The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Aditya emerges champion

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Monday, Oct 08, 2007
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Aditya emerges champion

Special Correspondent

MOTOR SPORTS / Ashwin clinches two titles

— Photo: S. S. Kumar

SIZZLING SHOW: Aditya Patel and Ashwin Sundar who stole the limelight in the J.K. Tyre National road racing championship.

CHENNAI: Aditya Patel was crowned the Formula Rolon Racing champion and Ashwin Sundar won two titles, as the 11th edition of the J.K. Tyre National road racing championship concluded at the Madras Motor Sports Track, near here, on Sunday.

Aditya finished behind Speed NK Racing teammate Saran Vikram in Race 1 before winning Race 2 to cap a memorable season; the 18-year-old won the National karting championship last week, making Sunday’s feat a remarkable double.

“It was a good season with its ups and downs,” said Aditya, a student of Economics at Loyola College. “But, I was pretty consistent, and it was a good car.”

Aditya, who benefited from specialised training from team owner Narain Karthikeyan, aims to progress to the Formula BMW Asia next year.

Narain, India’s only Formula One driver to date, said he was happy that his team, Speed NK Racing, had achieved what it had set out to.

Stand-out performer

Ashwin was the championship’s other stand-out performer. The diminutive teenager was so far ahead of the pack in both the Formula Swift and Formula LGB Hyundai categories that he was assured of both titles even before Sunday’s final round.

But, Ashwin couldn’t quite help his team, Rams Racing, to a double crown. Rams Racing, however, won the Formula Hyundai team championship.

Rayomand Banajee deserves mention for finishing second in both the Formula Rolon and the Formula Hyundai championships.

The results:

Final championship positions:

Formula Rolon: Individual: 1. Aditya Patel 87 pts, 2. Rayomand Banajee 64, 3. Saran Vikram 63; Team: 1. NK Racing 150 pts, 2. Prime Racing 137, 3. Amaron WSRF Leela 84.

Formula Hyundai: Individual: 1. Ashwin Sundar 103 pts, 2. Rayomand Banajee 81, 3. Narain Shankar 64; Team: 1. Rams Racing 168 pts, 2. Gemini Racing 154, 3. WSRF Leela 55.

Formula Swift: Individual: 1. Ashwin Sundar 94 pts, 2. Karthik Shankar 61, 3. Ajay Kini 60; Team: 1. WSRF Leela 154 pts, 2. Rams Racing 146, 3. Gemini Racing 79.

Sunday’s races (all eight laps):

Formula Rolon: Race 1: 1. Saran Vikram 14:32:991, 2. Aditya Patel 14:33:693, 3. Sarosh Hataria 14:34:212; Race 2: 1. Aditya Patel 14:31:528, 2. Saran Vikram 14:38:347, 3. J.D. Madan 14:40:144.

Formula LGB Hyundai: Race 1: 1. Rayomand Banajee 16:02:995, 2. Anand Prasad 16:03:904, 3. Shankar Narayanan 16:06:019; Race 2: 1. Ashwin Sundar 15:49:983, 2. Narain Shankar 15:56:320, 3. Anand Prasad 15:59:964.

Formula LGB Swift: Race 1: 1. Sudarshan Rao 15:44:726, 2. Ashwin Sundar 15:46:441, 3. Saran Vikram 15:46:998; Race 2: 1. Sudarshan Rao 15:48:078, 2. Ajay Kini 15:48:928, 3. Saran Vikram 15:50:012.

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