Lankan-born Karting prodigy Yevan David(10) among Top 16
Yevan with his mentors after the race
Lankan-born Karting sensation, Yevan David, now based in Singapore, finished among the Top 16 at the IAME World Karting Finals 2017, held at the Le Mans International Circuit in France last week. David, an up-and-coming racing star, experienced mechanical problems during the qualifying stages, but his determination was such, the 10-year-old never backed down.
The grid was competitive and Yevan had to pace up to be among the Top 10 throughout the practice sessions. Sadly, during qualifying, his Kart experienced a mechanical fault and Yevan had to finish 33rd out of 36 competitors. During the heats that followed, Yevan fought his way up to finish at 20th, 24th and 30th positions, while 30th was a result of avoiding another driver who crashed and a spun out.
In the pre-final, after starting off 27th in the grid, Yevan fought his way up to finish 21st, to reach the final, which was a tough one for all competitors. The final was a hard fought race which was red-flagged after 4 laps due to a crash. However, Yevan kept his nerves to battle it out and reached the checkered flag 16th.
The eventual result also put Yevan among the Top 16 drivers in his age group, in the world. He will now race in Singapore and Thailand for the rest of the year and will be racing on his home soil, Sri Lanka, in January 2018 at the Sri Lanka Karting Circuit in Bandaragama, where he started Karting at the inaugural X30 Race.
The IAME World Finals 2017 was held in early October at the Le Mans International Karting Circuit in France with 400 of the world’s top drivers vying for honours. This was the first time that IAME invited Mini drivers from 8 to 12 years, to participate in the event, with winners from their respective home championships. Mini drivers from Europe, North America, South America, Russia, Middle East and Asia took part in the finals in France. Yevan, won the championship for South East Asia, to qualify and represent Asia at the World finals.