Exciting start for RMC Greece 2023 at Kalamata

With the beautiful weather at the capital of Messinia as an ally, they starred in wheel-to-wheel duels, offering moments of intense emotions. With all drivers using the same ROTAX 125 MAX Evo engines, as well as the reliable MOJO Racing Tyres, it was a fair competition.



In the Micro MAX category (8-11 years), #22 Konstantinos Nikolaou (Racing Line-CRG) was on top in all sessions of the day (free practice, Qualifying, Finals A, B and C). He was flanked on the podium by his Thessaloniki teammates #53 Sotiris-Panagiotis Doumanis and #11 Dimitris-Maximos Mischopoulos.



In the Mini MAX category (10-13 years), the one who stood out among the participants was #111 Lefteris Toubakas (SpeedForce-LN) who saw the checkered flag first in all three races. #130 Yannis Dounis (DR ROTAX Racing-DR) finished right behind him in the last final, with #125 Antonis Vouros (Saganas Team-BirelART) third.



In the Junior MAX category (12-14 years), it was #277 Vasilis Malamis (SpeedForce-Exprit) who was on top all day and climbed to the highest step of the podium. #224 Nikolaos Karagiannis (Praga Zahos Karting-Praga) and #222 Elias Chrysoulakis (DR ROTAX Racing-DR) followed.



Senior MAX (15+ years) hid even the most intense emotions where 15 drivers thirsty for success started the race. Not by chance, it is the category in which during the day, the name that adorned the top of the ranking changed the most times. Despite the fierce competition from Israel, the winner of the premiere was #331 George Kafantaris (Saganas Team-BirelART). #350 Manolis Skepetzakis was second in the final battle (Gold Kart Hellas) and #301 Christos Hatzis (Cosmorally Kart Academy-Red Speed) was third.



Finally, the demanding DD2 MAX category (15+ years) was dominated by #416 Christos Oikonomou (Tony Kart). He was followed by #421 Giorgos Vassilopoulos (Cosmorally Kart Academy-Red Speed) who won the DD2 MAX Masters class (32+ years) and #474 Stavros Voultsios (Praga Zahos Karting-Praga).



The winners not only tasted the joy of distinction in the opening race of the season, but at the same time, they vigorously started the marathon of claiming tickets to the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals, which will be held at the Sakhir International Karting Circuit, Bahrain, from December 2-9, 2023.



It was most encouraging for all the series’ competitors and their teams to have Darrell Smith, head of Rotax Technical Support, along with karting media representative Jen Wade, both present at the Kalamata circuit over the weekend for the opening Greek round.

The second edition of the Rotax MAX Challenge Greece 2023 will be held on July 15-16, in Attica near to the nation’s capital city of Athens. 
Text Panos Seitanidis   Photos Spiros Ntaggas