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Monumental – Ingratta Qualifies on the Senior Max Pole Position at Grand Finals!
Team Canada has never qualified on the pole position in the Rotax Senior division at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals before…until today.
With Practice done and dusted at the Bahrain International Circuit, Wednesday presented the first day of official sessions for Team Canada at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Bahrain. It was an eventful day that dragged well into the night before Rotax officials called it a day with five heat races still left to run.
Leading the charge, Ayden Ingratta blistered off a mega lap in Rotax Senior to top the charts, ensuring he kept all four wheels in bounds and avoiding any chance of track limits violation (something that got Ingratta in trouble earlier in the week in practice).
Another great run in Qualifying went to Rayan Ghandour, who topped his Junior Max session and wound up with the second quickest time in Qualifying, ensuring he has a front row starting spot for all of his heat races.
Along with track limits violations in the hundreds, an error when calculating the official results after Qualifying left everyone standing around for a few extra hours. E20, Micro Max and Mini Max did run their heat races before a long break, with the Juniors just waiting in parc ferme. Eventually, the correct Rotax Junior grid was presented, and they completed their heats before the rest were postponed until Thursday. In addition, Mini Max will rerun their Heat 1 on Thursday as well, given that they started their races with incorrect grids.
Rayan Ghandour – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN
For RMC Grand Finals Results – Click HERE
Micro MAX
Overall Qualifying Results
- 32 – Jayden Francisco – 18th
- 30 – Oliver Aupry – 22nd
- 32 – Jack Klym – 25th
Qualifying Practice
The draft proved to be a decisive factor once again in Micro MAX, with all three Canadians ending the session in the lower half of the timesheets, struggling to get into the groups they wanted in the short 6-minute qualifying session. Jayden Francisco led the trio with the 20th-fastest time. Oliver Aupry and Canada Final champion Jack Klym followed in 27th and 29th, respectively. All three will need to work their way forward through the two heat races to improve their starting positions for Saturday’s Prefinal.
A total of 11 drivers received track-limits penalties, which helped boost the Canadians’ final positions as all three completed the session without any penalties.
Mini MAX
Overall Qualifying Results
- 159 – Jeffrey Heston – 35th (C)
- 157 – Matteo Pai – 51st (C)
- 156 – Christian Sanguinetti – 62nd (B)
- 158 – Nicholas Lorusso – 72nd (D)
Qualifying Practice
RMC Ontario champion Matteo Pai posted the 23rd-fastest time in the Odd-numbered group, with Jeffrey Heston placing his kart 29th in the session. In the Even group, many drivers delayed their exits, leading to a chaotic end that ultimately hurt the Canadians. Nicholas Lorusso managed 28th, while Christian Sanguinetti was 36th after both drivers failed to cross the line in time for an additional lap.
All four Canadian drivers will need to make significant gains in the upcoming heat races if they hope to reach Saturday’s Final.
A major shakeup occurred once track-limits penalties were applied, with an astounding 44 drivers receiving infractions. In the Odd group, Heston was elevated to 18th, while Pai dropped to 30th after losing his best lap. In the Even group, Sanguinetti moved up to 28th, while Lorusso fell to the bottom after all his laps were deleted.
Rotax MAX Junior
Overall Qualifying Results
- 256 – Rayan Ghandour – 2nd (B)
- 270 – Alexis Baillargeon – 12th (D)
- 258 – Leonardo Serravalle – 30th (B)
- 260 – Jeremy St-Cyr – 50th (B)
- 261 – Cole Medeiros – 51st (C)
Qualifying Practice
Rayan Ghandour led the Canadian contingent with the fastest time in the Even-numbered group, narrowly missing the overall pole once times were merged. Late addition to Team Canada, Alexis Baillargeon, delivered an impressive run to place 9th in his group while Cole Medeiros benefited from going out early in the Odd group, posting the 10th-fastest time. Leonardo Serravalle and RMC Quebec champion Jeremy St-Cyr ended 13th and 16th in their groups, respectively, struggling to find clean space on the track for a good lap.
However, just like the Mini’s there was a ton of penalties applied for track limits violations. After those penalties were applied, Medeiros dropped to 27th in the Odd group when all of his laps were deleted for track limits. In the Even group, Baillargeon was promoted to 6th, while lap deletions pushed Serravalle to 15th and St-Cyr to 25th.
Rotax MAX Senior
Overall Qualifying Results
- 361 – Ayden Ingratta – 1st (A)
- 362 – Ryan Maxwell – 14th (B)
- 363 – Oliver Mrak – 55th (C)
Qualifying Practice
Ayden Ingratta topped the Odd-numbered session in Senior MAX, while Oliver Mrak placed 16th in the same group. In the Even group, Ryan Maxwell delivered a solid performance to rank 9th, putting him in strong shape for the opening heat races.
Ingratta’s time stood as the fastest overall across both qualifying groups, earning him pole position for all three of his heat races, and marking him as the first Canadian to ever secure Senior Max pole at the Rotax Grand Finals.
Once penalties were applied, Maxwell moved up to 7th in his group, while Mrak dropped to 28th after losing his fastest lap.
Rotax DD2
Overall Qualifying Results
- 458 – Gianluca Savaglio – 10th (B)
- 450 – Matthew Taskinen – 16th (D)
- 456 – Lucas Pernod – 26th (B)
- 457 – Lucas Nanji – 39th (C)
Qualifying Practice
Lucas Nanji was the lone Canadian in the Odd-numbered group, finishing 21st and narrowing the gap to the leaders compared to practice. The Even group was traffic-heavy, but both Gianluca Savaglio and Matthew Taskinen cracked the top 10, placing 6th and 9th, respectively. Despite showing strong pace throughout practice, Lucas Pernod had a challenging session and qualified 15th.
With penalties sorted out, Savaglio, Taskinen, and Nanji each gained one position in their groups, while Pernod moved up two spots.
Rotax DD2 Masters
Overall Qualifying Results
- 532 – Noel Dowler – 14th
- 531 – Sebastien Bernier – 22nd
Qualifying Practice
Noel Dowler posted a 16th-place run in the DD2 Masters session with a lap of 53.207. In his first Grand Finals appearance, Sébastien Bernier placed 24th as he continues to build speed and eye a move into the top 20.
Following a handful of penalties, both Canadians gained two positions in the official results.
For Thursday, Rotax has rescheduled the day to skip the morning warm-up and go straight to heat races. The Live Stream will start at 9 AM when the Mini Max division will take to the track for a rerun of Heat 1. Senior Max, DD2 Masters and DD2 will follow before all classes complete their second round of heat races.
Later in the day, Mini, Junior, Senior and DD2 will run their third heat race to wrap up the day.
The regular schedule will resume on Friday with all of the PreFinal races and the official opening ceremonies and group photo leading up to Saturday’s Grand Finals races.
