BANDARAGAMA: New Delhi’s Achintya Mehrotra fetched a gold medal for India while Tarushi Vikram from Chikmagaluru marked her international debut with a silver medal finish in the Asian Auto Gymkhana Championship which was run concurrently with the FIA Asia-Pacific Motorsport Championship at the Bandaragama sports complex here on Saturday.
The 35-year-old Mehrotra came out on top in a very strong field and after surviving a shootout that was ordered on a technicality besides a two-second penalty for knocking down a cone. Eventually, he pipped Kyrgystan’s Vedenev Alexey by two-tenth of a second in a tense finish.
“I had done a 1:10 for the circuit in the previous outing but improved to 1:05 in the shootout. However, I knocked a cone down in the process and I knew I would receive a two-second penalty. I didn’t ease off and focused on maintaining my pace and flow. Eventually, it helped me beat Vedenev by a narrow margin. Absolutely thrilled to win a gold medal,” said Mehrotra whose compatriot Prateek Dalal from Bahadurgarh (Haryana) finished 13th.
In the women’s section, 21-year-old Tarushi Vikram maintained her composure despite early struggles to finish second for her maiden medal in international competition. “This is my first international Gymkhana event. I just took some time to get used to the track conditions and the car, since it’s a stock automatic Hyundai i10. This Silver medal means everything to me and holding the Indian flag on the podium made me feel proud,” said Tarushi.
The APMC segment of the Gymkhana event will be held on Sunday with Mehrotra and Tarushi Vikram in the running for medals.
Karting Sprint: Indians fared well in the Karting Sprint event with consistent performances in all three classes – Cadet, Junior and Senior – going into Sunday’s Pre-Final and Finals. Mumbai’s Kiaan Shah was impressive in winning Heat 1 while the three Indian entries in Cadet class,12-year-old Rehan Khan Rasheed (Chennai), eight-year-old Arshi Gupta (Faridabad) and B Rayan Gouda (Bengaluru), also 12 years, with top-10 finishes in all the sessions.
In the Senior class, Aarav Dewan (Gurugram), Thomas Jacob George (Kottayam) and Akshat Misra (Bengaluru) delivered impressive performances to promise a strong finish on Sunday.
“It is heartening to see our youngsters faring well in the karting sprint with top-10 finishes. It bodes well for India’s medal tally on Sunday,” said Prabha Shankar, Karting Team Manager.