Coimbatore: Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) from Mumbai and M. Sivaramakrishnan (Performance Racing) won the opening races of the Touring Cars in contrasting styles in the first round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship here Saturday.
Sivaramakrishnan, who had a wretched 2011 season that he finished in 23rd position in the Super Saloon class, benefited when front runners and favourites retired due to mechanical problems. Consequently, the affable Chennai driver gained three positions and eventually finished first.
The race began at a furious pace with last year's champion and pole-sitter Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan keeping his position ahead of Radha Selvarajan and Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan. However, Selvarajan was the first to pack up, followed by Leelakrishnan and then Rajvirdhan.
"I was hoping for a podium finish at best, but when the guys in front packed up, I moved up. Of course, I am very happy," said Sivaramakrishnan who had battled all through 2011 season with an ill-handling car.
In the Indian Junior Touring Cars series, Kutty who had qualified second, got a jump on pole-sitter and last year's champion Diljith Shaji (Eram Group) who lost two places at the very first corner and young Feroze Khan moved up behind Kutty.
For the rest of the race, it was a procession as the trio of front-runners maintained their positions with Kutty increasing his lead as Khan and Shaji were involved in a tight battle.
"I managed to move to the front at the first corner and then kept an eye on Feroze and Shaji. They were busy fighting for track positions and I managed to increase my lead," said Kutty.
The results:
Touring Cars - Super Saloons (15 laps): M Sivaramakrishnan (Performance Racing) 1 (19mins, 30.245secs); C Rajaram (Prime Racing) 2 (19:41.368); Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 3 (19:45.198). Indian Junior Touring Cars (15 laps): Fahad Kutty (Game Over) 1 (20:39.569); S Feroze Khan 2 (20:42/659); Diljith Shaji (Eram Group Sports Club) 3 (20:43.396). (IANS)
