Pre-Finals at the Rotax Grand Finals Make and Break Hearts

With the Rotax Grand Finals week nearing its dramatic conclusion here in Bahrain, Friday afternoon served as the final, make-or-break test for Team Canada. It was the last chance for drivers to secure their spot in Saturday’s finals. For some, the mission was simple: stay clean and protect their points. For others, it meant going all-in, taking risks, and fighting tooth and nail for one last shot at glory. These conflicting strategies created a spectacle of intensity, an action-packed night of fireworks under the lights.

It was a rough go for the Canadian Mini Max drivers this week, as after a tough day of heat racing, all four Canadians were unable to achieve the spectacular results needed to make Saturday’s main event. While it may be a tough pill to swallow, the youngsters learned a lot, and they will surely look to bounce back next year as they aim to qualify once again for the Grand Finals.

The Canadians in the Junior category did an exceptional job in the Prefinals, with Alexis Baillargeon finishing fourth in Prefinal A. Leonardo Serravalle and Cole Medeiros were also strong in the heat, finishing sixth and eleventh, respectively. In Prefinal B, Rayan Ghandour continued his excellent form by taking second place, while Jeremy St. Cyr had a mighty drive from twenty-third on the grid to finish seventh. However, a pushback bumper penalty would move him back to fourteenth position.

DD2 sees three of the four Canadians advance to Saturday’s Grand Final, as Gianluca Savaglio was the highest-finishing Canadian in the Prefinals with an 8th-place result. Lucas Pernod and Matthew Taskinen finished 15th and 16th in their Prefinal, transferring to the main after strong heat results. Lucas Nanji, however, didn’t have luck on his side this week. Despite showing a strong pace, he was unable to make the final as a couple of penalties in the heats put him too far back in the final standings.

The Rotax Senior Prefinal featured Ayden Ingratta and Ryan Maxwell running in the thick of the action. It was an up-and-down race for both, as the aggressive nature of the event ultimately caught out Maxwell, who was taken out from a potential top-five result. The duo, however, had enough points from the heats to advance to the final. Oliver Mrak, on the other hand, was involved in an accident in Turn 8, which unfortunately was the final dagger that ended his weekend early at the Grand Finals.

Jayden Francisco was the star of the Prefinal in Micro Max, driving from his eleventh-place starting position with patience and precision to finish fourth, contending for the win on the final lap. Oliver Aupry finished 20th after dropping two positions from his starting spot, while Jack Klym was one of the biggest movers in the race, picking up ten positions. All three will be looking to maximize their finishes in tomorrow’s final, with Francisco among the contenders for the win, starting seventh.

In DD2 Masters, Noel Dowler and Sebastien Bernier both finished inside the top 20 in the Prefinal. Their pace was likely good enough to move further up the order, but both were held up in a defensive battle behind another kart, which hindered their progress. Both drivers look forward to Saturday, anticipating a much better result in the final.

In total, 14 of our 21 drivers have qualified for the Finals, one of our best showings as a team, where, in most years, we lose around 50% of our drivers.

Friday also featured the driver parade and official group photo, featuring all 394, the Rotax Grand Finals staff, chassis partners and organizers – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

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Here’s our play-by-play of how the day went for our drivers before the final calculations were made.

Mini MAX

Prefinal A

Mateo Pai was the sole Canadian in the Mini Max A Prefinal. The driver from British Columbia started the race in 31st position after a rough run in the heats. An issue on the pace lap saw Pai fumble to put his gas cap on properly. This slowed him down and forced him to start at the tail of the field. He showed good pace in the Prefinal he clawed his way back up the running order to finish in 23rd position. While it was a strong recovery drive, it ultimately was not enough to get him into Saturday’s main event for the category.

Prefinal B

In the B Prefinal, the results for the Team Canada trio were much the same. Christian Sanguinetti was the lead driver, picking up three positions to take 23rd place. Nicholas Lorusso looked poised for a strong run, getting up to 23rd by the second lap, but he shuffled back to 27th midway through the race before recovering to 24th. After a promising qualifying session, Heston Jeffrey had a Grand Finals to forget, getting spun out with two laps to go, dropping a couple of positions in the Prefinal to finish 33rd.

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Rotax Max Junior

Prefinal A

The Canadians in Prefinal A understood their assignment, as all three drivers executed smart races to finish in positions that will set them up well for the final. Alexis Baillargeon was in the thick of the action for the win, engaged in a race-long battle with Jacob Ashcroft (UK), Nikita Ljubimov (EST), and Jeremy Reuvers (ESP). During an intense middle stint, Baillargeon and the leaders traded places until he was pushed wide entering Turn 2 after losing a position to Ljubimov, eventually finishing in third.

Leonardo Serravalle was one of the quickest karts on track during the middle of the race, closing in on the leaders, but his progress was halted once a battle for fifth broke out. He ultimately settled for 6th position.

Cole Medeiros also enjoyed a clean race, finishing 11th and picking up four positions from his starting place. After sitting 27th in the order following the heats, this result should comfortably put him into the final.

Serravalle received a pushback bumper penalty that placed him 11th, while Medeiros benefited from penalties ahead to be classified 9th.

Alexis Baillargeon – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

Prefinal B

Rayan Ghandour was the pole sitter for Prefinal B. He lost the lead early to a hard-charging Albert Friend (UK). Midway through the race, Friend began defending heavily, backing up the pack behind him. Ghandour soon felt pressure from behind, allowing Friend to pull away, turning Ghandour into the hunted driver. Despite running a defensive line for the last half of the race, Ghandour held onto second at the finish.

Unbeknownst to Ghandour, this situation played perfectly into the hands of Jeremy St-Cyr, who delivered his drive of the weekend by gaining an impressive 16 positions to finish 7th. It was a performance of the highest level, as the young Canadian never faltered while slicing through the field and even erased a five-second gap to the pack ahead of him by halfway. With a drive like that, it was going to be close to see whether St-Cyr had done enough to make the main event.

Unfortunately, post-race, St-Cyr received a drop-down penalty that placed him 13th and crushed his chances of making the Final.

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Rotax DD2

Prefinal A

Matthew Taskinen and Lucas Pernod both had strong opening laps in the Prefinal, running comfortably inside the top ten. As the race reached its halfway mark, Taskinen began to fade, dropping to 15th, while Pernod held 8th. However, Pernod began to lose pace in the closing laps and slipped seven spots to finish 15th by the end. Taskinen stopped the drop and finished one position behind in 16th.

With these results, both Canadians should still be able to make it into the final, as they were in comfortable points positions heading into Friday.

Prefinal B

In the second Prefinal, Gianluca Savaglio had a solid race inside a very scrappy race amongst the leaders, picking up two positions by the midway point to finish 8th, which should easily transfer him to the main event. Lucas Nanji fell back at the start to 28th but recovered all of those lost positions to finish 25th. Unfortunately, this would bring an end to his first Grand Finals.

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Rotax Max Senior

Prefinal A included all of the Canadians, and it turned into a battle royale, with the race dominated by heavy defensive driving from British competitors Cian Geraghty and Lewis Goff. Ayden Ingratta and Ryan Maxwell were deeply embedded in the fierce midfield scrap. Ingratta was shuffled out of the battle for the top five early, while Maxwell remained in contention for the win through much of the race.

With the aggressive tone of the race, positions constantly changed, providing a preview of what the final may bring. Maxwell was battling for 5th with two laps to go when he was pushed off, dropping him to 21st. Ingratta, however, managed to maintain his position in the pack and finished 8th. Both drivers should be able to advance to the main event based on their Prefinal results.

Unfortunately, Oliver Mrak was involved in an incident on lap five that eliminated him from making the final.

Ayden Ingratta and Ryan Maxwell were both battling in the top-five early on in their PreFinal – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN

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Micro MAX

It was the race of the weekend for Jayden Francisco in the Micro Max Prefinal, as he delivered an incredibly smart drive to climb from 11th to 4th, methodically making his way through the field one lap at a time. Francisco will certainly be one of the favourites to win tomorrow’s final.

Oliver Aupry dropped two positions from his starting place to finish 20th, while Jack Klym rebounded from 35th on the grid to gain ten positions and finish 25th.

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DD2 Masters

In the DD2 Masters Prefinal, both Noel Dowler and Sebastien Bernier found themselves deep in an intense midfield battle. Dowler picked up three positions from his starting spot to run 18th at mid-race, while Bernier carved through thirteen positions to run 19th.

Both drivers, however, struggled to get past Estonian driver Priit Sei, who defended heavily throughout the race. Had the Canadian duo cleared him sooner, they definitely had the pace to chase down the pack ahead. By the end, both dropped one spot, finishing 19th and 20th, respectively.

Sebastian Bernier has shown solid speed in his races – Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN