Volkswagen India & JK Tyres flagged-off the inaugural race of the Polo Cup India 2010 on Sunday, May 30, 2010 at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune. The race was flagged-off by Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Volkswagen AG; Bollywood star, Soha Ali Khan and Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director.
There were a host of dignitaries present for the inaugural race of the Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup in India. This included Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, President, IOA, Mr. Suresh Shetty, Minister of Sports for the state of Maharastra, Mr. Raghupati Singhania, VP & MD, JK Tyre and Industries, Prof. Jochem Heizmann, Member of Board of Volkswagen AG, Mr. Joerg Muller, Volkswagen Group Chief Representative India and Mr. Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director.
Sailesh Bolisetti, the 22-year old driver from Vishakhapatnam, won both, Race 1 & Race 2, of the inaugural Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup India 2010 on the street track in the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune. The racer from Vishakhapatnam led from start to finish as he created history by becoming the first winner of the Polo Cup today. He put on a strong display to finish ahead of Karthik Shankar, Mohd Fahad Kutty and Saran Vikram.
In Race 1, Sailesh had a great start and led from the start with Saran Vikram and Karthik Shankar behind him. Starting from 6th on the grid, Fahad Kutty (Mohammed) made a brilliant overtaking move to pass Shankar (Karthik) for 3rd position on lap 2. As he closed on second-placed Saran Vikram he clipped the tyre barrier into the first corner damaging his car in the process. He was unable to challenge Saran after that but did cross the finish line in third place. He was later penalised for overtaking under yellow flags and pushed back to 6th place. Karthik Shankar moved up from fourth position to take the final podium spot.
In Race 2, as he did in the first race Bolisetti moved into the lead from the start and remained there for the rest of the race even though Karthik Shankar and Mohd Fahad Kutty put a strong fight to the finish. This was Round 1 of the Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup India 2010 and each race was for 15 laps around the street circuit.
