Double glory for Ashwin Sundar, Arjun Balu and Feroze Khan in Round 4 of 15th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship

Walavalkar and Sandeep Kumar win a race each in JK Tyre-VW Polo R Cup

Chennai, September 16, 2012: Dark Don racing team's Ashwin Sundar from Chennai, the experienced Arjun Balu from Coimbatore, and young Feroze Khan also from Chennai stole the lime light with their superlative performances to gain a double win each in different categories at the end of Round 4 of the 15th JK Tyre National Racing Championship that concluded today at the Madras Motor Race Track(MMRT) near suburban Sriperumbudur.

In the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup races, Mumbai's Ameya Walavalkar, a knowledgeable driver known for his perfection in handling the car having thrived and experienced from his karting days did not face any problem today in the first race. He had to ward of difficult times in the second to finish sixth after starting eighth in the reverse grid format. In both races today, Ameya Walavalkar returned best lap timings proving his expert abilities.

In the second race, Sandeep Kumar of Chennai finished first followed by Saurav Bandyopadhay (Mumbai) and Deigo Duez (Mexico) for the second and third places respectively. It was a special win for the Mexican who also celebrates Mexican Independence day today.

In the last and third event of this round in the LGB Formula 4 category, Chennai based Ashwin Sundar, who had won the first race and finished second in the second race was in his elements and reacted quickly in all respects and stood out from the rest in the third race today.

Another talented driver from Chennai, Saran Vikram, and winner of the second race yesterday kept to his game plan of wanting to finish on podium instead of getting declared 'DNF'. He took his time at the start allowing Ashwin's teammate Sarosh Hataria to go past him but only to pass the latter at the second corner. Saran started second and Hataria third on the grid but the former was determined to avoid any incident that would affect his chances of finishing on podium. Sarosh had a duel with young Chennai lad Vishnu Prasad, who tailed him almost through out the race. Sarosh yielded no leeway to Vishnu by always keeping to his inside line. His determination won him the third place on the podium.

With two wins from three races Ashwin Sundar leads the pack on the points table and with four more races to go (two rounds) the remainder of the championship will witness tougher competition from second placed Saran Vikram (Mars Racing) and Rayo Racing's Sudarshan Rao of Bangalore, who is on 82 points.

The much awaited Indian Touring Cars Class race threw out interesting hot chases for top honours but Coimbatore's Arjun Balu, the favourite in the category, kept his cool to live up to his billing as the 'top seed'. There was no difference in the style in which he won the first race yesterday. Starting from pole, Balu brought about a stunning finish for first place.

Balu, with his experience, was in a league of his own; determined to keep ahead from the others with a solid lead right from the beginning. There was greater challenge for second and third place between Arjun Narendran (Coimbatore), N Leelakrishnan (Coimbatore), V. Rajvirdhan (Coimbatore) and Siddharth Kishore( Chennai).

But as the luck would have it, Rajvirdhan, who was looking to finish 2nd, packed up in the eighth lap when his engine blew up perhaps because of a combination of heat and humidity and his eagerness to catch up with Balu. On all counts, it was a creditable show by veteran Leelakrishnan to finish second for the second successive podium finish this weekend with Siddharth Kishore coming third on the podium.

In the Indian Junior Touring Cars event, Chennai based Feroze Khan made it a start to finish affair driving with élan well ahead of his rivals to achieve a creditable double. However, Mumbai's Fahad Kutty, the leader on the points table, who had packed up his engine yesterday, showed his class with a fourth place finish after starting 22nd on grid.

The results:

Volkswagen Polo R Cup:
Race 1 (10 laps): Ameya Walavalkar 1 (20:28.141); Rahil Noorani 2 (20:38.752); Avdumber Hede 3 (20:39.439).
Race 2 (10 laps): A Sandeep Kumar 1 (20:42.175); Saurav Bhandopadhyay 2 (20:45.913); Diego Duez 3 (20:51.367)
Championship standings: Ameya Walavalkar 274; Sandeep Kumar 247; Avdumber Hede 221

LGB Formula 4 (10 laps): Ashwin Sundar (Dark Don Racing) 1 (19mins, 48.350secs); Saran Vikram (Mars Racing) 2 (19:49.871); Sarosh Hataria (Dark Don Racing) 3 (20:06.230)
Championship standings (top 3): Ashwin Sundar 111 points; Saran Vikram 86; Sudarshana Rao 82.

Indian Touring Cars (8 laps): Arjun Balu (Tiger Sport India) 1 (16:05.647); N Leelakrishnan (Big Foots Racing) 2 (16:12.237); Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 3 (16:19.671)
Championship standings: Arjun Balu 118; Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan 93; Leelakrishnan 81

Indian Junior Touring Cars (10 laps): S Feroze Khan 1 (21:57.236); Emmanuel Clarke (Moto-Rev India) 2 (22:03.714); Dilijith Shaji (Eran Group Sports Club) 3 (22:04.340)
Championship standings: Fahad Kutty 137; Feroze Khan 136; Diljith Shaji 115