RMC Grand Finals
You can’t buy your way in.
WHY A GRAND FINALS TICKET MATTERS
The RMC Grand Finals is a race you qualify for, not one you sign up for.
Each year nearly 400 drivers from more than 60 countries earn their place through their national Rotax programs, and a Grand Finals ticket is how a driver from the United States becomes one of them. When you get there, your equipment is waiting. Rotax supplies the kart, a new sealed engine, the tires and the fuel, and the karts are handed out by raffle.
For one week the only variables are you, your setup and how you race.
It provided a platform ... for me to race outside my home country that would not have been an option for me otherwise, and that actually really changed the trajectory of my life.
OLIVER HODGSON, 2013 SENIOR MAX GRAND FINALS WINNER (TEAM UK) AND TEAM USA DRIVER
You race for your country.
WHAT THE WEEK LOOKS LIKE
That is what sets the Grand Finals apart from every other race on the calendar. You are not racing for a team or a chassis brand. You wear Team USA colors, and your results count toward the Nations Cup, the award for the top-scoring country, which Team USA won in 2015. The week opens with the kart raffle and a welcome party, then moves through practice, qualifying and heat races. On Friday the racing pauses for the drivers parade, when the whole field turns out by country, before the Prefinals set the grids for Saturday’s Finals. In between, you share a tent with teammates from across the country and rivals from around the world.
TEAM USA
You’d be in good company.
Twelve trips for Derek Wang
The Seattle driver represented Team USA at 12 Grand Finals between 2010 and 2023. He finished sixth in DD2 Masters in both 2021 and 2023, his best results. After the 2023 final, he said, “I had fun and that’s all that matters in Masters.”
Five straight tickets for Gage Korn
The Aurora, Colorado driver earned a place on Team USA five years in a row, from 2020 through 2024. The 2020 event was cancelled, so he made his debut in 2021 and went on to race four straight Grand Finals, moving from Mini MAX to Junior MAX. “It’s a race you always want to come back to!” he said in 2023.
Grand Finals champion Oliver Hodgson
Racing out of Phoenix, Hodgson is a Senior MAX RMC Grand Finals champion. He won the title in 2013 in New Orleans while racing for Great Britain, then finished fourth for Team USA at Sarno in 2024 and 10th in Bahrain in 2025.
P7 on debut for Pauly Massimino
The Mooresville, North Carolina driver earned his ticket as Senior MAX runner-up at the 2025 RMC US Trophy Final, then raced DD2 in Bahrain, a class he had never driven. He stayed inside the top 10 all week and finished seventh.
TEAM USA AT THE RMC GRAND FINALS
2019
Sarno, Italy · Oct 19-26
- Micro MAX: Adam Brickley, Ben Maier
- Mini MAX: Cameron Weinberg, Alex McPherson
- Junior MAX: Connor Zilisch, Josh Pierson, Luca Mars
- Senior MAX: Nicholas Bruckner, Ryan Norberg, Jace Denmark-Gessel
- DD2: Max Hewitt, Josh Bethune (NZ)
- DD2 Masters: Derek Wang, Tim Shutt
2020
Portimao, Portugal · event canceled due to global pandemic
- Micro MAX: Isaac Malcuit, Carson Weinberg, Gage Korn, Alexander Jacoby
- Mini MAX: Ben Maier
- Junior MAX: Frankie Mossman, Mateo Rubio-Luengo
- Senior MAX: Luca Mars, Westin Workman, Justin White
- DD2 Masters: John Bonanno, Vincent Carey
2021
Sakhir, Bahrain · December
- Micro MAX: Sebastian Rist
- Mini MAX: Kyle Drysdale, Gage Korn, Alexander Jacoby, Jackson Wolny, Rayan Mneimneh
- Junior MAX: Cooper O’Clair
- Senior MAX: Justin White, Macy Williams
- DD2: Ethan Ho, Alex McPherson-Wiman
- DD2 Masters: Derek Wang, John Bonanno
- E20: Ellis Spiezia
2022
Portimao, Portugal · Nov 19-26
- Micro MAX: Luke Kanjanapitak, Marco Sammut
- Mini MAX: Gage Korn, Fion Shi, Kai Johnson
- Junior MAX: Jorge Ortiz, Cooper O’Clair, Ben Hernandez
- Senior MAX: Aidan Fox, Ethan Ho
- DD2 Masters: Derek Wang
2023
Sakhir, Bahrain · Dec 2-9
- Micro MAX: Lucas Palacio
- Mini MAX: Gage Korn, Matteo Quinto
- Junior MAX: Nixx Eggleston, Giovanni Santora
- Senior MAX: Cooper O’Clair
- DD2: Race Liberante
- DD2 Masters: Derek Wang, Billy Cleavelin
2024
Sarno, Italy · Oct 19-26
- Micro MAX: Cameron Becker, Yutaka Sonoda
- Mini MAX: William Vetor, Enzo DiGennaro, Jaxon Porter
- Junior MAX: Davin Roberts, Gage Korn
- Senior MAX: Wesley Gundler, Oliver Hodgson, Dalton Hanes
- DD2: Cooper O’Clair
- DD2 Masters: John Bonanno, Laurentiu Mardan
- E20 Senior: Patrick Ronveaux-Tordion
2025
Sakhir, Bahrain · Nov 29-Dec 6
- Mini MAX: Enzo DiGennaro
- Junior MAX: Davin Roberts
- Senior MAX: Oliver Hodgson, Cooper O’Clair, Charlie Smith
- DD2: Pauly Massimino, Macy Williams
- DD2 Masters: Christopher Mann
- E20 Senior: Ellis Spiezia
2026
Portimao, Portugal · Nov 7-14
- Micro MAX: Alessio Tosti
- Mini MAX: Hudson Howard, Slate Harrell
- Junior MAX: Nico Orbezo, Darren Kidd
- Senior MAX: Isaac Malcuit
- DD2: Macy Williams
- DD2 Masters: Billy Cleavelin
