Monish emerges champ
Monish Jain, Dhruv Dayal and Suraj Bhui emerged in that order at the national final of Red Bull Kart Fight at the Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru on Saturday where 22 finalists from around the country had gathered after qualifying rounds held in Mumbai and Gurgaon between July and October .
City qualifiers took place in July, August, September and October at SMAAASH Lower Parel, Mumbai and Skykarting (SMAAASH) Gurgaon where the top 10 timings (top three winners from July, August and September including one wild card in October) from each city qualified for the finals in Bengaluru.
The finals were run with trial rounds in groups of three followed by qualifiers of 10 laps (750m track length) with nine racers qualifying for the final race. The winner also won an all-expenses paid trip to the grand finale of this year’s F1 championship at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Said Monish Jain, “To be honest, first of all, I didn’t expect to make it to the national finals. Before the heats, I called up my father and said, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the finals’.
“I don’t know how but I pulled it through by looking at the other racers. I just kept going. I got P1 in the heats, and again when I qualified for grid positions in the final. All I knew for the final is that I had to keep my distance from Suraj because he is a brilliant driver. And that’s all I did.”