Ricky of BPC Racing showed his class on Day 1 of the championship weekend, grabbing the pole from Vishnu Prasad in the qualifying. Heat 1 saw the driver build a massive lead from the second lap itself and continued to dominate the race till the chequered flag came out. Ricky clocked an impressive 51.320 seconds in the last lap, making him one of the more sought after drivers to look out for tomorrow.
The Bangalore-based racer was equally commanding in Heat 2, quickly storming ahead on the track. Ricky currently holds 324 points on the championship leaderboard, just four behind the leader, Vishnu Prasad.
Shahan Ali at the 13th National Rotax Max Karting Championship
Having recently shown his exemplary skills in the Asian Micro Max championship, Shahan Ali Mohsin of Meco Racing was at his dominant best and won his two heats in totally different conditions. Heat 1 saw the 12-year old compete on the dry track and he used the situation to take the pole position with a significant lead. However, Aadityanash of Rayo Racing managed to provide stiff competition to the Agra-based driver, sticking to his tail throughout the race. Nevertheless, Shahan was at his defensive best and even recorded the fastest lap of 57.505 seconds in the tenth lap.
Heat 2 though saw a rain-drenched track making it all the more challenging. However, Shahan grabbed the pole yet again completing the wet race in 11.14 minutes. The Micro Max category also saw budding driver Arjun Nair of Meco Racing finish third in Heat 1 and take the second position in Heat 2. Arjun will now start at P3 in the finals tomorrow.
In the Junior Max category, Chirag Ghorpade grabbed the pole by winning Heat 1, while pulling out of the race in Heat 2 to save his wet tyres in the fifth lap. He will hope to take advantage of his pole position to pull off a sensational win on Sunday. Local favourite Dhruv Mohite showed promising results as well finishing second in Heat 1 and third in Heat 2. Having bagged 314 points, Dhruv is one of the stronger contenders in the category for the championship.
The Junior Max category, however, saw almost all teams for a strategic race by not finishing Heat 2 in order to save their wet tyres for the finals. As a result, grid positions remain the same with Chirag starting at P1 while the only lady karter Mira Erda of Erda Racing will start at P2. Nirmal Umashankar will start at P3, while driver championship leader Manav Sharma will start at P4.
