For go-karting fans in the twin cities, the latest edition – Kartainment at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Shamshabad) - can only provide the right ambience for those who look to racing as a big-time sport. The presence of young racing sensation of India, Armaan Ebrahim, and former Rotax World Karting Champion and current Rotax test driver, Darrell Smith, could well be the indication of the significance of this new launch.
The Kartainment, spread over three acres, 800 m in length and eight metres in width has been developed by the GMR Group in association with Meco Motorsports. This latest edition means that Hyderabad is fast emerging as the karting capital of India in terms of the number of karting tracks.
Sanjay Sharma, Head (Motorsports), JK Tyres, says that the Kartainment track has the finest facilities available and should be ready to host various international events and can even pitch to host the Rotax World finals.
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That Armaan Ebrahim and Darrel Smith set the track on fire with their amazing stunts to mark the formal inauguration could have already set the fascination for the sport in motion amongst those who were there witness it. The six-speed shifter kart demo by Armaan was the star attraction.
The competitions at the track were on straight away with the JKTyre Rotax Rookie ff . This included races in three classes - Micro Max (8 to 12 years), Junior Max (12 to 15 years) and Senior Max (15 & above)and the event attracted record number of entries.
In the senior category of 15 years and above, Sandeep Kumar of Chennai from Team Meco Racing clinched the honours while B. Sourav of Mumbai from Team Rayo Racing and Bangalore racer Varun Nathwani from Team Rayo Racing were second and third respectively.
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The junior category title for 12 to 15 years was won by Mumbai racer Ameya Bafna from Team Rayo Racing Academy while Rajganatva of Pune from Team Rayo Racing and Akhil Rabindra of Bangalore from Team Mohites Racing were second and third respectively.
In the Micro Max category which is for the eight to 12 years, Jehan Daruwala of Mumbai from Team Rayo Racing Academy stole the show while Pranav Singhania of Team Meco Racing from Delhi and Praduymna of Kolhapur from Team Mohites Racing finished in that order.
The winners in all rookie classes received a sponsorship of Rs 1 lakh in the JK Tyre National Rotax Max championship while the second and third placed received Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 each respectively.
If the rookies needed some inspiration they need not have looked far beyond the presence of Armman Ebrahim who started his career with the Rotax Max format and went on to win the Indian and Asian championships, before moving on to bigger achievements in the Formula BMW, Formula Renault V6 Championships and Formula 2.