Tamil Nadu’s Rivaan Dev Preetham Shines in Karting Championship, Sets Record Lap and Qualifies for 

Points mattered more than victory as Rivaan Dev Preetham of Tamil Nadu emerged as the overall champion in the Junior MAX category of the MECO FMSCI Indian National Karting Championship RMC India 2026, which concluded at the Meco Kartopia, Bengaluru, on Sunday.Rivaan earned a ticket to the World Rotax Max Grand Finals to be held at the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit in Portugal from November 7-14. The global event will see 432 elite racers from 60-plus nations go head-to-head on one of Europe’s most thrilling circuits.Rivaan acknowledged that racing in international competitions has made him a better competitor. “The FIA Arrive and Drive Asia Pacific Championship in Macau in September also gave me good exposure. Earlier this year, I also won the Indian karting academy trophy, which has won me a seat in the FIA Academy Trophy
This season has been good for Rivaan as he put in a standout performance at the FIA Karting Arrive and Drive Asia Pacific Championship 2026 in Macau (Sept 11–13). Racing against local champions, he climbed from P5 to P2 in Sprint 1, then P6 to P3 in Sprint 2, and finished P5 in the qualifying heats. In the grand final, he missed out on a podium finish from P5 despite weather delays. The big highlight was he set the fastest lap of the entire championship at 47.375s — an official event record. With this, he has qualified for the FIA World Cup that is being conducted in Malaysia the week after the grand finals in He also credited his team for his success. “Msport is a SODI team, and we race Rotax junior engines. It’s extremely fast and powerful. I enjoy Sodi and Rotax! We have Sachin Mandody who is the chief mechanic who builds our engines and works on them tirelessly. This year, the team also brought down Jason Roalf and David Wright from the UK to help us. With Armaan uncle’s experience and inputs, and my feedback, we work well together. It’s been a joint effort,” he signed off.