Coimbatore, Aug 9 : The first round of the 18th JK Tyre Racing Championship concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Sunday with drivers Vishnu Prasad and Akhil Rabindra emerging winners in the two races of the JK Racing India Series, while Sudarshana Rao Karwal and Karminder Singh prevailed in the Formula LGB 4 and JK Tyre-Volkswagen Vento Cup categories, respectively.
The first race of the day was the JK Racing India Series. Race two of the first round saw Bengaluru's Akhil start from pole position. He had a healthy start and dominated the race but a jumpstart caused him a penalty of 10 seconds. It brought Chennai's Prasad to the forefront, followed by Bengaluru's Ananth Shanmugam from Bangalore. Akhil had to settle for a third place.
Prasad finished with a timing of 16 minutes and 41.46 seconds. Second placed Shanmugam had a timing of 16 minutes and 44.76 seconds. While Akhil finished the race in 16 minutes and 46.63 seconds.
However, Akhil came back with a bang in the third race and made his way to the first place after starting from the fourth. It was a fight from start to finish as drivers fought bumper to bumper with Prasad finishing in the second place. Italian driver Constantino Peroni paced his way to a third place finish.
Akhil finished first with a timing of 16 minutes and 49.32 seconds, while Prasad completed in 16 inutes and 50. 15 seconds. International driver Perroni made it in 16 minutes and 51.49 seconds.
Next up, it was the turn for Formula LGB 4 category. Prasad started off well but because of overtaking under yellow flags the Chennai racer was given a 10-second penalty. Sudarshan Rao Karwal followed by Chittesh Mandody from Kolhapur and Rohit Khanna from Delhi all representing Team Dark Don Racing, finished first, second and third respectively.
Karwal completed the race with a timing of 24 minutes and 08.96 seconds, followed by Mandody with 24 minutes and 09.33 seconds and Khanna in third spot with a time of 24 minutes and 10.34 seconds.
The final round of the Vento Cup saw Delhi's Karminder Singh, Anindith Reddy Konda from Hyderabad and Sahil Gahuri also from Delhi, emerge winners. Local champion Vigneshvar Devarajan was at the pole position who was followed by 21 cars.
It was a thrill to watch Karminder take the lead from his start position (sixth) on the track to come out as winner. Karminder finished first with a timing of 17 minutes and 54.46 seconds, while second placed Konda crossed the end point in 17 minutes and 55.90 seconds followed by third place holder Gahuri in 18 minutes 05 seconds.
The next round will be held here from September 4 to 6.
Spread over four rounds and 32 races, after the first two rounds, the last two will take place at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida.
