Chennai’s Nirmal Umashankar and Bengaluru’s Mihir Suman Avalakki will start as firm favourites in Round 2 of the X-30 class of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship 2019 at the Meco Kartopia here on Sunday.

Nirmal was virtually unstoppable in the last round, collecting a total of 36 points to shoot to the top of the leader-board in the Senior Category. He finished third in the first race but won the remaining three to underline his authority.

He will be looking to replicate the same form and extend his lead as the curtain goes up on this round.

Delhi’s Debarun  Banerjee (24) and MR Rishon (23) are trailing by a fair bit and will hope for a better round to catch up with Nirmal.

 In the Junior category, Mihir too won three races to log 33 points in the opening round to zoom ahead of the pack. He has a handy lead of 9 points over city-mates Arjun S Nair (24) and Ruhaan Alva (23) but will be aware that any lapses can hurt him.

In the Cadet category, it will be a three-way battle for supremacy between leader Ishaan Madhesh (37 points), Saathvik Raju (30 points) and Shriya Lohia (25 points). Ishaan won three races.