Sports

India’s Aashi Hanspal grabs two podium finishes in Dubai Endurance Karting Championship

All-Indian team wins Nations Cup, finishes second in Overall Championship 

by Suman Gupta

Dubai, December : Mumbai’s rising kart racing star Aashi Hanspal created a record of sorts by taking part in the prestigious 24-Hour Dubai Endurance Karting Championship in Dubai’s Motorcity over the weekend, while also clinching two podium places along with her teammates in the Overall Championship.

Fourteen-year-old Aashi, a Grade 9 student from Bombay Scottish School, became the only Indian girl to compete in this World Series event. Thanks to her team EBC Brakes’ brilliant run in the previous three rounds, she also finished on the podium twice.

The all-Indian team, featuring Arjun Manjunath (Bangalore), Rachit Singhal (Delhi), Jamie (Mumbai), Aditya Swaminathan (Bangalore) and Aashi, grabbed the second position in the Overall Championship as well as the first position in the Nations Cup.

Aashi, who was chosen for the Outstanding Women in Motorsports Award by FMSCI in 2019, had also become the only Indian girl to take part in the FIA Girls on Track ‘Rising Stars’ initiative in France earlier in October 2020.

FMSCI Women in Motorsports Commission Chairperson Mrs. Sita Raina congratulated Aashi on her successful run in the Dubai Endurance event. “Aashi is a budding star and has already made her presence felt not only in India but also on the international stage,” she said. “This was not an easy competition for someone so young,” she added.

“I was thrilled when DojoMoto Racing invited me to race for Team EBC Brakes along with fellow racers from India. We worked well as a group and won two trophies, one of which as a Team India representative,” Aashi said.

The annual Dubai Endurance Championship consists of 4 rounds, with the last one being the 24-Hour Championship held this weekend in Dubai. In Round 1, teams raced against each other for 400 laps, in Round 2 for 6 hours non-stop and in Round 3 for 12 hours non-stop.

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