Adithya Prathap, Rehan Khan Rasheed top among juniors share honours in IAME India series

The IAME Series India made its debut in the country with a hectic, action-packed first round at the CoASTT Kartomania here on Sunday which saw talented young drivers hogging the limelight with stirring performances that reflected the highly-competitive grids.

Drivers from Momentum Motorsports dominated the Junior class with two Chennai youngsters, Adithya Prathap and Rehan Khan Rasheed winning the points-scoring Super Heat and Finals, respectively, but both had to fight hard for their win.

In the Mini class, Coimbatore’s Shiv Neel, son of India’s first Formula One driver, Narain Karthikeyan, topped the Super Heat after race winner Aaruthran Prabu (Karkrew Motorsports), a gold-medallist at last year’s Asia-Pacific competition in Sri Lanka, received time penalty for infringements and was placed second.

Shiv Neel, starting the Final race from pole position, led most of the way until he yielded ground to Kolhapur’s Ayansh Patil (MSPORT) in the final stages of the 13-lap race.

The Senior class saw Pune’s Swarnav Das (Momentum Motorsports) winning both Super Heat and the Final, virtually untroubled, facing little or no challenge.

The second round of the IAME Series India will be held at the same venue on June 28.

The IAME Series India offers an opportunity for the top two finishers in each category at the end of the Series to represent India at the prestigious IAME Asia Finals, scheduled to be held at the historic Macau International Circuit in December.

The results (Provisional):

Seniors – Super Heat (14 laps): 1. Swarnav Das (Pune, Momentum Motorsports) (11mins, 13.821secs); 2. Raunak Surej (Kozhikode, Kartkrew Motorsports) (11:31.897); 3. Balaprasath (Coimbatore, Momentum Motorsports) (11:45.827). Finals (16 laps – 2 finishers): 1. Swarnav Das (12:31.404); 2. Raunak Srek (12:54.487).

Juniors – Super Heat (14 laps): 1. Adithya Prathap (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (11:13.821); 2. Rehan Khan Rasheed (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (11:15.358); 3. Yasvinraam Rajamanickam (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (11:27.999). Finals (16 laps): 1. Rehan Khan Rasheed (12:38.306); 2. Arjun Prasad Srihari (Coimbatore, NKRA with KKM) (12:55.235); 3. Adithya Prathap (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (12:58.208).

Mini – Super Heat (12 laps): 1. Shiv Neel (Coimbatore, NKRA with KKM) (10:11.110); 2. Aarathran Prabu (Kumaraburam) (10:19.755); 3. Ayansh Patil (Kolhapur, MSPORT) (10:20.896). Finals (13 laps): 1. Ayansh Patil (11:19.265); 2. Shiv Neel (11:21.249); 3. Rudra Gokulnath (UK, NKRA with KKM) (11:30.158).