Sriperumbudur: Championship leader Dhruv Mohite, who set the series rolling with his dominating show at Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore last month saw his lead cut down when the Kolhapur racer lost out to Saurav Bandyopadhyay despite starting from pole, in the Race 1 of the Volkswagen Ameo Cup Round 2 at the Madras Motorsports Race Track here on Saturday.
The two started from front row but after having grabbed pole after a blistering qualifying on Friday, Dhruv was expected to stay in front, but Saurav was up for the challenge and eventually bested the fellow Maharashtra racer.
Thane-based Saurav, who started second on the grid, notched his third career win in the Ameo Cup with a measure of comfort after initial fight. Finishing behind him were Anmol Singh Sahil from Ghaziabad and Dhruv.
Saurav made a perfect start after the lights went off as he overtook Dhruv in the first lap itself. The Thane racer managed to stay focused through the next 7 laps and pocketed full points. While Dhruv and Sourav fought in the front, there was an interesting duel behind them between Shubhomoy Ball of Bengaluru and Anmol Singh Sahil from Ghaziabad.
Anmol soon regained his position and in fact went past Dhruv on the last lap in a daring overtaking manoeuvre. Dhruv was lucky to hold on to his podium place even as Shubhomoy challenged him from behind.
“The first race was action-packed with a lot of overtaking manoeuvres across the field. While the conditions today did not make it any easier on the cars or the drivers, I am glad the performance of the car and the focus of the drivers remained high,” is how Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, commented on the race.
“Today’s race gave the drivers a glimpse into the next 5 races that will be held in Chennai under similar conditions.”
Results:
Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race 1-8 laps): 1. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Thane) 15:49.436; 2. Anmol Singh Sahil (Ghaziabad) 15:54.147: 3. Dhruv Mohite (Kohlapur) 15:54.203; 4. Shubhomoy Ball (Bengaluru) 15:54.580; 5. Shivani Pruthvi (Devangere) 16:06.769.