Monish Jain emerges as the Red Bull Kart Fight National Finals Champion

Bengaluru, October 28: Monish Jain clocked the best time to emerge victorious at the national final of the Red Bull Kart Fight at Meco Kartopia, an international racing track for Karting in Bengaluru on Saturday (October 28).

Twenty-two young amateur karting enthusiasts from more than 5000 participants around the country made it to the finals after an intense series of qualifying rounds held across Mumbai and Gurgaon between July and October at SMAAASH, a popular sports and entertainment centre.

Mira Erda, who is India’s first female driver to compete in one of the highest classes of Formula Racing in the country by participating in the Euro JK series at the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship, embraced the Red Bull kart Fight 2017 National Finals.

Present at the event, India’s racing sensation Mira Erda said, “It was great seeing the amateur racers driving at SMAAASH with the electric cars coming on this professional circuit and driving so well with such enthusiasm. Red Bull has given such a great opportunity to the participants to get into professional racing and providing them a chance to witness the grand prix in Abu Dhabi. It was my pleasure to be the part of this great event and my heartily congratulations to the winner of Red Bull kart Fight 2017”.

Based on the fastest lap timings, city qualifiers took place in July, August, September and October at SMAAASH Lower Parel, Mumbai and Skykarting (SMAAASH) Gurgaon where the top 10 timings (top three winners from July, August and September including one wild card winner in October) from each city qualified for the grand finale in Bengaluru.

National finals kicked off with trial rounds in groups of three followed by qualifiers of 10 laps (750 meters track length) and then 9 racers qualified for the final race (1.2 kms track length). The winner of Red Bull Kart Fight 2017 was not only crowned as the fastest amateur karter in India but also wins a fantastic all-expenses paid trip to the enthralling grand finale of this year’s F1 Championship, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2017.

The Red Bull Kart Fight Champion will earn the opportunity to witness the world's finest F1 drivers prove their mettle on the challenging Yas Marina Circuit.

Red Bull Kart Fight Champion Monish Jain said, “To be very honest, first of all, I didn’t expect to make it to the national finals in Bangalore. I’ve been very consistent in Mumbai and Bangalore. Before the heats, I called up my father and said, 'I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the finals.’ I don’t know how but I pulled it through by looking at the other racers. I just kept going, and kept going.

“I got P1 in the heats, and again when I qualified for grid positions in the final. All I knew for the final is that I had to keep my distance from Suraj because he is a brilliant driver. And that’s all I did. My first ever championship was the JK Tyres National Karting Championship. That was an unfortunate one because I made it to the finals and totalled the car completely. And then after that, it took me about a year to get back on track. But then I was a Mumbai champ for a year at Times Drive. That’s about it. After that I gave up racing to focus on education and career. I thank Red Bull for giving me this opportunity and providing amateur racers a great platform.”

REDBULL KART FLIGHT – FINAL RACE (10 Laps)

Pos. No Name Best Time

1 1 MONISH JAIN 1:18.334

2 10 DHRUV DAYAL 1:17.968

3 9 SURAJ BHUI 1:18.631

4 6 RACHIT SINGHAL 1:19.041

5 5 SURYANSH 1:19.595

6 2 ADHEET PARASHAR 1:19.763

7 4 AYAN SHARMA 1:20.726

8 3 MAYANK KUNDU 1:20.884