MOTORSPORT – Team Bahrain are set to compete in the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) 2026 this week, with five of Bahrain’s champion karters hitting the track at Kartodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal.
The RMCGF is one of the biggest annual karting events in the world of grassroots motorsports, and action is scheduled to begin today.
Suiting up for Team Bahrain, supported by Bahrain International Circuit and the Bahrain Motor Federation, are Enzo Younes in the Micro MAX class, Faisal Alnajjar in the Mini MAX, Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa in the Junior MAX, Demir Abali in the Senior MAX, and Rakan Alfayez in the DD2 MAX.
Enzo, Shaikh Ahmed, Abali, and Alfayez were all title winners in their respective categories in the 2025-26 season of the Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge, the kingdom’s leading national karting championship, while Faisal was a vice-champion.
The kingdom’s quintet are part of a massive field of more than 400 karters representing over 60 nations from around the world in the RMCGF 2026.
Aside from the five classes Bahrain’s karters are battling in, action will also be held in the DD2 Masters as well as three electric classes, including E10 Mini, E20 Senior and E20 Masters – making for a packed programme of high-octane, wheel-to-wheel racing.
A drivers’ presentation and raffle of karts took place over the last two days in Portimao, setting the stage for today’s start of racing with the first of five non-qualifying practice sessions, which continue until tomorrow.
Qualifying practices will be held on Wednesday, followed by qualifying heats on Thursday and Friday as well as the pre-finals.
The finals will then light up the track on the concluding day of this year’s RMCGF on Saturday.
This year’s meeting follows the grand success of the 2025 edition, held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit in Sakhir.
Bahrain hosted the event for the third time in five years, following the previous editions in 2021 and 2023.