Easykart: Ruhaan Alva leads Indian contingent in Lonato with Top 10 result

The Indian contingent had five drivers in two categories in Round 3.

Darshan Chokhani posted in Motorsport India & World

3y ago

3.6K

The third round in the 2018 Easykart Italia at South Garda, Lonato saw five Birel ART India drivers in action, with four in the 100cc class and one in the 60cc category. After completing the practice run, Mihir Avalakki led the way in the qualifying run.

He ended up in eighth just 0.100s ahead of Ruhaan Alva, with Magehalli Rishon in 14th and Vivaan Chiripal in 21st out of the 25 drivers. Gnecchi Marcello's Alessandro Gnecchi took pole by just the 0.010s margin.

Race 1

It was a back and forth battle for Alva in the #221 kart who finish ninth in the first race of the weekend. The Bangalorean was in a battle with his teammate Avalakki in the #219 kart as well as Gabriele Cazzaniga and Adam Kowalski.

While Kowalski managed to pull away, Alva couldn't get Cazzaniga as he just finished 0.054s ahead. Behind Alva was Avalakki, who also lost out to Cazzaniga after which he had to battle with Alva and Andrea Torello.

Meanwhile, Rishon in the #222 kart lost couple of places at the start and then fought back with Marco Ravera to finish in his start position of 14th, while Chiripal in the #220 kart gained positions to be 17th overall after clearing Fabio Riccadonna on the last lap.

At the front, Gnecchi took the win from Moretti Domenico's Mattia Moreti with Puccetti Michele's Damiano Puccetti not far behind in third - the Top 3 separated by a mere 0.985s over the line after 12 laps of racing.

Race 2

The finals on Sunday had Alva once again in a tight battle with Cazzaniga all through the race along with Kowalski in the mix. While Cazzaniga got Alva early in the race, but it was tougher for Kowalski who had it hard.

However, the Czech driver managed to his nose ahead on the lap lap to finish 0.109s ahead in eighth. For Avalakki, he was in the fight with Ravera and Leonardo Principalli all through the race - losing out to both in the end to finish 12th.

But he was promoted to 11th after Principalli was disqualified. Rishon also had a fighting race and finished 14th overall after which he was promoted to 13th, while Chiripal made his way up from 23rd to finish 17th overall - he also had a place gained.

After the three rounds, Avalakki sits as the lead Indian in ninth with 60 points while Rishon is 11th with 56 as Alva makes a jump to 16th with 28 and Chiripal is 19th with 21 to his name. Gnecchi leads the table with 135 points.

60cc

Racing for the first time in the season in the 60cc category, Birel ART India's Aadi Karande started with 18th place in qualifying in his #107 kart. The first race, Karande was in a back and forth fight with Alessandro Simeoni.

At one point, Karande managed to get ahead of Simeoni but the Italian got him back as they ended up 0.281s apart with the Indian in 18th behind Simeoni. The finals saw Karande finish only 21st while in a train of seven cars being closely bunched together.

With only one round under his belt, he is 28th in the standings with three points. The season now moves to Castelleto during the June 2-6 weekend for Round 4 in the 2018 Easkykart Italia championship.