The first race of Round 3 of Volkswagen Ameo Cup saw Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite take fourth win of the season. Starting from pole position after having set the fastest lap time of 1:54.959, Dhruv took a holeshot and started building a lead right from the first lap. Till mid-way through the race, Dhruv kept on building his lead. However, the temperatures started building up in the second half of the race and he decided to ease off a little bit. The lead he had built up till then gave him enough cushion in terms of time to slow down a bit without losing his position or even coming under pressure from second placed Saurav.
The fight for the second and third spot was more exciting as Saurav, Jeet and Anmol fought each other early in the race. The three drivers stayed extremely close to each other in the first few corners with Saurav coming through ahead, followed by Jeet. Anmol slowed down mid-way through the race allowing quite a few drivers to get past. Pratik Sonawane, who had started way back in eight position made great moves to come close to Jeet. He stayed on Jeet’s tail all the way till the end, trying to put pressure him. However, Jeet held his calm, made no mistake and clinched the final position on the podium.
An excited Dhruv commented after winning the race,
It has been a good weekend so far – first the pole position and now a win! I was focussed on staying ahead and building a good gap in the first part of the race and I managed it successfully. In the second half, it was more about conserving the tyres and ensuring top position till chequered flag.
Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India said post the race,
Today’s race was pretty clean one with only a few ups and downs here and there. We had two major crashes with cars getting terribly damaged yesterday. Our technical teams worked hard till late night yesterday to have both the cars up on the grid for the race tomorrow.
He further added,
The championship is closely contested at the moment and with five more races to go, it is anyone’s title at the moment!
Karthik Tharani win Indian National Racing Championship TC4-A race driving Volkswagen Vento
Volkswagen Motorsport India fielded three Vento race cars in the Indian National Racing Championship TC4-A class as a part of its development programme for Customer Sport. Former Volkswagen Polo Cup winner and test driver at Volkswagen Motorsport India, Karthik Tharani, drove one of these Vento race cars to victory today. The race, which is held alongside the Indian Touring Car Championship, saw Karthik starting in third position on the overall grid and first in his class. He maintained his position till the end to take the victory. Karthik posted a fastest lap time of 1:54.123 in the Volkswagen Vento race car.
Commenting about the performance of under-development Volkswagen Vento race car, Sirish Vissa said,
“I am quite happy with the development progress that we have made this weekend. From the last round to this one, we closed the gap to fastest cars in Indian Touring Car championship to under a second.” He added, “Over the last few driving sessions, we found the right direction to fine-tune our car. This has helped us gain some speed. However, the work is not done for us as yet. There is still some potential to be tapped and I am sure we will improve our timings further.”
Volkswagen Ameo Cup 2018 Round 3 Race 1: Results
Read under Sr.No., Name, Total Time and City
- 1 Dhruv Mohite 15:38.719 Kolhapur
- 2 Saurav Bandyopadhyay 15:43.499 Thane
- 3 Jeet Jhabakh 15:43.879 Hyderabad
- 4 Pratik Sonawane 15:44.467 Pune
- 5 Affan Sadat Safwan 15:57.435 Chittagong
- 6 Siddharth Mehdiratta 16:01.581 Lucknow
- 7 Shubhomoy Ball 16:01.717 Bangalore
- 8 Ameya Dandekar 16:04.019 Mumbai
- 9 Anmol Singh Sahil 16:05.077 Gaziabad
- 10 H.M Tuhid Anwar 16:08.129 Chennai
- 11 Ayush Ramesh Tainwala 16:14.135 Mumbai
- 12 Rahul Thomas 16:14.498 Chennai
- 13 Akshay P Bhivsheti 16:38.806 Goa
- 14 Shivani Pruthvi 16:40.009 Davangere
- 15 Anuranjan Velmurugan 16:40.066 Chennai
- 16 Renuka G 16:50.612 Bangalore
- 17 Jay Sandeep Sangharjka 16:41.628 Mumbai
- 18 Manoj Yanamdala – Rajamundary
- 19 Dr. Amjad Khan – Hyderabad
Highlights
- Flawless driving sees Kolhapur lad extend his lead in the Volkswagen one-make series
- Saurav Bandyopadhyay fininshes second followed by Jeet Jhabakh in third
- Karthik Tharanisingh wins the Indian National Racing Championship TC4-A class driving Volkswagen Vento
