Greater Noida: The third round of the 16th JK Tyre Racing Championship came to a climactic finish in front of 35,000 vociferous crowds that packed the grandstand at the Buddh International Circuit. The day was marked by some breathtaking racing, high-speed action and exciting finishes.
Once again the two races of the JK Racing India Series and Sarosh Hataria’s double victory, which completed a hat trick of wins over the weekend in the FLGB Formula 4, were the high points of an exciting day’s racing.
In the second race of the JK Racing India Series, championship leader, Vishnu Prasad, asserted his supremacy by taking hard earned victory over the winner of the first race, Arjun Maini by a mere 1.3 seconds. Mahaveer Rangunathan, who was penalised 30 seconds in the first race for making a jump start, made good by claiming third position a further 6.8 seconds adrift of the race winner.
But it all came alive in race three of the series. Maini made a great start going into the first corner, but by the time pack of cars came around to complete the first lap, Prasad, jumped the leader and opened up lead of few car lengths. Behind the race leader, Maini and Chittesh Mandody, who started from sixth position on the grid, managed to slot into third place by the end of the first lap, kept the pressure up on the race leader. Prasad looked like having the race under control for nine laps, but on the final lap going into the first corner, he made a small error for which he paid a big price by the time the leading pack reached the third corner.
Maini grabbed the opportunity to dive on the inside of the hairpin leading to the 1.2km back straight managed to squeeze Prasad off the racing line. The pair made light contact but it was enough for Maini to take the lead. Even before Prasad could recover from the shock move, Mandody too pounced upon the chance to go past the Chennai driver. The top three drivers took the chequered flag in that order. It’s marked the second victory of the weekend for 15-year-old Maini setting up the championship for an mouth-watering finish in the final round in December.
“It was a very good weekend in which I managed to score very useful points and keep Vishnu in sight for the championship. I would have liked to make it three out of three, but I’ll try to achieve that in the final round,” said the race winner.
In the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup, Jeffrey too made a clean sweep by winning both the races on Sunday. This means the South African driver recorded three victories from three races. In the second race, Karthik Tharani and Lee Keshav Gupta finished in second and third places respectively. In the third race, Chennai-based Prashant Tharani finished in second, while Yatin Magu climbed into third place.
In the FLGB Formula 4, Hataria proved to be peerless. In the second race, which ran after a sharp spell of shower left the track in wet condition, the Coimbatore driver delved deep into experience to provide a masterclass of driving in slippery condition. Despite spinning and losing the track position, Hataria, clawed back into lead by the time the chequered flag was shown. Ameya Bafna, who was in second place till the penultimate lap spun at the last corner in front of the main straight, lost a position to Advait Deodhar but still had enough lead over the rest of the field to claim a third place finish. In the third race of FLGB Formula 4, it was Hataria show all the way, with Ameya Bafna and Kartik Shankar completing the top three.
With this hat trick of wins, Hataria virtually sealed the championship. “I have not looked at the final points yet and how I’m placed, but this great weekend has certainly helped me to move into a stronger position,” said Hataria.
The weekend of round three of the 16th JK Tyre Racing Championships saw the Buddh International Circuit coming to life with thousands of racing fans from all across Delhi & NCR coming to witness the motorsport extravaganza. The weekend also saw some exceptional stunts being performed by German stuntman and world record holder Ronny Wechselberger who performed his Guinness Record breaking 360 degree parking at above normal speeds which got the crowd to the edge of their seats and thrilled to bits.
Results:
JK Racing India Series (JK FB02)
Race 2: 1. Vishnu Prasad (22:09.439) 2. Arjun Maini (22:10.747) 3. Mahaveer Rangunathan (22:17.591).
Race 3: 1. Arjun Maini (22:03.289) 2. Chittesh Mandody (22:03.882) 3. Vishnu Prasad (22:05.958)
FLGB Formula 4
Race 2: 1. Sarosh Hataria (21:54.27) 2. Advait Deodhar (21:55.655) 3. Ameya Bafna (22:05.033)
Race 3: 1. Sarosh Hataria (19:55.854) 2. Ameya Bafna (19:56.688) 3. Kartik Krishna (19:57.196)
JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup
Race 2: 1. Jeffrey Kruger (23:26.631) 2. Karthik Tharani (23:32.563) 3. Lee Keshav Gupta (23:33.540)
Race 3: 1. Jeffrey Kruger (20:09.109) 2. Prashant Tharani (20:31.577) 3. Yatin Magu (20:31.706)