RMCGF: Seven Canadians Race in the Grand Finals

After a gruelling week of Practice, Qualifying Heats, and Pre-Finals, the RMC Grand Finals Champions were crowned today at the Circuito Internazionale di Napoli in Sarno, Italy. While the week was not the greatest for Team Canada, seven drivers advanced to Saturday to compete in the Main Events. In contrast, others were already focused on obtaining a return ticket to the 2025 edition of the event.

For RMC Grand Finals Results – Click HERE

Mini MAX

Team Canada was represented in the Mini MAX Final by a pair of drivers as Jeremy St-Cyr started from 12th on the grid and Alexis Baillargeon from 33rd. St-Cyr had a tough opening lap, fell down the running order, and was outside the top twenty after only two laps. On the other hand, Baillargeon had a grand opening few laps and advanced forward in a tough Mini MAX battle.

In the eleven-lap Final, St-Cyr could not rebound and crossed the finish line in the 23rd position, one spot ahead of a hard-charging Baillargeon in 24th to close out his time as a Mini driver.

Following the race, Baillargeon was handed a five-second time penalty for a pushback and dropped to 29th on the results sheet.

After a strong start, Jeremy St-Cyr was bounced around in the Mini Max Final and fell down the order – Photo By: Cody Schindel / CKN

Junior MAX

For the second race in a row, a Canadian occupied the 12th grid spot as Antoine Lemieux started the Junior MAX Final from outside of row six after a solid set of Qualifying Heats and Pre-Final to be the lone Team Canada Junior entrant to make it to race on Saturday.

A great start saw Lemieux move forward and racing with the lead pack. Pushing hard and jumping by competitors lap after lap, Lemieux ran sixth with seven laps to go and looked to be in contention for a top-five finish. After some contact and hard racing, Lemieux was knocked back to 12th before eventually crossing the line in tenth.

However, courtesy of some penalties to others, Lemieux advanced to eighth in the final classification and was the highest-finishing member of Team Canada at this year’s Grand Finals.

Antoine Lemieux was in early contention for a top-five finish under he was smashed from behind – Photo By: Cody Schindel / CKN

MAX DD2 Master

With all MAX DD2 Master drivers transferring to the Final Marc-Andre Levesque started from row six, 12th on the grid. Jared Freeston and David Laplante were back in row ten as they occupied the 19th and 20th place grid positions.

It was a racy MAX DD2 Master main event, as all three were battling together at times in the eighteen-lap race. Laplante was looking towards a top-ten finish until late contact put him in the marbles and finished his race week in the 11th position. Running together late in the race, Levesque closed his first Grand Finals event in 15th, one spot ahead of Freeston.

Following post-race penalties, Laplante was hit with a five-second time penalty, for another push-back bumper, that dropped him to 16th in the final standings as the Canadian trio was classified in 15th through 17th, led by Levesque, Freeston, and then Laplante.

Dave Laplante had a nice recovery drive in the DD2 Masters Final, but he had another pushback bumper penalty – Photo By: Cody Schindel / CKN

MAX DD2

Olivier Bedard, who qualified through the RMC Winter Trophy, battled hard in the MAX DD2 Qualifying Heats and Pre-Final to make it to Saturday.

Starting from the 26th position on the grid, Bedard was forced off the circuit in turn five on lap one. Putting his head down and running some of the fastest laps of the race, he chased down the pack and recovered to the 22nd position and after penalties were calculated, he was officially ranked in 20th.

With the final checkered flag, the 2024 RMC Grand Finals have come to a close. While Team Canada had hoped for more, the motivation is high to get back on top in 2025.

Olivier Bedard was the lone Canadian DD2 to make the Final and his chances ended after only five corners after being shoved off track – Photo By: Cody Schindel / CKN

The Rotax Grand Finals will return to the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2025, the popular host of the 2021 and 2023 Grand Finals. Who will be on Team Canada? We have a full race season ahead to find out.

First up will the be Rotax Winter Trophy this January in Orlando, Florida. More information and registration details will be available soon.