JK Tyre Racing Championship: Rabindra, Diljith, Mandody and Keshav win

Reporting by: Rachit Thukral

The third and penultimate round of the JK Tyre Racing Championship kicked off at the Buddh International Circuit with Bangalore born Akhil Rabindra taking the chequered flag in the premier Formula FB02 category, Lee Keshav winning in the Volkswagen Polo R Cup and Diljith and Chittesh Mandody taking a win apiece in the LGB Formula 4 series.

FORMULA FB02: RABINDRA VICTORIOUS
Rabindra started alongside 2013 FMSCI Motorsport Person of the Year award winner Vishnu Prasad on the front row of the grid and the duo battled their way in the opening laps before the latter was handed a drive through penalty for a jump start.

Prasad’s penalty promoted last year’s Polo Cup champion Rahil Noorani into P2 and Ananth Shanmugam into the final podium spot.

Guest drivers and JK Tyre racing brand ambassadors Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim raced from the back of the grid to provide fans with some action on the 5.14km circuit. However, neither of them could finish the race on account of mechanical problems.

VOLKSWAGEN POLO R CUP: TWO IN A ROW FOR LEE KESHAV

Lee Kashav - who has been in action in the MRF Formula Ford 1600 series as well as the Formula 2000 MRF Challenge - won both Polo R Cup races scheduled for the day with the second from reverse grid naturally being the harder one for the Delhi born driver.

In the opening race, Kashav took an easy victory from female Polish driver Gosia Rdest and third place finisher Karthik Tharani. In the race two, Kashav took second place at the chequered flag after displaying some supreme overtaking skills. He was promoted to first after Castrol Cup Poland guest racer Dylan Pereira was disqualified from the race. In the press conference, an elated Kashav expressed his emotions and revealed that his mechanics have sorted the issues that led to his poor race starts.

LGB FORMULA 4: DILJITH AND MANDODY SHARE VICTORIES AND TRACK POSITION ON DAY 1

In the wingless LGB Formula 4 category - the cheapest single seater racing series on this planet - Kolhapur’s Chittesh Mandody and 21-year-old Diljith battled for glory in both the races with each of them getting a chance to stand on the top step on the podium.

The first race was the more dramatic of the two with the duo regularly trading positions in the 10 lap race. The fight was settled when both of them went wide at the final corner with Mandody eventualling holding on to first place.

In the second race, Diljith took an easy victory, despite being pressurised by his Kolhapur rider for all but the last lap of the race where Mandody struggled because of poor handling on his car.

The Buddh International Circuit will be opened for public tomorrow for the final day of Round 3 of JK Tyre Racing Championship with five more races scheduled across different categories.