Rayo Racing’s Aaroh Ravindra led a fantastic 1-2 for the team as he dominated in the Senior Category of the Meco FMSCI National Rotax Karting Championship in Bangalore.
His teammate Aanjan Patodia of Pune also had a fantastic race as he climbed all the way up to second place after starting dead last on the grid.
Prior to that, BPC Racing‘s Manav Sharma took pole position from Nirmal Umashankar of M Sport with the margin being measured in hundredths of a second. The remarkably competitive grid meant that the Rayo Racing boys; Patodia and National Championship points leader Ravindra started third and fourth respectively.
(L to R) Aanjan Patodia – Rayo Racing, Aaroh Ravindra – Rayo Racing, Nirmal Umashankar – M Sport
Aaroh Ravindra won the first heat with Rayo Racing teammate Aanjan Patodia finishing second and M Sport’s Nirmal Umashankar finishing in the final podium position. The second heat, which was supposed to be held on Saturday, was instead conducted on Sunday due to torrential rainfall in the area. The results though, were exactly the same with Aaroh finishing ahead of Aanjan and Nirmal in the race.
In the pre-finals, the race which does count for championship points saw Aaroh Ravindra win once again but this time, Nirmal Umashankar finished second behind him. The former built a small lead after starting from pole and the latter couldn’t catch up although his efforts were persistent and so, Aaroh won his third race of the weekend. His teammate, Aanjan Patodia was not so fortunate as he lost power during the race; he was running a strong third. Aanjan had to come back in to the pit lane for repairs and when he was sent back out, his kart’s chain snapped and he had to retire from the race.
In the finals, Manav Sharma of BPC Racing overtook Nirmal Umashankar at the start and while the two battled wheel to wheel, race leader Aaroh Ravindra pulled out a massive lead. Eventually, Nirmal regained the second position from Manav but Aaroh had already run off into the distance. Aanjan Patodia started last due to his non-finish in the pre-finals but there was no stopping the Pune lad, who climbed up the order and in a matter of a few laps, he was at the tail of third placed Manav Sharma.
Aanjan didn’t spend a lot of time behind Manav; he quickly found a way past him and tried to make a move on Nirmal, who was running second. Nirmal was not as easy to overtake as Manav and after pushing hard for a few laps, a well-executed move by Aanjan ensured that he would finish second in the race making it a sweet 1-2 for Rayo Racing at the Kartopia circuit in Bengaluru. This was Aaroh’s third consecutive win in the National Championship.
Aaroh Celebrates After His Win In The Finals
It has been a good weekend for me, especially since the entire grid is so competitive. It was unfortunate that Aanjan was not able to challenge me in the finals from the beginning otherwise it would have been a lot more exciting. A very big thank you to everyone at Rayo Racing especially Steve, for all the hard work put in. I hope I can continue the momentum for the other events – Aaroh Ravindra on his victory
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