Mir, Kappen, Matsui highest placed Asians after round 1 of COFTA

Portimao

Champions of the Future Academy Program

OK - N Junior

In the OK – N Junior Category at the Champions of the Future Academy Program Round 1 in Portimão, the weekend saw mixed performances from the drivers. Shivaan Karthik Mohan had a challenging weekend, with a P32 in Time Qualifying 1 and a series of tough finishes, ending Final 1 in P20 and Final 2 in P18. Sujana Dandu also struggled, starting with a P30 in Time Qualifying 1 and ending both Finals with DNFs and a P21 in Final 2. Sanjana Dandu faced similar difficulties, with a P28 in Time Qualifying 1 and struggling to improve, finishing P22 in Final 2 after multiple penalties. Veer Chopra showed resilience despite some penalties, finishing P13 in Time Qualifying 1 and improving to P17 in Final 2. Nathan Kappen had an unfortunate start, with a DNF in Qualifying Heat 1.1, but managed a solid recovery, finishing P6 in Final 2 after a P25 in Time Qualifying 2. Despite some setbacks, the drivers showed determination in a tough weekend.

MINI-60

Atiqa Mir showed potential with a P9 in Time Qualifying 1, but struggled with consistency after a DNF in her first heat, though managed to recover for a respectable P12 in Final 1. However, in Final 2 she had another DNF. Rivaan Dev Preetham started strong with P6 in Time Qualifying 1 but couldn't capitalize after his Heat 1 DNF, ultimately finishing P16 in Final 2 – his best result of the weekend. Rehaan Khan faced a challenging weekend, qualifying P19 on Saturday and P27 on Sunday. Despite working his way to P13 in Final 1, he couldn't maintain this momentum in Sunday's races, slipping to P15 in Final 2 after struggling through the qualifying heats. In the U10 category, Bruno Pacheco demonstrated significant improvement throughout the weekend, climbing from a P27 Time Qualifying position to finish P14 in Final 2, while Samar Chopra faced similar challenges but managed to finish all his Sunday races despite qualifying near the back of the field. 

OK-N Senior

Enjoyed reading so far? Don’t be shy, subscribe to us to read more about how Asians are faring in global motorsport 🌏🏎️💨

Sara Matsui’s weekend began with a P17 in Time Qualifying 1, leading to mid-pack results in Saturday's heats and ultimately a P19 finish in Final 1. Sunday showed glimpses of potential as she improved to P14 in Time Qualifying 2 and achieved her weekend-best result with P10 in Qualifying Heat 2.1. However, she couldn't fully capitalize on this momentum, finishing P15 in the second heat and P17 in Final 2.