Raghul, Vishnu bring JKNRC to life, win one race each in LGB-4

Coimbatore, July 28: The Chennai duo of Raghul Rangasamy and Vishnu Prasad brought the opening round of the 22nd JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship to life, splitting dramatic victories in the FLGB-4 category on an action-packed Day 2 here on Sunday. The day began with Raghul stealing the thunder but ended with Vishnu streaking to his second last-lap win to spice up the competition. It made for a perfect weekend for their team, MSport, though. The three podium finishes, including his win on Saturday, handed Vishnu the championship lead with a grand total of 28 points.

All this came along with a lot of post-race drama, with Vishnu first being dislodged from the top before being reinstated again after a series of protests.

The JK Tyre Novice Cup too saw some heated off-the-track action. Bangalore’s Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports) sailed past the chequered flag for the third consecutive time, only to discover that he had made a jump start. He was penalised by 10 seconds that saw him slide all the way down to the eighth position.

Mohamed Ryan (MSports; Chennai), who had finished second after him, was declared the winner while Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum; Mumbai) moved up one step to take the second position. The change hurt Chirag badly, taking away the overall championship lead from him and yielding it to Aaroh.

The Suzuki Gixxer Cup was a repeat of Day 1, with Bangalore’s Syed Muzammil Ali scoring an encore, but this time with over 5 seconds to spare. Pune’s Tanay Gaikwad (14:25.458) and Sidharth Sajan (14:27.480) held on to their podium places, in almost identical fashion.

The JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies saw Ikshan Shanbag of Satara underlining his potential with his second straight win. Prashanth R (Chennai) and Aryan Gurav (Pune) took the other two places on the podium.

A new category for women was also introduced, celebrating the best racer in the LGB-4 bunch. Vadodara’s Mira Erda (MSport) grabbed the honours by finishing ahead of all the women in each of the races.

Ahura Racing’s duo of Megaa KS and Diana Pundole took the first and second runner’s up trophies in this round.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1:

LGB Formula 4 (Race 2): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 18:28.329; 2. Vishnu Prasad (MSport) 18:31.673; 3. Sandeep Kumar A (Dark Don) 18:32.848

LGB Formula 4 (Race 3): 1. Vishnu Prasad (MSports) 20:02.742; 2. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 20:02.810; 3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing) 20:05.316;

JK Tyre Novice Cup (Race 3): 1. Mohamed Ryan (MSports) 23:44.056; 2. Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum Motorsports) 23:47.212; 3. Mihir Avalakki (Birel Art) 23:47.330

JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup: 1. Syed Muzammil Ali 14:19.609; 2. Tanay Gaikwad 14:25.458; 3. Sidharth Sajan 14:27.480

JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies : 1. Ikshan Shanbag; 2. Prashanth R 3. Aryan Gurav 14:35.073

JK Tyre Women's Category (LGB Formula 4) : 1. Mira Erda (MSport); 2. Mega K.S (Ahura Racing); 3. Diana Pundole (Ahura Racing)

About JK Tyre Motorsport: JK Tyre has been closely associated with the world of motorsports for almost three decades back. The company laid down a long term plan to popularise and promote the sport in the country. Its first target was to change the notion that this was a sport for the elite. So it packaged and redesigned it in a spectator-friendly way, drawing the masses to the sport. We then endeavoured to spot, nurture and sharpen the drivers to turn them into world champions. With this goal in mind, we conceptualized the JK Tyre National Racing Champion in 1997. Our efforts started paying dividends in just a few years’ time, with the likes of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok going all the way to the F1 rung, the highest level of single-seat racing in the world. Since then, a number of stars emerged, including Armaan Ebrahim, the Maini brothers (Kush and Arjun), Anindith Reddy Konda, amongst many others.