Agra: Asian karting champion and two-time national champion racer Shahan Ali Mohsin put up a scintillating performance to emerge on the podium in the Round II of Meco Motorsport FMSCI Rotax Max Karting Championship in Chicane Circuit, Hyderabad.Competition in the highly-competitive junior category with older and more experienced rivals, Shahan was always among the frontrunners early on, but small technical and setup challenges meant that he was never at the head of the field.A bent chassis thanks to a major incident in the last round meant Shahan was struggling to get the kart to handle the way he wanted to. There was a small electrical issue also, which kept the Meco Motorsport crew busy throughout, and Shahan managed to qualify a strong third putting him in a strong position for the rest of the weekend.Shahan went on to finish second in both the heat races that followed, and lined up third for the pre-finals with the top four drivers being incredibly close. With Shahan’s kart still far from perfect, the 13-year old from Agra just concentrated on extracting the best performance out of the package and that’s exactly what he did in the final race of the weekend.Shahan started the finals from second row on the grid and put on an immediate display of aggressive driving by passing two drivers on the opening lap and slotting himself in second position. From there onwards, it was an extremely tough and eventful race as the top four drivers exchanged places multiple times; outperforming each other and diving in through corners where overtaking didn’t seem possible earlier. It was a fantastic display of driving on everyone’s part – with extremely hard and fair racing.After Shahan made his way up to second, he was passed again and fell back to fourth. Knowing well that he would be passed again, he played the waiting game and followed patiently until the final lap to pass his rival, ensuring that he secured third place on a day, an extremely satisfying result given the circumstances.“I think this was one of the most difficult races I’ve ever driven, period. We had to overcome certain issues that have been there throughout the weekend so we had to work extra hard to get this result which makes it perhaps the most satisfying third place ever,” said a visibly exhausted Shahan post-race.“We had to be extra aggressive and think more tactically, and in the end, I think all of us can be very happy with the end result,” he added.

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