VW Ameo Cup Round 4: Saurav Bandyopadhyay scores podium

Guest racer Anning Sun performed extremely well, while title favourite Karminder Singh dropped to number seven.

After a shortened track due to waterlogging in round three, the fourth and final round of the Volkswagen Ameo Cup 2017 commenced with the Madras Motor Racetrack available to the racers in all its glory.

Having dominated the free practice sessions as well as the qualifying session on September 15 with the fastest lap times - Saurav Bandyopadhyay was definitely at the top of his form before the first race of the weekend. Joining him on the first row was the guest racer from China – Anning Sun, with lap time just 0.056 seconds off the pole position.

In row two were A Sandeep Kumar and Donovan Vaz, followed by Aditya Pawar and Jeet Jhabakh in the third. The top eight racers on the grid were separated by less than a second as they prepared for the first race of the last round.

As the race started, Saurav got a perfect launch and maintained his lead going into the first corner. Anning, Sandeep and Donovan got a good start as well and retained their positions into the first corner. 

Aditya and Jeet made contact with each other as they entered the second corner. Retiring both of them from the race and bringing out the safety car. In the same incident, Jeet clipped his car against Dhruv Mohite’s car. Dhruv came in to get his checked and rejoined only to realise that he couldn’t run the rest of the race at full pace. The safety car came in after two laps and the racing action resumed. Saurav was still leading the pack, followed by Anning, Sandeep and Donovan. The top positions remained the same as they crossed the chequered flag.

Karminder Pal Singh did not have a great start to the weekend having qualified in the eighth place. He climbed up to fifth position but later dropped down to seventh in the second last lap.