Indian racing prodigy Atiqa Mir produced a special rearguard performance, charging through the field to gain 16 places and finish sixth in the opening race on her FIA Karting World Championship debut here.
The 11-year-old Atiqa, who is the first Indian to be backed by the Formula 1 Academy and competes in the 12-14 age category, is known for giving the more experienced drivers a run for their money. Her craft came to the fore once again in the opening race of the biggest karting competition held over the weekend.
A commendable P6 in a world-class field followed a heavy qualifying setback, when two drivers who had crashed blocked Atiqa while she rejoined the track and ruined her hot lap.
The incident put her down to second last in her group and 83rd out of 87 drivers overall. With only three heat races to make up the places, Atiqa had her task cut out, and the gritty girl from Srinagar, representing the Kart Republic team, didn’t let the situation faze her.
Before qualifying, Atiqa zoomed to P3 in the Qualifying Sim Practice Session.
In a recovery rarely seen in this Championship, Atiqa put on an overtaking masterclass by making up 16 places in Race 1 and finishing P6, which happened to be also the highest by an Indian this weekend.
She also jumped 10 places in Race 2 and four in Race 3, for a whopping 30-place gain.
She finished up 43 places higher overall and ranked 40th out of 87 drivers in a productive weekend.
In the Super Heat on Sunday, Atiqa started 14th on the grid and quickly made up five places before a crash dropped her to P16 in difficult weather conditions.
“That was a lot of fun, and I got amazing overtaking practice; that is how I treated this weekend after the qualifying disaster. That was out of my control, so I took control of what I could and drove my heart out.
“I feel I belong at this level and with a better qualifying, I can fight at the front. I want to thank my sponsors Raise and JK Tyre, without whom none of this would be possible,” said Atiqa, reflecting on her weekend.
Atiqa’s father, Asif Mir, India’s first national karting champion, said, “We were looking really strong for a top five result, but the qualifying spoilt everything for her. (It was) such a shame as she (had) worked really hard to get up to pace. But what followed surprised even me. She is a gutsy little girl playing with the big boys, I was very impressed.”