Nirmal maintains lead in Karting Championship

Chennai's Nirmal Umashankar consolidated his lead in the X-30 class of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship at the Meco Kartopia near Bengaluru on Sunday.

Nirmal, an accomplished driver in the Euro JK category of JKNRC, was unstoppable in the senior category, winning all four races of the day to collect a total of 40 points to maintain his grip at the top of the leaderboard with 76 points after two rounds.

Debarun Banerjee of Delhi, who started the round behind Nirmal, began with two second place finishes. But he could not better that show and finished third and fourth in the next two races, respectively, to drift away. He is currently on 49 points after two rounds.

Agra's Shahan Ali Mohsin, who started seventh on the leaderboard, collected 22 points, thanks to his three third place finishes to catapult to the third spot with a total of 32 points.

In the junior category, Bangalore's Ruhaan Alva made the most of the round, winning three races to collect a total of 34 points to climb up the charts with a total of 57 points.

His city-mate Arjun S. Nair won one race and posted two second places finishes to log in 27 points and maintain his second spot with a total of 51 points. Shahan Ali, just like in the senior category, covered good ground to climb to the third position (38 points), courtesy two second and as many third place finishes.

However, Round 1 leader Mihir Suman Avalakki did not have the best of days and could collect only 23 points to slide down to the fourth position.

In the cadet category, Bangalore's Ishaan Mahesh collected a perfect 40 to accumulate a total of 77 points to hold on to his lead. Young Shriya Lohia of Pune is the distant second with a total of 52 points, while Sai Shiva Makesh Shankara is in the third spot with 45 points.

Arafath Sheikh from Pune, the youngest driver on the grid, also proved his mettle as he managed to collect 12 points in the cadet category.

Provisional results post Round 2:

Cadet category: 1. Ishaan Madhesh (Bangalore) 77 points; 2. Shriya Lohia (Pune) 52 points; 3. Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran (Pune) 45 points

Junior category: 1. Ruhaan Alva (Bangalore) 57 points; 2. Arun S. Nair (Bangalore) 51 points; 3. Shahan Ali Mohsin (Agra) 38 points

Senior category: 1. Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) 76 points; 2. Debarun Banerjee (Delhi) 49 points; 3. Shahan Ali Mohsin (Agra) 32 points

--IANS

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