OMP/Motorsport Fanatix™ brand ambassador Alonzo De Oliveira completed his 2026 rookie Micro MAX season on home soil with a provisional second overall at Formula-K Raceway on Saturday, 31 October, before turning his attention to Portugal and the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals.
Competing in the sixth and final round of the Northern Regions Rotax Kart Championship, the Stretto Racing driver qualified second, which put Alonzo on the front row for a closely contested four-race programme at the Benoni circuit.
The opening heat produced an exceptionally tight finish, with Alonzo crossing the line second, only 0.081 seconds behind Radhi Harris. A three-second penalty for a start infringement, however, dropped him to third in the classification.
Alonzo finished second in Race 2, again just 0.081 seconds behind Harris, before adding another runner-up finish in Race 3. Those results gave him three podium finishes from the opening three heats.
The final race brought another opportunity to challenge for victory. Alonzo led laps three and four before Harris regained the advantage on lap five. When the chequered flag dropped, he eventually finished fifth.
The result rounded off a rookie Micro MAX year that included a third-place finish in the South African Rotax MAX Challenge championship and runner-up honours at the Africa Open. Having won the national, Africa Open and Northern Regions Bambino titles in 2025, Alonzo made the step up in 2026 and earned another national championship podium in his first season in the category.
Alonzo now heads to the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão for the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals. The event runs from 7 to 14 November, with on-track action beginning on 9 November and the finals scheduled for 14 November. His Formula-K podium provides a strong result to take into the trip after a full season of learning in Micro MAX.
