Bengaluru : Aaroh Ravindra from Rayo Racing, clinched his maiden National Karting Championship, with a 2nd place finish in Round 5 of the Meco FMSCI National Rotax Karting Championship.
The Mumbai youngster has consistently dominated the championship ever since his victory in round 1 at Hyderabad. He completed a hat-trick of victories at the end of Round 3 and already had a commanding lead of 27 points in the National Championship by then.
Aaroh qualified 2nd as the weekend began, after Nirmal USB of M Sport clinched pole position with a lap time of 54.694, a mere 2 hundredths of a second ahead of Aaroh. Manav Sharma was third. Heat 1 saw Nirmal lead from pole & win the heat, while Aaroh won the 2nd heat, ahead of Nirmal.
The pre final saw Nirmal from Chennai, once again start from pole & win ahead of Aaroh & Manav. Aaroh’s earned enough points in the pre final, to be practically assured of the title, irrespective of the outcome of the final. However, Aaroh was not content with merely finishing.
he final saw Nirmal pulling away as soon as the green flag dropped, while Aaroh fell to third. He regained second, coming out of corner 2 but lost ground immediately to Akash. Soon, it was Rayo Racing 2nd & 3rd as both Aaroh & Aanjan overtook Akash on lap 3. Mid-way through the race, Nirmal picked a puncture which promoted the Rayo Racing duo into 1st & 2nd. Aanjan being quicker, soon passed Aaroh for the lead & won a really close race. Aaroh crossed the line a mere 0.3 seconds behind Aanjan, while local lad Akash finished 3rd, ahead of another Bengaluru lad – Danesh Vakharia from Rayo Racing.
Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghorpade from BPC racing won the junior finals ahead of M Sport Racing boys, Shahan Mohsin from Agra & Yash Aradhya from Bengaluru. Bengaluru boys sealed the Micro Max podium as Ruhaan Alva of Birel Art won the finals ahead of Rohaan Madhesh of Peregrine Racing & Rishon MR from Birel Art.
Aaroh’s domination in the Senior National Championship saw him pick the award for most wins in the entire championship. His worst finish of the season being a 2nd place, he won the National Title with a lead of 33 points & earns himself a ticket to represent India in the World Finals at Portugal in November. Aaroh’s participation in the series came as a result of his sponsorship from Tata Motors, JK Tyres, Rayo Racing & IndiKarting after finishing runner up in the JK Tyre IndiKarting National Series last year. The winner of that series – Aanjan Patodia, finished 3rd overall behind Nirmal USB in spite of not finishing a couple of races. He tied on points with Rayo Racing Teammate – Danesh Vakharia.
Yash Aradhya of M Sport, with 2 victories in the season, won the junior title by 9 points from Chirag Ghorpade & Shahan Mohsin. Arjun Rajiv won the Micro title by 8 points, ahead of Ruhaan Alva & Rishon MR.
“It was an amazing start to the year, with a hat trick of victories. A double runner-up finish in the last 2 rounds was not bad either. It has been hard work by everyone involved & I really want to thank Steve for his efforts, as well as all our sponsors & my family for their support” said an ecstatic Aaroh after the prize distribution ceremony.
He continued, “I have had very limited track time over the last 2 years due to the lack of a budget. The World Finals are going to be tough competing against the 72 best drivers from around the world, but I will be working hard over the next few weeks to prepare in the best possible way.”
As reported earlier, Aaroh Ravindra, Yash Aradhya and Ruhaan Alva, will represent India, in the World Rotax Finals in Portimao, Portugal from 5th to 11th November, as the champions from over 50 countries will vie for the title of World Rotax Champion 2017. Over 300 competitors will race at this prestigious World Finals.
eom/with inputs from Rayo Racing
