(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Day three of the 2023 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals went into the books on Wednesday with a busy day of action at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit. It was another shift-day at the 14-turn, 1.414km circuit with the final practice session setting up the drivers for qualifying as the sun set, and then the first round of heat races were conducted under the lights for the 384 drivers representing over 60 countries. The handful of the nine drivers representing Team USA performed well on the day, including a race win by Lucas Palacio in Micro MAX and Junior MAX driver Nixx Eggleston racing into the top-five.

Below is a breakdown of the Wednesday performance and comments from drivers in Bahrain.

Monday Report

Tuesday Report

Event Information

Time Schedule

Live Timing

DD2 – Birel ART (72 Drivers)

#451 – Race Liberante

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Palmdale, California
Qualified: Second Highest US Trophy Series Finisher
RMCGF Appearances: 0

Practice 6 (odd): 15th – 53.278 +0.471
Qualifying (odd): 10th – 52.689 +0.197
Overall: 20th
Heat Group: D (Row 5)
Heat CvsD: 15th +9.247 (PBB) – 53.097

Liberante was among the drivers on the move forward in his heat race, and advanced up to fifth that was highlighted by a great pass for position with two laps remaining. Unfortunately, a pushback bumper penalty – the only driver to suffer one in the top-15, dropped him down the order.

“Qualifying, we had the kart perfect, but the engine would cut out in turns 2 and 4, which was a tenth or two on the data. Our real pace has been much stronger which showed in the heat. We have made no chassis changes other than air and caster for the last four sessions. It’s all been getting the engine tune proper, which we have now. I did receive a pushback for a half of a half. The rules here are very, very, strict so that’s something I’ll make sure to keep more of an eye on the rest of the weekend. But we do now have pace to put the USA up front in DD2!”

Senior MAX – Sodi Kart (72 Drivers)

#312 – Cooper O’Clair

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Qualified: Top US Trophy Series Finisher
RMCGF Appearances: 2 – 2021, 2022 (Junior Max)

Practice 6 (even): 7th – 53.916 +0.416
Qualifying (even): 30th – 54.263 +1.060
Overall: 60th
Heat Group: D (Row 15)
Heat CvsD: 28th +15.685 (PBB) – 53.912

O’Clair made up 10 spots but slipped back at the end to 23rd after 10 laps. Unfortunately, he suffered a pushback bumper penalty to put him back further in the results.

“Qualifying was very poor both in terms of how I handled it and what I was dealt. My heat race was decent knowing I have the speed to run up front but unfortunately, I’m with some of the more ‘desperate’ drivers at the moment.”

DD2 Masters – Charles Leclerc (36 Drivers)

#504 – Derek Wang

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Qualified: Canada Finals Champion
RMCGF Appearances: 11 – 2010, 2011 (DD2), 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 (DD2 Masters)

Practice 6: 11th – 53.633 +0.500
Qualifying: 12th – 53.284 +0.369
Heat 1: 25th +15.842 (PBB) – 53.934

Bouncing back from a wreck in practice yesterday that required a chassis change, Wang is still behind the rest of the competition after missing track time on Tuesday. He bounced around inside the top-20 and ended up 17th at the line before a pushback bumper penalty.

“We were grateful to finally have a clean session in qualifying. There was a bit of traffic on my fast lap and the mid field is very tight. We ‘death matched’ a few guys in the heat race and some quick drivers were coming through the field. We fell back a few spots and got a pushback penalty, so it wasn’t ideal.”

#524 – Billy Cleavelin

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Shell Beach, California
Qualified: Top US Trophy Series Finisher
RMCGF Appearances: 2 – 2016, 2017 (DD2 Masters)

Practice 6: 29th – 54.207 +1.074
Qualifying: 32nd – 54.225 +1.310
Heat 1: 28th +18.919 – 54.234

Junior MAX – Praga (72 Drivers)

#224 – Nixx Eggleston

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona
Qualified: Runner-up – US Trophy Final
RMCGF Appearances: 0

Practice 6 (even): 23rd – 54.770 +0.532
Qualifying (even): 12th – 54.626 +0.427
Overall: 23rd
Heat Group: C (Row 6)
Heat CvsD: 4th +4.039 – 55.202

A great start in his opening heat race, Eggleston was on the move forward under the lights. A statement was made by the Challenge of the Americas champion, highlighted by a double pass into turn one to end up inside the top-five.

“Qualifying was not good but not bad. We went back to the setup we had from last practice session the night before. Our heat race was amazing, getting to work my way up through the field. It was interesting seeing how much more aggressive the other drivers are.”

#257 – Giovanni Santora

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Qualified: Top US Trophy Series Finisher
RMCGF Appearances: 0

Practice 6 (odd): 18th – 55.066 +0.630
Qualifying (odd): 34th – 55.981 +1.677
Overall: 68th
Heat Group: D (Row 17)
Heat CvsD: 30th +15.822 (PBB) – 55.501

“We had really good pace for qualifying, inside the top-15 in my group, but a penalty for track limits set me back. I moved up seven positions in Heat 1 and will work hard to do better tomorrow.”

Mini MAX – Birel ART (72 Drivers)

#127 – Gage Korn

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Aurora, Colorado
Qualified: Runner-up – US Trophy Final
RMCGF Appearances: 2 – 2021, 2022 (Mini)

Practice 6 (odd): 34th – 59.979 +1.725
Qualifying (odd): 21st – 59.371 +0.913
Overall: 42nd
Heat Group: B (Row 11)
Heat AvsB: 13th +2.039 – 59.338

A solid start to the heat race for Korn led to another advancement at the end of the six-lap race that nearly put him into the top-10.

“Qualifying went terribly wrong, as no one left the grid until 2:30 left on the clock. I don’t quite understand the games being played as this doesn’t happen in the states. The even group went out for their entire qualifying session, so almost the entire even group set a faster time than I did, as they put down 6 laps. I was able to move up nine spots in the heat race. Tomorrow I’m looking to finish inside the top-10 for a decent prefinal spot.”

#120 – Matteo Quinto

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Golden, Colorado
Qualified: Top US Trophy Series Finisher
RMCGF Appearances: 0

Practice 6 (even): 19th – 59.315 +0.899
Qualifying (even): 15th – 58.681 +0.552
Overall: 29th
Heat Group: A (Row 8)
Heat AvsB: 12th +1.827 – 59.294

A great start put Quinto up to eighth on the opening lap, but was shuffled midway down to 17th. He fought back to nearly back into the top-10.

Micro MAX – Praga (36 Drivers)

#12 – Lucas Palacio

(Photo: Norito Hagiike/1Aim)

Hometown: Vienna, Virginia
Qualified: 1st – US Trophy Final
RMCGF Appearances: 0

Practice 6: 2nd – 1:01.684 +0.178
Qualifying: 10th – 1:01.784 +0.513
Heat 1: 1st +0.186 – 1:02.086

Palacio moved forward throughout the first six-lap heat race. He was into fourth after three laps, and then gained two more positions in the final two laps. A disqualification of the provisional winner for an exhaust issue put Palacio at the top of the result sheet.

“Qualifying went ok, definitely not where we wanted to be. But we knew at 10th that we had the pace to be there up front, just lacked draft again. I went into the heat race with a lot of confidence we could make up a lot of positions and get a solid result.  We did that, but there is more work to do!”

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