 with a brand new Rotax 125 MAX Evo engine. The E Plate winner was Oman and his ticket was handed down to Smith.
Rotax Mini MAX - Frazer Anderson, Jenson Chalk, and Riley Murro
Albert Friend has been racking up the Rotax Mini MAX titles all season at both national and international level and came into the weekend as a twice Grand Festival champion. He set the pace in official timed practice with a best lap of 1:07.14 and kept up the momentum to win all three heats on Saturday. This put the 11-year-old at the top of the intermediate classification from close rivals Emerson MacAndrew-Uren and Jenson Chalk. However, the Super Heat was won by Edward Haynes, as the competition started to turn up the heat for the all-important points for grid places. On pole for the Final, it was MacAndrew-Uren lining up alongside Friend, with Chalk and Oliver Spencer on row 2. The lead was shuffled between the front-runners over the 1200-metre course as the 18-lapper unfolded. It was neck-and-neck racing, taking a turn at a half-race distance as Friend fell out of contention and the eventual winner Jenson Chalk overcame the opposition. The first group of seven karts was covered by less than two seconds at the finish, as Riley Murro took P2 and Haynes was third. Chalk now goes to Sarno to hunt another RMCGF title in 2024. Frazer Anderson was the leading privateer entry taking home his new Rotax engine from J.A.G.
“It was a great honour to host the RMC Grand Festival for the first time here in the UK,” says Dan Parker, Head of Karting Motorsport UK. “The racing was very competitive and exciting to watch, which we streamed live across the weekend for all the fans not able to be at Warden Law. We introduced a slightly different race format for the event, with the goal to make this a special competition as a one-off Rotax championship primarily for the younger drivers. There was a different feel about it and I believe it was a fun weekend. Having the opportunity to award RMC Grand Finals 2024 tickets, together with lots of cool Rotax prizes offered by J.A.G. UK, only added to this. It’s something quite unique to be able to represent your country at such a prestigious event as the RMCGF and we are proud to support our drivers in achieving their dreams at MSUK. I want to personally thank all the team at Warden Law Kart Club and Karting North East, along with everyone involved in the organisation for making this a wonderful event. We hope all the kids liked their custom-made RMC Grand Festival T-shirts and stickers too.”
Watch all the race action from the RMC Grand Festival on YouTube at Karting UK - https://www.youtube.com/live/r0j9_mi-mSU?si=m7YDjY5onjmEVBGE
For the full Results please click here