Kyle Kumaran, the new Senior National karting champion

David Bodapati November 28, 2021

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Kyle "cool" Kumaran, in action at Meco Kartopia, on way to becoming Senior National Champion on Sunday. INDIAin F1 Photo by Shajahan

Bengaluru, 28 Nov 2021: Peregrine Racing’s Kyle ‘calm’ Kumaran, who is taking part in the Indian National circuit for the first time ruled the roost conquering everything that came his way, save for a race, as he dominated the Meco FMSCI Rotax Max National Karting Championship 2021 which concluded at the Meco Kartopia on Sunday. The UAE-based driver was cool and calm, in all the five rounds and virtually bull-dozed the competition, being an international driver with DojoMoto.

The Tiruchirapalli-born, 18-year talent, tamed the 1.2km track with ease and grace, winning four out of five rounds (9 out of 10 races), bagging virtually every award that was on offer, the Best Driver Award, most number of Wins, most number of Pole positions and of course, the most-coveted Senior National Champion tag. “Unfortunately, we had an engine issue in one of the races. But we were consistent and my team did a good job,” Kumaran told this website on Sunday. “I am grateful to Peregrine Racing and the team Principal Mr Madesh Lakshman, for all the wonderful support for this championship,”he added.

A black-belt in Karate, Kyle plays football as a recreation sport and is also interested in cycling, to keep up his fitness. A Junior Sodi World Series UAE Champion in 2017, the motorsports maverick went on to win many other events including RMC Max UAE Senior Championship, RMC DD2, and SW senior UAE championship in both 2020 and 2021. He is also the IAME Summer Series current UAE champion (2021). Between the races here, Kyle also won the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Nations Cup in DD2 class last week at Muscat, Oman, where 20 Nations took part. You can watch the video here from Oman Automobile Association.

On Saturday, Kumaran beat Yash Aradhya’s milestone by dipping under 54-second barrier leading an array of karters including juniors like Ishaan Madesh, but the best came in the qualifying on Saturday. The 53.456 is the new track record on Meco Kartopia. (To be confirmed). He also did a stunning lap of 52.8, but it came in testing.

Chief Guest Preethi Ravindra, (mother of racer Akhil Rabindra) giving away the Best Driver award to Kyle Kumaran on Sunday.

The Ayrton Senna fan praised the organisers for the way the Championship was organised. “Considering these unprecedented times due to the pandemic, the championship was smoothly conducted without any hiccups finishing all the rounds on time. I really enjoyed racing here. Both Rishon, Suriya and Ameya are good racers and I look forward to getting into F3 or F4 regional rounds soon,” said the speedmaster, who honed his racecraft in Dubai (UAE).

Both the Indian Karting Nationals, two of the 12 Nationals in the FMSCI calendar this year, are the first to complete all their rounds. The X30 Karting Nationals are organised by Meco Motorsports concluded on September 16 and the Rotax Max Championship is organised by Spitfire Motorsports of Coimbatore, ably headed by J Balamurugan. The only other Indian National motorsports discipline that completed the calendar successfully is National Drag Racing Championship by Madras Motor Sport Club in Chennai.

“I am looking forward to the Rotax Max World Finals. I am very happy to represent my country in the grand finals in Bahrain from December 11 to 18. Wearing India colours and racing as Team INDIA is a proud moment and I am eagerly looking forward to it,” was his parting shot.

Watch the Round 5 footage here on AutoTrack YouTube channel, the only Indian Motorsports magazine.