National karting: Ishaan Madesh begins campaign in style; Peregrine Racing dominates

Bengaluru, Aug 14 (IANS) Talented Ishaan Madesh began his 2023 campaign in style bagging a double to help his team Peregrine Racing dominate the proceedings in the first round of the Meco fmsci Rotax Max National Karting Championship 2023.

In the Karting Nationals organised by Meco, Adithiya Arvind and Varun Hari Praveen shared the honours in the Senior class while Darsh Nawalgaria and Rivaan Dev Preetham won a race each in the Micro Max classes. 

While Peregrine Racing swept both the Senior Max and Junior Max classes, MSport took the honours in the MicroMax classes. Fifty-eight karts took part in the Nationals, a record in the last few years at the Rotax Nationals.

Peregrine Racing’s Adithiya Arvind, the 15-year-old 11th-grade student at SBOA Junior College could only take 5th place in the Pre-Final but went on to beat a strong field to clinch the top place on the podium in the Finals beating Mumbai’s Adithya Patnaik of Rayo Racing to second. In the Pre-Finals, it was Varun Hari Praveen, also of Peregrine Racing who took the victory beating teammate Akshat Mishra. Abhay M. of Birel Art came third.

Ishaan Madesh, a multiple National champion, who missed last year’s title by a whisker, began in whirlwind fashion bagging both the point-scoring races, the Finals and the Pre-Finals as he launched his 2023 campaign on a winning note.  

He clocked 11 min, 08.545 to win the Pre-Finals beating teammate Nikhilesh Raju by a huge margin of over five seconds. And he went on to clinch the Finals, pushing aside the challenge of Hunner Singh of Birel Art, who got a double podium. Young Aarav Dewan, only 13 years, also from Gurugram, came third.

Bengaluru's Darsh Nawalgaria, 13, won the Micro Max final after he lost the Pre-finals to Rivaan Dev Preetham following a fierce fight. The 11-year Rivaan earlier won both the heats and qualified on pole. Yatharth Gaur of Faridabad came second in the finals followed by Rivaan. In the Pre-finals, Bengaluru’s Rishik Rohit Reddy of Birel Art came third.

The second round of the Rotax Max Karting Nationals is scheduled to be held at the same venue, Meco Kartopia from September 1 to 3.

Provisional Results: 

Senior Max: Finals: (16 laps): 1. Adithiya Arvind (Peregrine Racing, Chennai) (15min, 08.232); 2. Adithya Patnaik (Rayo Racing, Mumbai) (15:11.682); 3. Arjun Chheda (Crest Motorsports, Pune) (15:14.862). Pre-Finals: (14 laps): 1. Varun Hari Praveen (Peregrine Racing, Chennai) (12:57.636); 2. Akshat Mishra (Peregrine Racing, Bengaluru) (12:59.187); 3. Abhay M (Birel Art India, Bengaluru) (12:59.356).

Junior Max: Final: (14 laps): 1.  Ishaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing, Bengaluru) (13min, 02.610seconds); 2. Hunner Singh (Birel Art India, Gurugram) (13:04.347); 3. Aarav Dewan (Leapfrog Racing, Gurugram) (13;05.018). Pre-Final: (12 laps): 1.  Ishaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing, Bengaluru) (11:08.545); 2. Nikhilesh Raju (Peregrine Racing, Bengaluru) (11:14.246); 3. Hunner Singh (Birel Art India, Gurugram) (11:16.765);

Micro Max: Finals: (12 Laps): 1. Darsh Nawalgaria (MSport, Bengaluru) (12:15.006); 2. Yatharth Gaur (Leapfrog Racing, Faridabad) ( 12:16.103); 3. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Birel Art India, Chennai) (12:16.519). Pre-Finals: (10 Laps):  1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (MSport, Chennai) (10:09.634); 2. Darsh Nawalgaria (MSport, Bengaluru) (10:11.471); 3. Rishik Rohit Reddy (Birel Art India, Bengaluru) (10:13.502).