INDIKARTING WRAPS UP

Inaugural season of the national karting series ended with the fifth round in Noida

TTHE FINAL ROUND OF the JK Tyre IndiKarting national series concluded in Noida on July 3. The Pro classes have been accumulating points on the overall scoreboard from Round 1 in Pune, and the fifth round in Noida sealed the championship.

Pro Cadet

Aadityansh Kaulshi started Race 1 on pole with Hoshmand Elavia in P2 and Shaurya Kapani in P3. However, Hoshmand got the better of Aadityansh to win. Aadityansh held on to second while Aryan Vasishta, who started the race in fifth, climbed up to third.

Race two began as a reverse grid with Raunaq Sinha on pole. Saatvik Koligeti started in sixth and climbed up the order to win. Little behind him was Aryan Vasishta and Aadityansh Kaulshi, split seconds apart vying for second place. Hoshmand who had started at the back of the grid and had climbed up to fourth pulled a move on Aadityansh in the last lap taking third place.

Hoshmand Elavia started in Race 3 on pole, Kogileti Saatvik in P2 and Aryan in P3. Hoshmand was off with a good start and kept his position until the finish. Aryan collided with a tyre wall and this allowed Aadityansh to take third from him. Hoshmand pulled himself away from the pack and established a good lead, while Saatvik and Kaulshi duelled for second. On the last lap of the race, Kaulshi got past Saatvik and claimed second place. In the overall championship standings, Aadityansh placed first, with Hoshmand in second and Saatvik in third.

Pro Junior and Senior

The Pro Junior and Senior Races ran simultaneously, with Mira Erda clocking the fastest lap in qualifying.

Race 1 saw Aanjan Patodia claim first place, with Mira Erda in second and Varun Anekar (who started in ninth) come third. Aaroh Ravindra had done well to put himself on the first row, but a penalty for a jump start landed him in 8th. Alex Bora had a good race as well, climbing up from P12 to finish 4th.

Race 2 started with a reverse grid and Jatin got off to a good start. Jonathan Kuriakose duelled Rahul Sharan for second, finally getting the better of him only to give the position back. In the meantime, Aaroh came charging up the grid and overtook Jonathan and Rahul to claim second. The second race ended with Aaroh finishing first, Jonathan in second and Rahul in third, as an incident took Jatin out of the picture.

Race 3 would decide the championship in the senior category as Aanjan and Aaroh were just a couple of points apart. Aanjan started on pole and Aaroh was in P2. The two of them pulled away from the pack with Aaroh trying everything to get past Aanjan. Meanwhile Varun Anekar, Rishabh Rathi and Mira Erda were vying for third. After a tense, race and some stellar defensive driving from Aanjan, he won Race 3.

This victory also meant he clinched the championship in the senior category, with Aaroh in second and Rahul Sharan finishing third overall. In the junior category, Jonathan Kuriakose stacked up the most points and won the championship, followed by Aditya Joshi in second and Mira Erda in third.

Support classes

The whole point of the IndiKarting Series is to promote amateur talent. A number of support classes ran alongside the Pro races with competitors who had won in their local rounds participating in the grand finals. In the senior amateur category, Mohamed Ridhaf led from pole to win, while Akshay Gupta came second and Rachit Singhal placed third. Ridhaf also won the senior open class and corporate classes. In the senior plus category Clive Joshua won and in the women's category Rajashree Chauhan took top honours. Mira Erda, however dominated the inter-school competition and picked up another trophy there.