Rivaan Dev Preetham bounces back and dominates Round 3

Bengaluru, 17 Sept. 2023: Ten-year-old talented driver Rivaan Dev Preetham bounced back with vengeance and won both the final and pre-final races of the Micro Max category in the Round 3 of the Meco fmsci Rotax Max National Karting Championship which concluded at the Meco Kartopia here on Saturday.

Rivaan Dev, son of former champion, Preetham Moses, was at his best clocking the fastest laps in both the races. Earlier in the qualifying session he also set a record of sort for the Micro Max category dipping under a minute, when he posted a stunning 59.478. His blistering pace in the qualies led both Danish Dalmiya and Rehan Khan too, to go under the 60-sec mark but in the races Rivaan is the only driver to clock under a minute. Six of his laps in the final were under the magic mark. After dominating the first round, Rivaan had an incident and lost a lot of points. Now, he is trailing by one point in second place in the championship table.

In the Finals of the Micro Max, Zephaan Ardeshir kept his Mumbai mate Danish Dalmiya behind to take the second spot and in the pre-final too he finished second but it was second round hero Yatharth Gaur of Faridabad, who came third.

In the Junior class, Ishaan Madesh saw a rare defeat an eventful pre-finals which was reduced to 11 laps after an incident. Hunner Singh of Gurugram came first and defending champion Nikhilesh Raju of Bengaluru came second in both races but in the final he docked a 10-sec penalty for ignoring yellow flags and lost the podium. Ishaan brought normalcy back winning the Final and Aarav Dewan of Gurugram who finished third behind Raju, moved up to second and Hunner came third. Raju clocked the best times in both the races.

In the Senior Max races, reigning champion Abhay M of Bengaluru won the final after losing the  pre-final, where he redeemed a third place. Arjun Chheda of Pune won the pre-final and came second in the 16-lap final. Raiden Samervel of Mumbai was third in the final. Abhay clocked the fastest laps in both the races.

Round 3 was held on Friday and Saturday. Round 4 of the five round Karting Nationals will be held from October 20 to 22.

The results:

Senior Max – Final (16 laps): 1. Abhay M (Bengaluru, Birel Art India) (14mins, 51.497secs); 2. Arjun Chheda (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (14:53.072); 3. Raiden Samarvel (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (14:58.639). Best lap: Abhay 55.029.

Pre-Final (14 laps): 1. Arjun Chheda (12:53.488); 2. Veer Rajwade (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (12:58.030); 3. Abhay M (12:58.199). Best lap: Abhay 54.894.

Junior Max – Final (14 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13mins, 04.584secs); 2. Aarav Dewan (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (13:06.267); 3. Hunner Singh (Gurugram, Birel Art India) (13:07.561). Best lap: Nikhilesh 55.153.

Pre-Final (11 laps): 1. Hunnder Singh (11:30.527); 2. NikhileshRaju (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (11:31.066); 3. Aarav Dewan (11:31.296). Best lap: Nikhilesh 55.005.

Micro Max – Final (12 laps): 1. RivaanDevPreetham (Chennai, MSport) (12:05.803); 2. ZephaanArdeshir (Mumbai, Peregrine Racing) (12:10.589); 3. Danish Dalmiya (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (12:13.488). Best Lap: Rivaan 59.766.

Pre-Final (10 laps): RivaanPreetham (10:11.977); 2. ZephaanArdeshir (10:19.948); 3. DarshNawalgaria (Bengaluru, MSport) (10:20.364). Best Lap: Rivaan 59.944.

(Results were updated with the official final results on 17 Sept. 2023)