Rivaan Dev Preetham, reigning Micro Max National champion and the only Indian to have won a race in the history of FIA Motorsport Games, is selected to race full season in the prestigious Champions of the Future Academy Programme across Europe and UAE, for the 2025 season.
It is a global karting programme being promoted by F1 Academy for young professional kart racing drivers through the arrive and drive concept. The Chennai-born racer is leaving for Portugal on Monday.
Rivaan, will take part in all the races of the Champions of the Future Academy series besides defending his titles in the Meco Meritus Cup and the Meco fmsci Indian National Rotax Max Karting Championship 2025. The talented Grade 6 student of Lady Andal House of Children in Chennai, who won two National titles in 2023 and 2024 is looking for a hattrick and is also honing his skills and making his international debut for a full season and is supported by Redbrick Constructions, Sankar group of companies and Chaicup.
Earlier, he raced abroad at the Rotax Max World Finals but considering the tough and competitive races in the European leg, he is on a rigorous training schedule at the Sports Dynamix, Chennai, in preparation for the full season abroad.
Rivaan, who was born on 18 April 2013, made his debut in the Nationals in 2022, racing with Meco Motorsports, and in his very second year won the Micro Max title in 2023 and retained it in 2024, and also clinched the Meritus Cup. He put up an admirable show at the 2024 World Motorsports Games finishing 8th in the Karting Mini class among participants from over 40 countries at Valencia. His won a race and was on way to another good result after qualifying P2, and running 4th but an unfortunate incident behind him, saw him shunted out and he had ended up 17th. However, he won one more race in the heats but had to be content with an overall 8th place. Racing runs in his blood as his father Preetham Dev Moses was a 7-times National bike champion.
“I’m really excited to take on a full season in the Champions of the Future Academy Series. Racing in Europe and the UAE will be a big challenge, but I’ve been training hard and can’t wait to compete against some of the best young drivers in the world. My goal is to keep improving, gain more experience, and make India proud on the international stage,” said Rivaan Dev, before leaving for Portugal.
2025 Calendar
Round 1: March 27 Feb to 3 March:Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal
Round 2: April 9 to 13: Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero, Valencia, Spain
Round 3: July 2 to 6: Pista Azzurra, Jesolo, Italy
Round 4: Sept. 17 to 21: Pannonia Ring Karting, Ostffyasszonyfa, Hungary
Round 5: Nov. 22 to 26: Lusail Go Karting Circuit, Doha, Qatar
Round 6: Nov. 22 to 26: Al Forsan International Kart Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE