Summarize

South Africa’s finest are already deep in battle against the best karters in the world as this week’s 25th annual ‘Rotax Max Olympics of Karting’ Grand Finals gets serious at the Bahrain International Kart Circuit. Comprising National and African champions, the twelve-man Team South Africa is up against 400 rivals from over sixty countries across the globe to crown a champion in each of the Rotax classes. 

The Grand Finals commenced with the equipment handover over the weekend. Practice commenced Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, before qualifying Wednesday afternoon. Some first heats also raced in the evening, where Team South Africa’s youngest stars impressed most under the lights of the Sakhir raceway.

Little Luhan de Wet fared best of the South Africans to qualify eleventh in under-11 Rotax Micro Max, before racing to a fine eighth in his first heat. Ronaldo Koen started his under-13 Rotax Mini Max heat in sixth after qualifying, with Brodi Dowling 12th. Koen was sadly eliminated in his heat, but Dowling drove a fine race to bring it home ninth to start his week on the front foot and inside the top ten.

South Africa’s high school Rotax Junior Max lads endured a tough opening day. Both Caleb Odendaal and Caleb Moore started at the back before Odendaal made up four places through his heat to 32nd but dropped to 34th after a final lap skirmish. Moore made an early charge but slumped to 32nd. Both have their work cut out in Thursday’s remaining heats. 

The rest of the South Africans race their three heats on Thursday. Senior Max drivers Muhammad Wally starts his in 11th, with Charl Michael Visser 25th. Both SA DD2 men, Sebastian Boyd and Jason Coetzee will start their opening heats in 27th, with Mozambican driver Cristian Bouche setting off 32nd and Namibian Kian Fussell 34th. South African over-31 DD2 Master Jonathan Pieterse starts his first heat 25th. 

Thursday is crunch day at Bahrain’s Rotax ‘Olympics of Karting’ with the remainder of the first heats and all second and third qualifying heats. Points scored in the heats score in a mini championship, with results determining the grid for Friday’s Pre Finals in each class. The top 36 in each then go through to the Saturday 6 December Grand Finals to determine the Rotax Max champions of the world. Catch timing and streaming at www.kart.co.za