Rivaan Dev Preetham dominates in Mini Max; sets track lap record. Shiv Tummala, Arafath Sheikh notch wins
Mumbai’s Krish Gupta led a double podium for Rayo
Racing as he topped the Finals in the Senior category in the fourth round of the
MECO-FMSCI National Karting Championship Rotax Max Classes with SIDVIN
Energy Engineering as the Presenting Sponsor and MRF Tyres as the partner
sponsor, which concluded at the Meco Kartopia circuit here on Sunday.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the performance of Chennai schoolboy
Rivaan Dev Preetham (MSPORT) who yet again wrote his own script while
dominating the Mini Max category where he swept to P1 in all the sessions that
included two Heats, the Pre-Final and the Finals to consolidate his top position on
the leaderboard. He leads Faridabad’s Yatharth Gaur (Leapfrog Racing) by 32 points
after four rounds. To top it all, Rivaan set a track lap record of 57.991 seconds
around the 1.2 Kms circuit in the Pre-Finals session.
Krish Gupta upstaged the Senior Max field that included favourite and championship
leader Bengaluru’s Ishaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing) who finished fourth. Krish,
who started the race from fifth on the grid, made places for a win and thus, picked up
crucial points. In P2 was Arjun Vijay Chheda (Crest Motorsports) from Pune. Aahil
Mecklai, also from Mumbai and Rayo Racing, completed the podium in a thrilling
race.
Until the Final, it was Ishaan Madesh who had dominated by topping both the Heats
and the Pre-Finals, but the Bengalurean, having started the Finals from pole
position, got involved in an incident that saw him lose track position and finish fourth.
The result notwithstanding, Ishaan continues to head the points table, albeit only two
points ahead of Arjun Vijay Chheda.
Another Pune youngster, Arafath Sheikh (Crest Motorsports) won both the Finals and
the Pre-Final to underline his supremacy in the Junior class as did Shiv Tummala
(Peregrine Racing) from Bengaluru in the Micro Max category.
The Round-4 performance helped Arafath to move within 30 points of leader Eshanth
Vengatesan (MSPORT) from Chennai who finished fourth in Pre-Finals and fifth in
the Finals. In second position on the points table is Kozhikode’s Shonal Kunimal
(Birel Art India).
The results:
Senior Max (Finals – 18 laps): 1. Krish Gupta (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (16mins,
57.541secs); 2. Ajun Vijay Chheda (Pune, Crest Motorsports) (16:58.849); 3. Aahil
Mecklai (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (17:00.784). Pre-Final (16 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh
(Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13:17.191); 2. Arjun Vijay Chheda (Pune, Crest
Motorsports) (13:19.777); 3. Aahil Mecklai (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (13:20.993)
Junior Max (Finals – 16 laps): 1. Arafat Sheikh (Pune, Crest Motorsports)
(15:18.506); 2. Kiaan Shah (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (15:20.876); 3. Kairav Roberson
(Chennai, MSPORT) (15:29.883). Pre-Final (14 laps): 1. Arafat Sheikh (Pune, Crest
Motorsports) (13:17.485); 2. Kiaan Shah (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (13:23.874); 3.
Rishik Rohit Reddy (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (13:24.370).
Mini Max (Finals – 14 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, SPORT)
(14:43.682); 2. Rehan Khan Rasheed (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports)
(14:43.917); 3. Hamza Balasinorwala (Mumbai, Crest Motorsports) (14:45.207). Pre
Final (12 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, SPORT) (11:47.950); 2. Rehan
Khan Rasheed (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (11:49.623); 3. Hamza
Balasinorwala (Mumbai, Crest Motorsports) (11:52.052).
Micro Max (Finals): 1. Shiv Tummala (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (12:21.437); 2.
Shiv Neel (Coimbatore, MSPORT) (12:22.231); 3. Rudra Pratap Singh (Gurugram,
Leapfrog Racing) (12:24.640). Pre-Final: 1. Shiv Tummala (Bengaluru, Peregrine
Racing) (12:13.427); 2. Shiv Neel (Coimbatore, MSPORT) (12:16.613); 3. Arshi
Gupta (Faridabad, Leapfrog Racing) (12:16.703).