Ishaan Madesh notches huge win in Senior Max race, Double for Kiaan Shah, Rivaan Dev Preetham, Arshi Gupta

Bengaluru teenager Ishaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing) shrugged off an up-and-down weekend to post a big win in the Finals of the Senior category even as eight-year-old Arshi Gupta, the only female driver in the Micro Max grid completed a double in the third round of the MECO-FMSCI National Karting Championship Rotax Max concluded at the Madras International Karting Arena (MIKA) circuit.

Earlier, Mumbai’s Kiaan Shah (Rayo Racing) topped both Pre-Finals and Finals in the Junior Max class as did Rivaan Dev Preetham (MSPORT) from Chennai in the Mini Max and eight-year-old Aarshi Gupta (Leapfrog Racing) from Faridabad in the Micro Max category.

In the Senior Max Finals, 16-year-old Ishaan Madesh took an early lead after surviving a Lap-1 jostling and kept extending his lead with each lap for a comfortable and commanding victory. Behind him, Arafath Sheikh delivered a stunning drive to finish on P2 after starting from P10 while Bengaluru’s Rishon Rajeev (Birel Art India) completed the podium. Pole-sitter Aahil Mecklai (Rayo Racing) from Mumbai, who had an excellent run until then, dropped out of contention early in the race.

Two of the youngest competitors, Arshi Gupta and Rivaan Dev Preetham were very much in the limelight as they dominated the Micro and Mini Max categories, respectively. Rivaan remained unbeaten in both the Heats, the Pre-Finals and Finals to underline his talent. Arshi was equally impressive as she topped Heat-2 as well as the Pre-Finals and Finals ahead of more fancied competitors.

The Junior Max Finals saw a thrilling finish with less than one second covering the top three – Kiaan Shah, last year’s champion Arafath Sheikh and Rishik Rohit Reddy (MSPORT) from Bengaluru. The trio battled long and hard as they moved up and down the grid during the 16-lap race before Kiaan won from Arafath and Rishik with fractions of a second separating them. However, Arafath was docked a five-second penalty which dropped him to P6 and consequently, Eshanth Vengatesan (MSPORT) moved up from fourth to third.

The third round of the championship attracted a total of 72 entries from across the country.

The results:

Senior Max – Finals (17 laps): 1. Ishaan Maadesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (16:46.234); 2. Arafath Sheikh (Pune, Crest Motorsports) (17:15.317); 3. Rishon Rajeev (Bengaluru, Birel Art India) (17:23.514). Pre-Finals (16 laps): 1. Aahil Mecklai (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (13:34.789); 2. Ethan Joy (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13:37.937); 3. Ishaan Maadesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) 13:40.492).

Junior Max – Finals (16 laps): 1. Kiaan Shah (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (13:48.574);  2. Rishik Rohit Reddy (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (13:49.829); 3. Eshanth Vengatesan (Chennai, MSPORT) (13:49.925). Pre-Finals (14 laps): 1. Kiaan Shah (11:56.841); 2. Arafath Sheikh (11:57.834); 3. Kairav Roberson (Chennai, MSPORT) (11:59.856).

Mini Max – Finals (14 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, MSPORT) (12:18.497); 2. Hamza Balasinorwala (Mumbai, Crest Motorsports) (12:21.271); 3. Yatharth Gaur (Faridabad, Leapfrog Racing) (12:26.873). Pre-Finals (12 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (10:33.173); 2. Rehan Khan Rasheed (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (10:34.391); 3. Hamza Balasinorwala (10:40.360).

Micro Max – Finals (12 laps): 1. Arshi Gupta (Faridabad, Leapfrog Racing) (11:01.246); 2. Rudrapratap Singh Shekhawat (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (11:04.488); 3. Jishnu Seralathan (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (11:09.660); Pre-Finals (12 laps): 1. Arshi Gupta (11:06.180); 2. Jishnu Seralathan (11:10.429); 3. Shiv Tummala (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (11:11.143).