Ruhaan, Rohaan, Nikhilesh continue their exploits

Bengaluru, 27 August 2021: Talented Bengaluru teenage pilot Ruhaan Alva once again dominated the proceedings with complete authority to take overall honours as ‘fastest driver’ in Round 2 winning all the four races on the menu in the Senior class of the Meco FMSCI National Karting Championship NC Racing MSport IAME X30 India races at the 1.2-km Meco Kartopia, about 20 km from here on Friday.

In the Junior section, Rohaan Madesh stamped his class once again dominating with controlled aggression to bag three victories after a surprise loss in Race 1 where Guwahati karter Jaden R Pariat won to take 31 points from this round for a total of 50 points and is now 2nd on the leaderboard. Rohaan Madesh, with 65 points (32+33) is the deserving leader with another round of 4 races scheduled for Saturday. Younger of the two Madesh brothers, Ishaan, the reigning Cadet champion, fetched 23 points to add to the 20 (Round 1) for a total 43 points is in third place after two rounds. The third of the five rounds will be held on Saturday.

Nikhilesh Raju, the 11-year 6th Class student of Vibgyor School, Bengaluru won the Round 2 in Cadet Class winning three of the four Round 2 races to garner 34 points to add to the 34 from Round 1. He is leading the championship table with 64 points. Arafath Sheikh, the baby of the grid at 10 years, a 4th class student of Bishop School in Pune, won Race 2 to bag 31 valuable points (to add to the 26 from Round 1) and jumped to second place in the standings with 57 points. Local rookie, a 12-year 7th Standard girl, Zarah Mishra, who has managed 23 points is third in the championship with a total of 39 points from two rounds. Three newcomers from Gujarat Shrili Manish Mistry (19 points), Hrydan S Patel (16) and Ateev Khandelval (11) helped retain the 6-kart grid as Aditya Suresh Kamat and Vedha Vishnu from Chennai did not turn up for this round.

Ruhaan, the 15-year-old champion performed a classic act once again conquering everything that came his way taking four victories, four fastest laps, best qualifying and second best qualifying times for pole and became the fastest man on the grid with a best lap time of 56.530 in Round 2 qualifying session. Earlier on August 1, he won three races in Round 1 and is currently leading the championship. He also clocked a best race time of 14min, 22.799seconds in Race 3 over 15 laps of 1.2 km Meco Kartopia tarmac run clockwise.

Former champion Ameya Bafna, who made a surprise visit in Round 1, failed to turn up for the two rounds this weekend, thus reducing whatever competition Alva had. Another Bengaluru karter, Nigel Abraham Thomas, took full advantage of the depleted grid to showcase his talent, taking three silver after his bronze in the first race behind former champion from Chennai Nirmal Umashankar. After his second in the first race, Nirmal could not beat Nigel and had to be satisfied with three bronze in the rest of the three races.

Raaj Bakhru from Mumbai was consistent, after he overcame a bad first race which he `Did Not Finish’ (DNF) to improve steadily in the next three races. He came 5th in Race 2, 4th in Race 3 before finally taking a bronze in the final race. Another rookie from Garden City, Sawan Sathyarayan, finished 4th in the first two races.

Cadets will have two races on Saturday and two more on Sunday to complete Round 3 while Juniors will complete all four races of Round 3 on Saturday.

Round 2 Final (provisional) classification :

Seniors (15 laps) Friday Grid: 6

Race 1: 1. #27 Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (14:29.122); 2. #25 Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) (14:31.631); 3. #28 Nigel Abraham Thomas (Bengluru) (14:34.483); 4.  #31 Sawan Sathyanarayan (Bengaluru) (14:45.525); 5.  #30 Vidyali Reddy (Bengaluru) (15:17.922); DNF Lap 1 #32 Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (1:11.022). Best lap: Ruhaan Alva 56.892. Best Speed: 75.9 kmph. Margin of win: 2.509sec.

Race 2: 1. #27 Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (14:37.013); 2. #28 Nigel Abraham Thomas (Bengaluru) (14:38.755); 3. #25 Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) (14:39.737); 4.  #31 Sawan Sathyanarayan (Bengaluru) (14:43.322); 5. #32 Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (14:43.636); 6. #30 Vidyali Reddy (Bengaluru) (14:54.725); Best lap: Ruhaan Alva 57.174. Best Speed: 75.5 kmph. Margin of win: 1.742sec.

Race 3: 1. #27 Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (14:22.799); 2. #28 Nigel Abraham Thomas (Bengaluru) (14:25.169); 3. #25 Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) (14:28.438); 4.  #32 Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (14:32.912); 5. #31 Sawan Sathyanarayan (Bengaluru) (14:45.760); 6. #30 Vidyali Reddy (Bengaluru) (14:48.863); Best lap: Ruhaan Alva 57.131 Best Speed: 75.616 kmph. Margin of win: 2.370sec.

Race 4 (Restart): 1. #27 Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (18:57.927); 2. #28 Nigel Abraham Thomas (Bengaluru) (19:09.296); 3. #32 Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (19:41.131); 4. #25 Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) (19:53.111); 5. #31 Sawan Sathyanarayan (Bengaluru) (19:20.087 – 14laps); 6. #30 Vidyali Reddy (Bengaluru) (19:42.753 -14laps); Best lap: Ruhaan Alva 1:14.544 Best Speed: 57.952 kmph. Margin of win: 11.369sec.

Friday’s Juniors and Cadet results of Ro2 to be updated!