Motorsport Roundup: Toyota Wins At Bahrain, Indian Karting Season Kicks Off, And Hyundai Simulates 2022 WRC Challenger

This past week in motorsport saw racing take place in the international as well as Indian arenas. The former had the 2021 WEC 6hrs of Bahrain, while the latter saw the Indian karting season kick off. There were also tests for the future for Hyundai’s 2022 WRC car. Here’s the lowdown:

WEC

The 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship returned to racing action with the penultimate round of the season in the form of the 6hrs of Bahrain. Toyota Gazoo Racing took the top honors, with the No.7 trio of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez. Second place, too, went to Toyota Gazoo Racing, with the No.8 car (Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Kazuki Nakajima), while the No.36 Alpine trio of Matthieu Vaxiviere, Nicolas Lapierre, and Andre Negrao took third place. This result means Toyota Gazoo Racing are the first to clinch the teams standings in the hypercar era.  

Indian motorsport

In the grassroots motorsport arena, we had the opening round of the 2021 Meco-FMSCI National Karting Championship Rotax season take place at the Meco Kartopia circuit in Bangalore. Taking top honors in the Micromax class was Nikhilesh Raju of Birel Art India, with teammate Aditya Suresh Kamat finishing in second place. Anuj A. of MSPORT rounded out the podium places.

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In the Juniormax class, a close finale saw Abhay M (Birel Art India) take the win ahead of Ruhaan Alva (MSPORT) in second place, followed by Rohaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing) in third place. The Seniormax class saw Kyle Kumaran (Peregrine Racing) come out on top, with teammate Suriya Varathan finishing second, and Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) in third place.

WRC

While the 2021 World Rally Championship season is still underway, the focus is shifting towards the 2022 hybrid era, with Hyundai Motorsport conducting a private rally for their 2022 WRC car. The private rally took place at Piedmont Italy. The 2022 season is set to kick off at the Monte Carlo Rally which will take place from January 20-23.

Next week will see Formula One return for a triple header of races starting with the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend, with the penultimate round of the 2021 MotoGP season taking place at Portimao.