W

hile providing the drivers with excitement on racing on the track, the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals event also offers social engagement among kart racing communities from all over the world.

A group of different nationals chat together while sipping their drinks at one of the amenity corners. A booth is also available to sell apparel and souvenirs.

At the paddock, which is built from a sprawling makeshift tent, some individuals use it as a meeting point while the teams prepare a perfect setup of cars for their drivers. A competitive mood is hardly felt until the drivers are seated on their cockpits on the racing track.

With more than 200 teams inside, the paddock looks more like an expo of karts. Four Indonesian teams, one of which is Kratingdaeng Riser Shadaff Motorsport, which has Senna Noor competing in the prestigious DD2 class, are placed together in one row. Adjacent to them are teams from Malaysia, Thailand and Russia.

The circuit, Kartodromo Internatcional Lucas Guerrero, is on the hilly area of Chiva, Valencia. Seen from afar, the racing site looks like a group of travelers pulling their way up, taking rest under marquee for some time before continuing their journey.

In fact, it is an event where the karting community assembles together once a year. Since its inception in 2000, the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals have been held 15 times, in nine countries and four continents, drawing a total of 2,500 drivers.

Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates are the only Asian countries having hosted the event in the past.

'€œValencia is the right spot to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, the best place for spectators to watch an outstanding racing event and a great opportunity for supporters to be part of it,'€ Arnaldo Frias said in the event'€™s official journal.

The Valencia event has drawn 288 drivers competing in junior, senior, masters and DD2 classes.

After two days of qualifying heats, half the participants advanced to the finals on Saturday. Unfortunately, Senna Noor was not among them. Neither were his countrymen '€“ Christian Silvano, David Sinatala and Amir Mahfud, who failed in their respective classes.

Senna flopped from making it to the list of 28 drivers automatically marching to the finals. He got a second chance as expected, but missed out altogether.

During the second chance race on Friday, which ran under the pouring rains and chilling weather, Senna was moving his way up from the last grid among 32 drivers.

However, he could only manage only to make it to 13th place after eight laps, way off from top six that would have assured him a spot in Saturday'€™s races.

'€œUnlike in the preceding races, I had a good race. I took over them one after another. It might have needed another one or two laps for me to break into the top six,'€ he said, while he was heading to the track on Saturday. He could not emulate his performance in 2012 in Portugal when he joined the finalists in the senior class.

'€œI'€™m disappointed with the results. I would have been able to reach the finals if not for the crash in the first qualifying heat,'€ he said.

While the other drivers were racing for the titles on Saturday, Senna had to sit out, watching them from the stand.