In the heat of the RAK Track in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, during the curtain-raiser event of the IAME Pre-Season Cup, 9-year-old female karting phenom Atiqa Mir secured an incredible pole position.

Atiqa was performing at the highest level as she established an event record with a breathtaking lap time of 44.77 seconds. Atiqa showed maturity by missing three laps in qualifying and having her kart not start on the grid in the event with 24 karts competing. She didn’t let that stop her from competing, either, as the crew was able to repair her kart and Atiqa completed the five laps needed to clinch pole position.

Three karts overtook Atiqa in the pre-final as she started from the pole due to an engine problem. Although Atiqa put out a strong effort throughout the race, an unlucky three-second penalty caused her to tumble to seventh position. After claiming the lead, Atiqa said, “This might be one of my best races ever.” The greatest point of my most recent race, the IAME Pre-Season Cup 2024, was taking pole position, which established an event record, and finishing close to the top four.

“Despite the challenging conditions and intense heat, I was able to record a lap time of 44.77 seconds.” After an unlucky penalty put me behind early on, I was able to catch up and finish just 0.5 seconds behind the leader, narrowly missing third place by 0.05 seconds! That was almost there! There were challenges, but I overcame them and really loved this event,” she said.

Atiqa began the final in eighth position, but a Turn 1 incident on Lap 1 relegated him to eleventh. She then began one of the most amazing comebacks, turning a series of the fastest laps and closing the gap on the leaders on the last lap. She trailed the leader by just 0.5 seconds at the finish, barely missing third place by that much.