National Karting: Mumbai's Krish Gupta Earns First Victory In Round 4

Mumbai’s Krish Gupta dug deep within himself, to earn his first National victory in Round 4 of the Meco FMSCI National Karting Championship. The 19-year-old Mumbai racer from Team Rayo Racing, started from back in fifth position and steadily made his way up the order to win the final.

Krish’s weekend began strongly by qualifying in second in the highly competitive grid with 26 racers from around India. Bengaluru’s Ishaan Madhesh topped qualifying with a laptime of 55.048 seconds, and Krish was a close second, just 0.14 seconds behind. Krish’s Rayo Racing teammate Aahil Mecklai was third a further 0.16 seconds behind.

Heat 1 had Krish make a fantastic start. He almost got ahead of the pole sitter, Madhesh, into the first corner, but decided to stay safe and settle for second. Krish eventually crossed the line in second, but was penalised for a jump start by a fraction of a second, which relegated him down to eleventh. Madhesh won the heat with Aahil in third.

Krish made another good start and held second for Heat 2. The top three finished as they started with Madhesh ahead of Krish and Mecklai. The Pre Final grid was set based on points from the two heats combined.

The Pre Final started with Madhesh pulling away from pole & leading. Eventually he won the Pre Final 2.5 seconds ahead of Pune’s Arjun Chheda. The Crest Motorsports racer had managed to overtake Mumbai’s Mecklai, who had started second. Krish, meanwhile starting sixth, overtook local boy, Ethan Joy to finish fifth, behind, Pune’s Arafath Sheikh.

The crowd now eagerly awaited the final. Madhesh starting on Pole, and held his lead in the early laps. Krish Gupta started fifth and at the start itself move up a place into fourth. Up ahead Chheda held onto second ahead of Mecklai in third. Madhesh had opened a bit of a lead to Chheda in second, with the Rayo Racing duo of Mecklai & Krish close on his heels.

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Krish seized his opportunity after a few laps of patiently waiting, by diving down the inside of Mecklai into Corner 4. In the meantime Chheda had closed into Madhesh. A few laps later, the top 4 were in a close train, and Chheda made a move on Madhesh for the lead at Corner 4. Krish who was right behind them, took advantage and got better exit speed, out of the corner. He reached corner 5 first and managed to squeeze out the others. Grabbing the lead, Krish then had 3 karts all over, trying to get past. However he held his nerves and the lead, staying ahead for the next two corners. Krish then put his head down, with some clean driving to open up a lead to the others behind.

Krish continued to open the gap and went on to win his first ever National Rotax event. Chheda finished second 1.3 seconds behind Krish. Mecklai completed the podium crossing the line a further 1.9 seconds behind Chheda.

“What a relief after 3 years, to finally get my first National victory. There were many other races where I deserved to win, but wasn’t able to, due to reasons not in my control. This feels fantastic. I was really confident this weekend and even though I was starting fifth in the final, I was calm and looking forward to the race. My family has been my biggest strength and support and I really want to thank them.” said a thrilled Krish, just after being doused with a bucket of ice water, by his team in celebration.

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8 Time National Champion and founder of Rayo Racing, Rayomand Banajee added “Krish really deserves this win. It’s been long awaited. He has had the speed and the commitment, while really working hard for this. I am sure this is going to give him a lot more confidence for the rest of the season.”