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.
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 Portugal.
“It has been an exciting and challenging year. We lost some battles, but won the war. For me and my team, Msport, it’s our fourth consecutive championship win together,” a proud Rivaan told CE.
The competition was rigorous indeed. “The toughest competition through the season was my teammate Rishik (Rohit Reddy), and Rehan (Khan) also gave me some challenges,” he added.
However, solid preparation and training helped him throughout. “I train at KLUTCH which is an elite athlete fitness centre. They monitor my nutrition. Also, working with the simulator and watching races from all over the world help me gain skill and strength. We train at Meco Kartopia, Mika, and CoASTT tracks according to the race calendar. I’ve done some races abroad as well so that exposure helps greatly. In India, Armaan Ebrahim is my team principal; he guides and mentors me. I work with Rakesh Ramkumar, who is my personal data coach here in India,” the youngster shared.
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 2027.”
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.
