Chennai’s 10-year old Rivaan Dev Preetham dominated the Micro Max class while Bengaluru’s Abhay M and Ishaan Madesh topped their respective categories in the third round of the Meco-Fmsci Rotax Max National Karting Championship 2023 which concluded at the Meco Kartopia circuit here on Saturday.
MSPORT’s Rivaan Dev, bounced back after a forgettable Round 2, and dominated the third round, winning both the pre-final and final, and clocked the fastest laps in both the races. He also dipped under the one-minute mark, the only competitor to do so in the Finals of the Micro Max category. Zephan Ardeshir (Mumbai) of Peregrine Racing came second in both the races while Mumbai’s Danish Dalmiya (Rayo Racing) and Darsh Nawalgaria (MSPORT) from Bengaluru, took a podium place each.
In the Junior Max class, championship leader Ishaan Madesh from Peregrine Racing, suffered a rare loss in the pre-finals, but came back strongly to clinch the final, beating Aarav Dewan (Gurugram) of Leapfrog Racing by a comfortable margin. Hunner Singh (Gurugram) of Birel Art India, who won the pre-final, came third. Nikhilesh Raju (Bengaluru), also from Peregrine, and Aarav, came second and third, respectively in the pre-final.
Last year’s junior champion, Abhay M from Birel Art, who could only take a third place in the Senior Max pre-final, won the finals with ease. Pune’s Arjun Chheda (Crest Motorsport) came second while Raiden Samarvel from Mumbai (Rayo Racing) completed the podium. Earlier, Arjun won the pre-finals followed by teammate Veer Rajwade (Pune) and Abhay in that order.
Round 4 of the five-round Karting Nationals will be held from October 20 to 22 at the same venue.
The results:
Senior Max – Final (16 laps): 1. Abhay M (Bengaluru, Birel Art India) (14mins, 51.497secs); 2. Arjun Chheda (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (14:53.072); 3. Raiden Samarvel (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (14:58.639). Pre-Final (14 laps): 1. Arjun Chheda (12:53.488); 2. Veer Rajwade (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (12:58.030); 3. Abhay M (12:58.199).
Junior Max – Final (14 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13:04.584); 2. Aarav Dewan (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (13:06.267); 3. Hunner Singh (Gurugram, Birel Art India) (13:07.561). Pre-Final (11 laps): 1. Hunnder Singh (11:30.527); 2. Nikhilesh Raju (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (11:31.066); 3. Aarav Dewan (11:31.296).Micro Max – Final (12 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, MSPORT) (12:05.803); 2. Zephaan Ardeshir (Mumbai, Peregrine Racing) (12:10.589); 3. Danish Dalmiya (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (12:13.488). Pre-Final (10 laps): Rivaan Preetham (10:11.977); 2. Zephaan Ardeshir (10:19.948); 3. Darsh Nawalgaria (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (10:20.364).