FIA Asia-Pacific Motorsport Championship: Aarav Dewan, Tarushi Vikram bag silver medals for India

BANDARAGAMA: Aarav Dewan, the 15-year-old from Gurugram and Chikmagaluru’s Tarushi Vikram picked up a silver medal each in the FIA Asia-Pacific Motorsport Championship 2025 which concluded here on Sunday.

Aarav finished second in the Senior class of the Karting Sprint event while Tarushi, who had won a silver in the Asian Auto Gymkhana Championship, gave another fine performance to be placed second in the Asia-Pacific Motorsport Championship segment.

The P2 finish for Aarav though was hardly a compensation for India after Kiaan Shah (Juniors) and Rehan Khan Rasheed (Cadet) retired from their respective Finals due to a mechanical issue and a crash, respectively, when in contention for a possible podium finish.

Eight-year-old Arshi Gupta (Faridabad) showed rich promise in finishing fourth, just five-hundredth of a second behind the third-placed Sum Lo from Hong Kong China while Bengaluru’s Rayan Gowda was ninth in the Cadet Final.

In the Senior final, Aarav drove well but could not match the pace of the leader Yu Ka Po (Hong Kong China), and focused on defending his P2 spot which, though, was hardly challenged while B Kumar Gowda (Bengaluru) was seventh.

“It was a good race, but I just didn’t have the pace to match the leader. So, I did the next best thing of defending my P2 position. I am thrilled to win a medal for India and it’s my first in an international championship,” said Aarav.

In the Junior section, Kiaan Shah’s retirement was a big disappointment when he was running second as the engine expired midway through the race.

The other two Indians in the fray, Akshat Misra (Bengaluru) came in a creditable fifth and Thomas Jacob George (Kottayam) eighth. Similarly, Rehan Khan Rasheed, who led in the first two laps, faltered to drop to fifth, but was on a charge when an understeer led to a crash.