SUNDAY THE BEGINNING
E
leven drivers from the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) arrived in the seaside
town of Portimao, in Portugal, for the
2017 Rotax MAX Grand Finals which took
place at the Kartdromo Internacional do
Algarve from 5 to 11 November 2017.
The team consisted of the UAE’s best
Rotax MAX drivers from the 2016/2017
season, among them several champions, who
would come up against the best drivers in the
world in this category of karting.
The group were part of 360 drivers, from
60 nations, competing in this prestigious
karting event to determine who will be this
year’s Rotax MAX world champions.
On the sunday, Sunday, organisers
distributed 360 karts to the contestants and
their mechanics, which prompted a frenzy of
activity in the paddock as teams prepared
the machines for the six days of track action
starting on Monday with practice, followed by
qualifying and heats on the days thereafter.
With the Pre-Finals and Finals taking place on
Friday and Saturday respectively.
Team UAE consisted of Emirati racer Amna
Al Qubaisi in the MAX category, father and son
Kevin and Jamie Day in the DD2 Masters and
Mini MAX respectively, brothers Jakob and
Lachlan Robinson in DD2 and Junior MAX,
Tony Hogg and Kyle Blockley in DD2 Masters,
Lucas Petersson in DD2, Liam Crystal in Junior
MAX, Theo Kekati in Mini MAX and Keanu Al
Azhari, son of multiple UAE racing champion
Karim Al Azhari, in the Micro MAX class.
Travelling with Team UAE was Omani DD2
driver Abdullah Al Rawahi as well as Bahraini
champion Khaled Al Saei in the MAX Class.