For Fahad Kutty of Team Game Over, the game has just begun. The Mumbai racer capitalised on a flashy start to emerge a clear winner in the season’s opening race for Indian Junior Touring Cars in the 15th JK Tyre-FMSCI national racing championships at the Kari Motor Speedway circuit near Chettipalayam here on Saturday.
S. Feroze Khan from Chennai enjoyed the best lap timing of 1:121.410 but had to rest content with the second spot. Thrissur’s Diljith did give Feroze a run for his money but the latter defended it all the way to the finish line.
“I knew Feroze was the person to watch out for but he was busy defending Diljith at the back. And, that made things easy for me,” said Fahad.
In the race for Indian Touring Cars, which kicked up a lot of dust and drama, M. Sivaramakrishnan of Chennai finished on top of the podium.
It was home-grown boy V. Rajvirdhan who gained the big edge at the start. With strong contender Radha Selvarajan dropping out early, the ambitious youngster quickly worked up a sizeable lead.
But, with his engine letting him down, Raj’s journey went up in smoke in the 10th lap.
C. Rajaram of Prime Racing, however, brought some cheer to the local crowd finishing a creditable second ahead of Siddharth Kishore of Chennai.
In the qualifying round for the JK Tyre Volkswagen Pole R Cup, Avdumber Hede of Goa clinched the pole for the Sunday showdown. A. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai), Anthony George (Kothamangalam) and Diego Duez (Mexico) wrested the next three spots on the grid.
The results (Race 1):
Indian Touring Cars: 1. M. Sivaramakrishnan (Chennai) 00:19:30.245; 2. C. Rajaram (Coimbatore) 00:19:41.368; 3. Siddharth Kishore (Chennai) 00:19:45.198.
Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Fahad Kutty (Mumbai0 00:20:39.569; 2. S. Feroze Khan (Chennai) 00:20:42.659; 3. Diljith (Thrissur) 00:20:43.396.
Polo R Cup (qualifying): 1. Avdumber Hede (Goa) 1:15.474; 2. A. Sandeep Kumar 1:15.680; 2. Anthony George (Kothamangalam) 1:15.871; 4. Deigo Duez (Mexico) 1:15.983.
