Shanmugam, sandeep kumar, Karwal and Konda emerge winners on day  one of  JK Tyre Racing Championship at Noida.

Ananth Shanmugam and Anindith Reddy Konda won races in the JK Racing India Series and JK Tyre-VW Vento Cup respectively, while Sandeep Kumar and Sudarshana Rao Karwal won the Formula LGB4 races in the third round of the JK Tyre Racing Championship at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida on Saturday.

The day started with the qualifying sessions of each category. Karting champion Shanmugam led in the JK Racing India Series, Chennai lad Ajay Kini led in the Formula LGB4 and Konda (Hyderabad) led in the JK Tyre-VW Vento Cup. In the qualifying race of the JK Superbike Cup, Sandesh Prasanna finished first.

The first race of the Formula LGB witnessed bumper to bumper racing. However, it wasn’t a good start for pole sitter and championship leader Kini. The Chennai lad, a pilot by profession, lost out in the first two corners of the race and eventually retired due to a technical snag. It was then a constant battle between Delhi boy Rohit Khanna (Team Dark Don Racing) and Kolhapur boy Krishnaraj Mahadik (Team Dark Don Racing) for the first place as they were constantly charging at each other lap after lap.

Khanna managed to regain his lead but as Anshul Shah spun and the safety car had to come out and stayed for a lap. The safety car changed the entire race. Khanna was caught up by Sandeep Kumar (Team Meco Racing) who drove brilliantly well to catch up the race leader and finally took the lead. However, a wrong move cost Khanna his second place and it allowed TS Diljith to move in to the second position. Five other cars overtook Khanna.

The fight for the third place became a five-way fight. Khanna got a tough fight from Karwal, Mahadik, Vishnu Prasad, Raghul Rangaswamy. But as the chequered flag came out Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) crossed the line by just having the nose of his car ahead of Mahadik, who finished fourth.

In the second race of the Formula LGB4, Kini fought a tough race from start to finish. It was Kini’s maiden race at the Buddh International Circuit and he was focused on finishing the race ahead of everyone. However, Bangalore’s Karwal was the surprise package and it was a roller coaster ride for him as he kept swapping places with Kini on most of the laps. In the end, it was Karwal who took the chequered flag followed by Kini. Raghul Rangaswamy from Chennai finished in the third place.

In the JK Racing India Series, karting champion Shanmugam had a comfortable race and led from the start to finish. The main battle was for the second and third places. Karthik Tharani made his move to the third place after starting fourth. Two-time champion Vishnu Prasad was on attack mode and had a great battle with Akhil Rabindra and the duo exchanged positions thrice. Their fight went to the extreme and Rabindra lost traction and went off the track and Vishnu managed a second place finish. Tharani fell back too and Nayan Chatterjee, who was in position number five moved ahead to take a surprise podium. For Nayan the hard work paid off as he started seventh and finished third.

In the JK Tyre- VW Vento Cup, Konda had a good start and ensured he stayed focused throughout the race to seal his first place finish. Last year’s runner-up Karminder Singh (Delhi), who is vying for the overall champion title this year, kept the pressure on. Chatterjee, the podium finisher in the JK Racing India Series and who was on his maiden outing in this category, had a poor start and fell back to the tenth place. Harkisan Wadia (Delhi) got stuck on the home stretch due to which the race was stopped. When the race restarted, Konda resumed his lead and despite getting a tough competition from Hyderabad boy Ishaan Dodhiwala, Konda smoothly took the chequered flag. Singh due to his usual aggressive start finished third. The experienced Sailesh Bolisetti and the rookie Raghav Sharma fought really hard for the fourth place and in the end, Bolisetti managed to cross the line ahead of Raghav.

Provisional Results:

Formula LGB4 (8 laps):

Race 1: 1. Sandeep Kumar (Team Meco Racing) – 22:27.062; 2. Diljith TS (Team Avalanche Racing) – 22:30.554; 3. Vishnu Prasad (Team Meco Racing) – 22:34.904.

Race 2: 1. Sudarshana Rao Karwal (Team Dark Don Racing) – 21:58.469; 2. Ajay Kini (Team Dark Don Racing) – 21:58.934; 3. Raghul Rangaswamy (Team Meco Racing) – 22:01.164.

JK Racing India Series (10 laps): 1. Ananth Shanmugam – 21:55.344; 2. Vishnu Prasad – 22:06869; 3. Nayan Chatterjee – 22:16.022.

JK Tyre -VW Vento Cup: 1. Anindith Reddy Konda - 15:09.504; 2. Ishaan Dodhiwala – 15:10.323; 3. Karminder Singh -15:15.724.