-Jeet Jhabakh registers first win for the season
-Saurav Bandopadhyay and Anmol Singh Sahil bagged podium finishes
-Volkswagen Motorsports enters into its 10th year in India
The third edition of the Volkswagen Ameo Cup kick-started with its first race today at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore. It witnessed 18 participants from across the country competing in the race-specced sub-compact sedan that makes in excess of 200bhp. Of these 18 racers, nine drivers had participated for the first time. The race concluded with Jeet Jhabakh from Hyderabad clinching the first position. Joining him on the podium were Anmol Singh Sahil from Ghaziabad and Saurav Bandyopadhyay from Mumbai.
The race started with Jeet taking the pole position with the fastest lap time of 1:09:571 in the qualifiers followed by Pratik Sonawane in the first row. Meanwhile, Saurav and Anmol took the third and fourth position in the second row. As soon as the lights turned green, the crowd witnessed an intense battle between Jeet and Pratik for the lead. However, Anmol charged ahead to the second position early in the race and Pratik was pushed back to fourth. Thereafter, Jeet, Anmol and Saurav maintained their positions with Jeet securing his first win for the season.
Commenting on the race, Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India said, “The grid for the first race was one of the closest we have had with just 2.5 seconds separating 17 drivers. They also showed maturity keeping the cars on track in extremely challenging conditions with some rain. MRF have made minor changes to the tyres for this season to achieve even better performance from the car. The team has been hard at work in the off-season with the development of the 2019 race car and results are evident. The drivers are happy with the way the cars have performed and mechanically the cars have been brilliant from the get go.”
The one-make Ameo Cup championship recently received a status of National Championship from FMSCI. As a result, the winners of the Ameo Cup will be recognised as Indian National Champions. Interestingly, Volkswagen Motorsports also marked a decade of its existence in India. Nonetheless, the format of this one-make series remains the same with 10 races held throughout the season across all three circuits in India. These include the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore, Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai and Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. Round 1 of the season will be concluded tomorrow and will move to MMRT for Round 2 in July. Stay tuned to Carwale for more updates.
