Karting champion aims to race at highest level

MOTORSPORT – Bahrain-based karting champion Tye Mejia is reaching for the stars as he continues to build his promising motorsport career as one of the best young drivers in the kingdom.

The 15-year-old British-American, who was born in Bahrain, was recently crowned Senior MAX champion in the 2024-25 Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) – the premier national karting championship held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit in Sakhir.

Mejia’s title-winning campaign with his team NorthStar Racing is a testament to his limitless potential – and he is determined to continue honing his craft to one day realise his dream of becoming a professional driver at the sport’s highest level.

“My ultimate goal is to make it high in racing – if that’s in Formula One, Le Mans, or IndyCar, it doesn’t matter to me,” Mejia told the GDN.

“It depends on where I am and who wants to give me a chance. Wherever I get, I’ll be happy with it – as long as my name is big in motorsport, then I’m happy.”

Mejia has been racing for several years in Bahrain and overseas, and it is the adrenaline rush he gets whenever he hits the track that he enjoys the most.

“I got into racing when I was seven years old, but then really got into it when I was nine or 10,” he said. “From then, I’ve just been driving and been loving the sport, and ever since I’ve just wanted to race cars.

“It is the speed of it – I like speed and I love being competitive. I just like to win, that’s why I’ve loved it.

“It’s a big change now that I get to be at the front and win a lot of races – it’s a great feeling.”

Mejia identifies seven-time F1 drivers’ world champion Lewis Hamilton as the person he looks up to the most in motor racing, and says that he tries to emulate Hamilton wherever possible.

“I’ve always looked up to him and I just want to be like him,” Mejia said. “I’m taking everything I can from him, like working hard and being the best that I can be.

“It’s definitely a lot of hard work to get to where he is, but if I could ever do that, it would be amazing.”

Mejia secured his Senior MAX championship this past BRMC season after winning two of the year’s eight rounds while also climbing onto the podium four other times, making for a sensational campaign competing amongst the series’ biggest and most competitive grid.

Mejia highlights that he enjoys the racing in Bahrain, where the level of competition continues to go up a notch each year.

“It’s been a good five or six years racing here; it’s a good championship, and it’s getting better and better every single year that I’ve been driving,” said Mejia, who has also been a BRMC vice-champion in earlier seasons. “This year it’s been the best it’s ever been, and it’s only getting more competitive – this year was so competitive that almost every driver has driven in Europe, outside of Bahrain, so you’re just trying to win against others who know how to drive really well.”

With a promising racing career ahead of him, Mejia says that he always looks back to his younger self to keep him motivated and to continue striving for more.

“I always remember my little me – always remember how he wanted to be an F1 driver and how he wanted to be racing with the best guys,” Mejia recalled. “Whenever I lose a race, I always just remember him and remember to keep going because I’ve got to live up to what he wanted and live up to that goal.

“I’m competitive, and I have a lot of pace. People just need to give me a chance, and if they give me a chance, I can prove to the world how good I am.”

Mejia will soon have that opportunity when he races as part of Team Bahrain – composed of the champions of this past BRMC season – in the 2025 Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals, set to take place in the kingdom later this year.

patrick@gdnmedia.bh