Rivaan Dev Preetham notches dominating wins, Kiaan Shah, Akshat Misra share honours among Seniors

Chennai’s rising star, Rivaan Dev Preetham (MSPORT) pulled off a brilliant double by winning both the point scoring Super Heat and Final races in the OK-Junior class of the Indian Karting Academy Trophy 2026 karting competition at the Meco Kartopia circuit .

Rivaan, after failing to top the previous outings today – the practice sessions, qualifying and Heat – delivered when it mattered most in a stunning fashion. Finishing second and third in the Super Heat were Rehankhan Rasheed (Momentum Motorsports), also from Chennai, and Pune’s Hridaan Sanadhya (Crest Motorsports). Later, in the Final, Rivaan and subsequently Rehankhan slipped past Hridaan as the trio finished in that order.

Also to make a mark was Coimbatore’s 13-year-old Rishik Rohit Reddy (MSPORT) who dominated the early outings, winning the Qualifying and Heat sessions, but could not reproduce the form in the two key races, the Super Heat and Final.

In the Meco Meritus Cup that was run concurrently, Mumbai’s Kiaan Shah, fresh from a podium finish in the RMC Asia Trophy in Thailand recently, and local driver Akshat Misra (Peregrine Racing) shared the honours by winning a Sprint race apiece in the Senior Max class. Kiaan, however, leads Akshat by one point in the championship standings after Round-1.

Tirunelveli’s Micah Hayden Andrews of Peregrine Racing and Shiv Tummala (Peregrine Racing) from Hyderabad, won the Sprint Race-1 and Race-2, respectively, with the former taking a three-point lead on the leaderboard, in the Mini Max class.

Rayo Racing’s Atharv Hemani from Mumbai and Chennai’s Yeshwin Vinayak (Peregrine Racing) topped the two Sprint races in the Micro Max category. Atharv and Zidaan Arshaan Anees (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing), who came away with a P2 and P4 in the two outings, are tied on points at 27.

The OKJ Junior class was introduced in 2023 by Meco Motorsports as the India Karting Academy Trophy (Junior Class) into the Meritus Cup, to give the Indian junior drivers an opportunity to experience the FIA OK-J engine which is a replica of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy that runs with the FIA homologated OK-J engines and the FIA homologated OTK Chassis.

Meco Motorsports, promoters of the National Karting Championship for over a decade, are pleased to announce the association with SIDVIN Energy Engineering as the Presenting Sponsor and MRF as the partner sponsor for the Meritus Cup and the Meco FMSCI National Karting Championship scheduled to commence later this month.

The results (Provisional):

Indian Karting Academy Trophy:

OK Junior (Super Heat, 14 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, MSPORT) (12mins, 16.934secs); 2. Rehankhan Rasheed (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (12:20.380); 3. Hridaan Sanadhya (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (12:20.715).

Final (16 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (14:57.451); 2. Rehankhan Rasheed (14:59.974); 3. Hridaan Sanadhya (15:01.177).

Meco Meritus Cup:

Senior Max – Sprint Race 1 (14 laps): 1. Kiaan Shah (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (13:07.268); 2. Eshanth Vengatesan (Chennai, MSPORT) (13:07.596); 3. Akshat Misra (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13:10.859). Sprint Race 2 (16 laps): 1. Akshat Misra (14:57.387); 2. Kiaan Shah (14:59.961); 3. Eshanth Vengatesan (15:00.816).

Mini Max – Sprint Race 1 (10 laps): 1. Micah Hayden Andrews (Tirunelveli, Peregrine Racing) (08:47.644); 2. Jishnu Seralathan (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (08:56.711); 3. Rayan Gouda (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (08:57.441). Sprint Race 2 (12 laps): 1. Shiv Tummala (Hyderabad, Peregrine Racing) (11:40.648); 2. Micah Hayden Andrews (11:43.405); 3. Jishnu Seralathan (11:45.947).

Micro Max – Sprint Race 1 (10 laps): 1. Atharv Hemani (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (09:18.127); 2. Aarav Surekha (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (09:19.254); 3. Saakhir Joseph Nagpal (Gurugram, Peregrine Racing) (09:19.414). Sprint Race 2 (12 laps): 1. Yeshwin Vinayak (Chennai, Peregrine Racing) (12:21.390); 2. Zidaan Arshaan Anees (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (12:21.911); 3. Saakhir Joseph Nagal (12:22.252).