The Senior MAX Final of the RMCGF 2023 took advantage of the fine weather in Bahrain, with temperatures of 26° early on Saturday afternoon. Five British drivers occupied the top five positions on the starting grid: Sean Butcher, Kai Hunter, Mark Kimber, Oliver Hodgson and Lewis Gilbert. The British delegation also included Macauley Bishop in 8th place and Ethan Jeff-Hall in 9th. Adam Rahali (FRA) started 14th and Jules Roussel (FRA) 27th.
The top five maintained their starting order on the first lap. Aron Krepcsik (HUN) was 6th ahead of Kai Rillaerts (BEL), with Rahali 10th. Jeff-Hall had moved up to 6th by the third lap. Kimber lost two places to Kimber and Gilbert who were now 2nd and 3rd. They then moved up to 1st and 2nd ahead of Butcher and Rillaerts on lap 5. Gilbert took the lead from Rillaerts and Kimber. 19 drivers were grouped together in less than 4 seconds. Gilbert crashed out to 25th after contact. Kimber took the lead from Rillaerts on the 10th of the 21 laps. Rillaerts took the lead on the following lap, 3 tenths ahead of Jeff-Hall and Kimber, who then encountered a technical problem and crashed heavily. Rahali held on to 9th place. Jeff-Hall took the lead on the 15th of the 21 laps, followed by Hunter. Butcher was 4th, 1.2 seconds behind the leading trio. Hunter regained the lead ahead of Rillaerts and Jeff-Hall. The battle continued unabated with Rillaerts back in the lead and the chasing group joining forces for an intense finale in the final laps. The Belgian was chased down by four British drivers. Rillaerts resisted the pressure magnificently and won the race 5 tenths ahead of Hunter, then Jeff-Hall at 3.5 tenths. Hodgson took 4th place ahead of Andrej Petrovic (SRB) who moved up 18 places. Except that this result was shattered after various penalties were applied. Petrovic was finally declared the winner (+22 places) ahead of Krepcsik and Bishop. Dion van Werven (NLD) was 4th and Rahali 5th, while Roussel moved up 12 places to 15th.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / Photo © KSP