Abu Dhabi: Eight-year-old Emirati karting ace, Rashid Al Daheri, continues to fly the UAE flag high, winning the Rookie Category of the 2016 Parolin Championkart series on Sunday for the second weekend in a row.
Despite starting the final race in seventh place, Rashid put in a gutsy performance to claim top honours at Pista Rioveggio near Bologna, Italy.
In a three gruelling days of racing, Rashid completed over 40 sessions and around 250 kilometres alongside 100 other drivers in constantly changing track and weather conditions.
As a result, qualifying on Sunday proved to be a challenge for the Abu Dhabi schoolboy, who had to settle for ninth place, albeit only half a second adrift of the pole position time. Starting the Final in P7, the youngster put in an almost flawless performance, staying out of trouble while retaining a blistering pace throughout. He fought his way to P3 overall, in a tense and exciting race, and with it claimed the top prize in the Rookie Category for a second successive week.
Team manager and ex-Formula 3 champion, Fausto Ippoliti, said: “It was not an easy race weekend for Rashid. It was a new track, with tricky weather conditions, which kept changing from session to session. We also had a few technical issues on Sunday morning before the final race.
“However, despite all these challenges Rashid kept cool throughout and delivered a great performance.”
“We are extremely happy with his performance this weekend, yet again he showed incredible maturity and focus for his young age. This is a very competitive series and Rashid is the youngest driver in a field of more experienced, older drivers, so to achieve third place overall and P1 in the Rookie Category after starting in the middle of the pack is a fantastic result.” added Ippoliti.
Rashid and his team return to action in the 2016 ChampionKart series at the Circuito Internazionale del Friuli Venezia Giulia in Lignano, Italy, on June 2.
