The championship featured a record 207 drivers compete in various categories for the ACI Karting Championship and the Italian Prodriver Championship.

The 12 year old Shihab competed in the OK Junior (OKJ) class which was introduced for the first time. Despite racing in a new class with a new engine Shihab recorded good lap times in the first practice session to finish fifth.

He started in tenth place in the qualifying round and finished seventh. Shihab who recently claimed the overall top honours in the UAE Rotax Max Challenge Series was unfortunate to be involved in a crash during the final qualifying and had to start from the back of grid of 34 drivers.

Known to be a fighter Shihab came back strongly to end his maiden race at 14th place among 17 drivers.

'It was a learning experience' he said on his return to Muscat. 'I did not get much time to practise with the new engine and it was a new track for me. Still I am happy to have clocked good pace and competed with some of the top racers' he said.

Nicolo Genisi (Formula K) won the race while Perdana Minang (Baby Race SRL) and Marzio Moretti (Forza Racing) ended second and third respectively. With his academic assignments in between Shihab had to skip the next round of the championship that was held in Italian city of Sarno last week.

Shihab has already qualified to compete in the CIK-FIA World Championship for Junior which will be held at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain in November.