How Indians performed over the weekend (August 11-13)

Result: fourth

Rising Indian karter and former Asian karting champion Shahan Ali Mohsin had a successful outing in the Rotax Grand Festival in Austria.

Competing in the Mini Max category along with 25 other karters, Mohsin finished on the podium in pre-finals before rounding off the weekend with a fourth place finish in the final race.

The Uniq Racing Team karter initially jumped to third at the restart, before dropping down to sixth with a slight mistake on lap 1.

The Agra-based karter then put on a fantastic recovery drive, overtaking Lotus’ Filip Jenic on the final lap to seal the fourth spot.

Best result: 19th

Mahindra returned empty handed from the most recent Moto3 round in Austria, with CIP rider Manuel Pagliani leading the charge for the Indian manufacturer in 19th.

With Red Bull Ring placing more emphasis on straight line speed and acceleration over cornering abilities, the Spielberg race was always going to be difficult for Mahindra.

Moreover, factory-supported Aspar riders were unlucky with accidents; Lorenzo Dalla Porta was steadily running in 16th place when he was taken out by a rival rider on lap 3, while Albert Arenas made contact on the final lap.

Best result: seventh

KY Ahamed was the most impressive Indian rider in the Indonesian round of Asia Road Racing Championship, scoring a double podium finish in the Suzuki Asia Challenge races.

In Saturday’s opening race, Ahamed made a rocketing start from 11th on the grid to jump up to fifth place. A few laps later, he took the race lead briefly, before being shuffled down the order due to the high slipstream effect.

On the final tour, several riders crashed out, forcing others to take avoiding action. Ahamed was unlucky to be caught in the melee and ended up a disappointing 10th.

The second race was a similar story, with Ahamed making an equally stellar start to move up to sixth. He led the race for a few corners on the final lap, but a late change of positions demoted him down to seventh.

Result: sixth

Sanjay Takale returned to APRC for the first time since last year’s season finale in India.

Equipped with a contemporary Mitsubishi Mirage AP4 as compared to the ageing Subaru Impreza which he raced last year, Takale finished sixth overall in Malaysia.

The veteran rallyist completed the two legs in 4h55m40.5s to comfortably edge one of his two teammates Robert Blomberg.

Best result: 17th

Sarath Kumar failed to capture the public imagination in Supersport 600cc, which is the flagship category in the Asia Road Racing Championship.

In a field comprising of former MotoGP and Moto2 riders, Sarath finished 17th in both races. Having scored points in each round so far, Indonesia marked the lowest point of the year for the former MotoGP-supporting 125cc championship rider.

Best result: 23rd

Rajiv Sethu’s difficult campaign in the Asia Production 250cc class continued at the Sentul International Circuit, with the Honda-backed rider unable to end his points duck.

Sethu, who was particularly impressive last year in the Asia Dream Cup, finished the weekend’s two races in the 23rd and 27th places respectively.

Result: DNF

Until that point he had looked strong to take a top-five finish.