Coimbatore: Round 1 of the 18th JK Tyre Racing Championship kickstarted at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore amidst lot of action in the three categories namely JK Racing India Series, Formula LGB 4 & JK Tyre-Volkswagen Vento Cup on a bright & sunny day. This year, 60 rookie and seasoned drivers are competing against each other for the coveted title. As the mercury soared in Coimbatore, a brilliant performance kept spectators glued onto the competition and upped their racing spirit.

The day began with the qualifying races of the three categories. Akhil Rabindra from Bangalore, Ajay Kini from Chennai representing Dark Don Racing team and Sailesh Bolisetti from Vizag led the pack in the qualifying races in the in JK Racing India Series, Formula LGB 4 & Volkswagen Vento Cup respectively.

Post the qualifying it was time for the pits to open for the first race of the championship which was the Race 1 of the Formula LGB 4. As the lights went off, it was fight between the 19 drivers from start to finish. However all throughout in the 15 laps race, it was a fight between Ajay Kini & Vishnu Prasad who raced bumper to bumper with each other. At the end, it was Chennai lad Vishnu (Team Meco Racing) who managed to overtake Ajay and took the chequered flag followed by Ajay Kini from Chennai (Team Dark Don Racing who finished second and Rohit Khanna who had started from the tenth pace from New Delhi finished third. Vishnu continued his dominance in the second race of the day as well. The surprise element was Raghul Rangaswamy from Chennai (Meco Racing) who leaped ahead from the fourth place and finished in the second place. Karthik Shankar from New Delhi representing Team Avalanche Racing finished third.

Race 1 of the JK Racing India Series had 11 Indian & 2 international race drivers scorch the track in the powerful JKFB02 cars. Akhil Rabindra from Bangalore who started off from the pole position proved to be a serious contender maintained his lead throughout the 15 laps race. It was a fight for the second position as Dhruv Mohite who had started off from fourth place raced past other drivers and finished second. Vishnu Prasad could manage to graduate only to the third place while starting fifth given the tough competition. Due to technical glitch, Diljith, Sandeep Kumar, Akash Gowda & Krishnaraj Mahadik did not finish the race.

Making a shift from the Polo series, the Volkswagen Vento Cup put up a fantastic ride along the track. The grid of 22 drivers showcased an action packed race day with the experienced Sailesh Bolisetti from Vishakhapatnam who dominated through the 15 laps of the race and eventually took the chequered flag. Finishing in second was Anindith Reddy Konda from Hyderabad and Karminder Singh from Delhi finished in third.

With intense competition on Day 1, Day 2 promises to be a look-out for a whole lot of adrenaline and excitement followed by the announcement of the winners.

Provisional results (Total time):

Formula LGB 4
Race 1 (15 laps)
Vishnu Prasad – 19.32.3
Ajay Kini – 19:37.4
Rohit Khanna – 19:38.3

Race 2 (15 laps)
Vishnu Prasad – 21:20.133
Raghul Rangswamy – 21:20.479
Karthik Shankar - 21:21.080


JK Racing India Series
Race 1 (15 laps)
Akhil Rabindra – 17:24:324
Dhruv Mohite – 17:24:641
Vishnu Prasad – 17:25.205

JK Tyre- Volkswagen Vento Cup (15 laps)
Sailesh Bolisetti
Anindith Reddy Konda
Karminder Singh