Thaindian News

Chenna, Nov 27 (IANS) Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) won a dramatic Formula LGB Swift race in the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship here Sunday, but had to spend several anxious moments waiting to be confirmed winner of his maiden drivers’ championship, 22 points ahead of team-mate R.Deepak.

Walavalkar’s anxiety after clinching the championship had much to do with an otherwise up-and-down season he has had with a couple of exclusions due to technical infringements. However, the 30-year old from Mumbai survived this weekend without any penalties.

“In three previous attempts in the Formula LGB Swift and Rolon classes, I have been in the running for the championship only to lose out in the final round,” the 30-year old Walavalkar said.

“I am glad that I did not have to face such luck this time around. It has been a challenging year, considering that I had no points from a disastrous first round and had to face two disqualifications,” he added.

Walavalkar won his sixth race of the season Sunday, but not before it was red-flagged after just two laps due to a collision between Meco Motorsports racers Pushan Das and Rahul Rangaswamy. On restart, Sarosh Hataria (Meco) led briefly until he spun and Walavalkar moved in front to clinch the race.

In the single-make Volkswagen Polo R Cup series, Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad annexed the championship with a mature approach in both races on Sunday.

The 18-year old from Chennai finished third in the first race and fourth in the second, but that was enough to help him emerge champion with 388 points, 17 clear of Pune’s Oshan Kothadiya.

Meanwhile, RAD Racing’s Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan completed a memorable comeback to racing by winning the final race of the season, his third in nine starts in the Indian Touring Cars class (Super Saloon) ahead of championship winner Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan.

The results (provisional):

Formula LGB Swift (Merged result for 12 laps): Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 1 (14mins, 13.709secs); Sarosh Hataria (Meco Motorsports) 2 (14:15.580); Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports) 3 (14:23.218).

Indian Touring Cars (merged result for 11 laps): N Leelakrishnan (RAD Racing) 1 (15:06.619); V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 2 (15:08.880); GD Raj Kumar (Prime Racing) 3 (15:15.024).

Indian Junior Touring Cars: Feroze Khan (HCZ Racing) 1 (20:21.952); Fahad Kutty (Game Over) 2 (20:23.468); Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 3 (20:24.755).

Polo R Cup (Race 1 - 15 laps): Avdumber Hede (Goa) 1 (18:58.343); Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 2 (19:00.337); Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 3 (19:10.284). Race 2 (15 laps): Sunny Sidhu 1 (19:48.996); Maiken Rassmussen 2 (19:50.219); Mihir Dharkar (Mumbai) 3 (19:50.495).
Drivers’ Championship:

Formula LGB Swift: 1. Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 162 points; 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Mars Racing) 142; 3. Chitesh Mandody (Meco Motorsports) 120.

Indian Touring Cars (Super Saloon): 1. Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 217 points; 2. Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan (RAD Racing) 169; 3. B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) 132.

Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 228 points; 2. B Balavijay (MotoRev India) 185; 3. Feroze Khan (HCZ Racing) 120.

Polo R Cup series (computed on basis of best 11 results): 1. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 388 points; 2. Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 361; 3. Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) 364.