Greater Noida, December 14: The final round of the 17th JK Tyre Racing Championship came to a climactic finish in front of a vociferous crowd of 25,000 who packed the grandstands at the Buddh International Circuit here on Sunday. With intermittent light drizzle rendering the track slippery and cold, the drivers struggled to get heat in the tyres and brakes. The trying conditions put a heavy premium on the driving skills and race-craft of the young drivers. Much to their credit, the men behind the wheels provided for thrilling action and hard racing much to the delight of crowds in the grandstand.

The final day’s proceedings began with second race of the JK Racing India Series (FB 02, formerly known as Formula BMW). With track deemed far from ideal, the race began under safety car since the most powerful cars in the championship went out on slick tyres.

As the cars lined up on the grid, all eyes were focused on the title contenders, Vishnu Prasad and Akhil Rabindra apart from Armaan Ebrahim, who took part as guest driver and started right from the back of the grid. Once the safety car pulled into the pits, caution was thrown to winds as the leading duo pulled away from the rest of the field and Ebrahim started working his way up from the back of the chasing pack. A couple of laps in the race, Prasad managed to find his way past Rabindra to take decisive lead. Meanwhile, Ebrahim made short work of rest of the field before he started hunting down Prasad. At turn four, he went past Prasad to stay in lead to the chequered flag. Being a guest driver, his win didn’t count to towards final classification, which meant Prasad took second win the premier class for the second time over the weekend. Rabindra managed to hold on to his second place despite coming under pressure from Krishnaraj Mahadik in the last part of the race.

In race three of the JK Racing India Series, Ebrahim took his third win of the weekend in a row. However, as per the rules of series, the first place on the podium went to Akhil Rabindra. The Bengaluru based driver was made to work very hard for his first win of the weekend by both Kumar and Prasad, who finished in second and third places respectively.

In the final count, Prasad emerged as the champion in the JK Racing India Series for the second time in a row with 104 points, followed by Rabindra with 88 points and Shanmugam in third with 55 points.

In the Volkswagen Polo R Cup, the championship remained open till the last race. This meant the stakes were high for all the championship contenders. True to the situation, it was difficult to predict the winner in the till the last round. In the end, Ameya Bafna, who won the second race on Saturday, emerged as the worthy winner in the final race of the season. Karthik Tharani, who waged a grim battle with the winner till the end, had to settle for second place, which was enough to give him the championship with xxx points. Lee Keshav Gupta, who started the weekend as one of the championship contenders, came home in third place after a forgettable race one.

The final race of the JK Formula LGB F4 brought the crowd on its feet with wheel-to-wheel action. At times four cars went abreast into turns on a greasy track providing for nail-biting racing. Once the five red lights went out, Diljith TS (Dark Don Racing), Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing), Karthik Shankar (Team Avalanche) and Sandeep Kumar (Meco Racing) left the rest of the field in the spray of their wake. For the first half of the eight lap race, Diljith, who had already sealed the championship on Saturday, opened up a slim lead as Prasad, Shankar and Kumar swapped track positions with every passing lap. But on lap six, Diljith and Kumar came together, which resulted in a puncture. Once he started falling back, Prasad took the lead which he held till the flag after fending off a desperate lunge from Kumar at the last corner just before crossing the finish line. Shankar too had to fight till the flag for his third place.

If the track was tricky for the cars, it was like skating on ice for the riders taking part in the JK Superbikes Cup. Controlling the 1,000cc two-wheel monsters which are difficult to handle even in the best of conditions, become lethal missiles on two wheels. Kulwant Singh ((Monty), who was leading the championship going into final round, found it the hard way when he skidded going into the first corner. After seeing the fate of the championship contender, the rest of the riders courted caution over daredevilry. After five laps of heart-stopping racing, Manmeet Singh crossed the finish line ahead of Vijay Singh and Aashir Agrawal. Manmeet was crowned as the first JK Superbikes Cup champion for brave effort with 24 points.

Commenting on a season hard racing throughout the year, Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director JK Tyres and Industries congratulated the winners. “We have seen some great racing throughout the year. It was very heartening to see these young driver fight right to end. Seeing them go out there and race their hearts out gives us immense pleasure. I congratulate all the winner and also those who make this championship possible. As the 17th season of the JK Tyre Racing Championship came to an end, we have already started looking forward to next year.”

Results

JK Racing India Series (FB 02) Race 2: 1. Vishnu Prasad (24:02.596) 2. Akhil Rabindra (24:02.821) 3. Krishnaraj Mahadik (24:03.447) Race 3: 1. Akhil Rabindra (23:33.092 ) 2. Sandeep Kumar (23:38.224 ) 3. Vishnu Prasad (23:39.820)
Volkswagen Polo R Cup: Race 3: 1. Ameya Bafna (21:11.344) 2. Karthik Tharani (21:11.548 ) 3. Lee Keshav Gupta (21:16.759)
JK Formula LGB F4: Race 3: 1. Vishnu Prasad (20:13.860) 2. Sandeep Kumar (20:15:115 ) 3. Karthik Shankar (20:19.854)
JK Superbikes Cup: 1. Manmeet Singh (13:22.510) 2. Vijay Singh (13:22.893) 3. Aashir Agrawal (13: 32.457)

Final championship points standings (Provisional)

JK Racing India Series (FB 02) 1. Vishnu Prasad (104 points) 2. Akhil Rabindra (88 points) 3. Ananth Shanmugam (55 points)

Volkswagen Polo R Cup: 1. Karthik Tharani (358 points) 2. Karminder Pal Singh (347 points) 3. Bonnie Thomas (296 points)

JK Formula LGB F4: 1. Diljith TS ( 98 points) 2. Vishnu Prasad (76 points) 3. Sudarshana Rao K (52 points)

JK Superbikes: 1. Manmeet Singh (24 points) 2. Gurvinder Singh (20 points) 3. Aashir Agrawal (18 points)