Bengaluru’s Kush Maini, driving for ForzaRacing and taking part in the KF Junior category of European Karting produced a fine performance to lift the TrofeoMargutti Trophy, in Italy. The 14-year old became the first Asian to win the event in 26 years.
The youngster on Saturday managed to top the qualifying session with a time of 43.748 seconds which continued to remain as the event record for the KFJ class and claimed back to back victories in the first two heats. The victories ensured he maintained pole position for the pre-final on Sunday.
Maini continued his good run and comfortably won the pre-final, edging Russian driver Ivan Grigoryev with an overall time of 14:53.756 seconds. For the final, Maini expectedly started first in the grid and maintained perfect control throughout the race.
The Bengaluru boy clocked 14:53.483 seconds to emerge champion while Italy’s Lorenzo Colombo finished second. Speaking about his, Maini said, “It feels great to win my first race of the year. I’ve been close on a few occasions this year so it definitely feels good to get that first win under my belt.”
Maini will now look to capitalise on the momentum he has built up and focus on the third round of WSK Master Series which will take place in April.