News Overview USA

J3 Competition will add to its 2024 Promotions calendar with its continued US Trophy East series as well as the singular US Trophy Final event.

Santa is coming to teams and competitors of the Rotax Winter Trophy. Already confirming a prize package that includes tickets to the 2024 Grand Finals in Italy, as well as a media package for all drivers, Santa is delivering a FREE cylinder to all Micro MAX competitors who register for both rounds of the Winter Trophy program.

The 2023 Rotax Grand Finals in Sakhir, Bahrain ended today as more than 380 competitors from 60 different nations battled the Bahrain International Karting Circuit for the week-long event. With six drivers leaving Bahrain being crowned a Grand Final Champions, Canadian Ben Cooper, who earned his Grand Finals ticket by winning the Masters MAX class at the US Trophy Final, claimed his fourth career Grand Finals victory, first as a Masters competitor. Rotax Winter Trophy qualifiers Julian Rivera and Gianluca Savaglio earned fourth and ninth-place results in their respective classes while Lucas Palacio, who was the first driver to the checkered flag on Saturday in the Micro MAX main event, was stripped of his win in post-race technical inspection.

Friday marked us one step closer to Grand Finals Saturday where the 2023 Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals Champions in six separate classes will be crowned. First competitors from around the globe would need to get through their respective prefinal races and earn enough points to have the opportunity to compete on Saturday. With the day reserved for a warmup session for all classes, a break for opening ceremonies shifted the focus to the prefinals that would take place under the lights at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit.

Picture-perfect on Thursday morning as an abundance of sunshine, temperatures of 75F, and a cool breeze greeted Rotax competitors for the second and third rounds of heat races. The continued goal to finish as high up on the result sheets while staying out of trouble was key to guaranteeing the best possible starting position come Grand Finals Saturday.

After five complete rounds of practice on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was reserved for one final warmup in the morning making way for qualifying just after lunch. With the ever-important qualifying session setting the grid for the heat race flights, the first wheel-to-wheel action of the 2023 Rotax Grand Finals would get underway later as the day turned to night and the lights illuminated the Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC).

It was a late start for Team USA and the rest of the RMC Grand Finals competitors as a 1:00pm gate open time led into the remainder of the third round of practice for all but two classes, as well as rounds four and five for all classes. With only one more practice session on Wednesday morning to get it all right, qualifying will take place after lunch before the first wheel-to-wheel heat race competition under the lights tomorrow evening.

It was the first official on-track day of the 2023 RMC Grand Finals as Team USA drivers and international competitors who qualified through the RMC Winter Trophy experienced the Bahrain International Karting Circuit for the very first time in their Grand Finals equipment. With at least two practice sessions for all classes, competitors got their taste of what to expect when qualifying and the wheel-to-wheel race action gets underway later this week.

As the calendar is set to turn to the final month of the year, it is also time to close the international karting season with the annual RMC Grand Finals.

Nine drivers to represent USA in Bahrain

On the way to his fourteenth Rotax Grand Finals, CKN has a conversation with Blake Choquer about his favourite event of the year, the Canada Final and the future of karting.