Mumbai's Kiaan Shah, 15, won the Rotax Senior title at the Meco Meritus Cup in Bengaluru. He won Race 1 and finished second in Race 2. His team, Rayo Racing, saw a double victory with Atharva Hemani also winning the Rotax Micro title.
Mumbai's Kiaan Shah continued his impressive run in his nascent racing career, dominating and winning the Rotax Senior title in the prestigious Meco Meritus Cup in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The 15-year-old, who has just scored a podium finish in the RMC Asia Trophy in Thailand, won Race 1 and finished second in Race 2 to take the top spot on the leader-board after Round 1 of the Meritus Cup, according to a release.
Rayo Racing's Double Victory
Kiaan Shah made it a grand double for Rayo Racing, with Atharva Hemani, also from Mumbai, annexing the Rotax Micro title and Aarav Sureka taking third position. The winners get a free entry into all the rounds of the FMSCI National Karting Championship.
Team Leadership Reacts
"Kiaan raced really well and we are very impressed with how he is developing. The micro racers showed a lot of maturity and nerve to pull off a victory," said National Champion Aditya Patnaik, who was leading Rayo Racing.
Saurav Bandopadhyay, CEO of Rayo Racing, added, "We have been spending a lot of time working on the psychology and mindset of our racers. That has started to show results."
Rotax Senior Race Highlights
Race 1 saw Kiaan move from third to second at the start. Into the fourth corner, he made an impressive move to snatch the lead from Misra. MSport's Vengatesan moved into second behind him. Kiaan quickly opened up a lead and easily won the race.
Race 2 saw Kiaan make another good start from third to gain second. However, he was hit from behind into the corner 2 and lost ground. Kiaan wasn't able to gain that loss back and finished second. Misra won the race while Vengatesan took third place.
Action in the Rotax Micro Category
Race 1 of the Micro saw a huge pile-up at the first corner. Almost the entire field went off track. The Rayo Racing duo of Aarav Sureka and Atharva Hemani, starting further behind, also went well off track but managed to avoid hitting anyone. Both then rejoined the front of the pack. Atharva was comfortable and unchallenged throughout the race, but Aarav had to face multiple attacks from Gurgaon's Saakhir Nagpal of Peregrine Racing. Aarav managed to hold his position to finish second, while Atharva won the race.
Atharva, racing only in his second ever Rotax event, made another fantastic start in Race 2 of the Micro. Starting sixth, he was leading the race by the second corner! He bravely held the lead for over half the race, but then succumbed to an onslaught of attacks and fell to sixth.
Aarav managed to climb to third at one point, but eventually finished fourth. Peregrine Racing's trio of Yeshvin Vinayak (Chennai), Zidaan Anees (Bengaluru) and Nagpal finished on top in that order. (ANI)
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