Vishnu Prasad back at the top
Chennai, 19 Oct 2011: The excitement is mounting with every round of the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011. The minimal points difference after Round Five has left the Championship wide open with the top 4 drivers having a clear shot at being the Champion. Noorani and guest driver, Gaurav Dalal, emerged as the winners of Race One and Race Two respectively. Vishnu Prasad, who was leading the championship till Round Three is back on the leadership position with 320 points. Vishnu is followed by Rahil with 315 points and Oshan Kothadiya with 288 points. Fourth and fifth positions are taken up by Avdumber Hede (277 points) and Mihir Dharkar (235 points) respectively.
In Race One, Oshan in car # 14 could not take advantage of his pole position due to extra wheel spin of his car. This incident gave Rahil the opportunity to take the lead into the first corner. He held the lead from there on and went on to win the race with Oshan right behind him. Avdumber in car # 2 started fifth on the grid and quickly overtook Munjal Savla. He maintained his fourth position till the eighth lap, where he overtook Mihir Dharkar in car # 19 to grab the final podium position. Vishnu, who had the second best time in qualifying, started the race from the 10th position owing to the previous round’s penalty. He finished 5th to grab 32 points from Race One.
In Race Two, Guest Driver Gaurav Dalal in car # 10, took advantage of starting second on the grid and went around the outside of pole sitter, Vidit Jain in the first corner. Vishnu in car # 22 who also had a great start, got past Vidit on lap two and stayed in second place for the rest of the race. Race One winner, Rahil Noorani had a dismal race after spinning out of fourth position and finally finished down in thirteenth position. Mihir who was in third place was followed by Munjal and Oshan in fourth and fifth position respectively. Vishnu was able to grab 60 points in this race as Gaurav was a guest driver and was not entitled to any championship points.
The Championship standings after Round Five of JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011, as well as the podium results from the two races:
SR NO
DRIVER NAME
RD 1 -RACE 1
RD 1 -RACE 2
RD 2 -RACE 1
RD 2 -RACE 2
RD 3 -RACE 1
RD 3 -RACE 2
RD 4 -RACE 1
RD 4 -RACE 2
RD 5 -RACE 1
RD 5 -RACE 2
TOTAL
1
Vishnu Prasad
30
30
20
30
60
EX
32
26
32
60
320
2
Rahil Noorani
17
3
30
15
40
30
40
60
60
20
315
3
Oshan Kothadiya
16
15
17
24
34
40
60
DNF
48
34
288
4
Avdumber Hede
15
16
16
12
32
60
34
40
40
12
277
5
Mihir Dharkar
24
24
15
14
24
10
24
18
34
48
235
6
Munjal Savla
14
17
7
8
22
26
48
DNF
30
40
212
7
Alisha Abdullah
13
20
3
16
28
28
16
30
20
14
188
8
Angad Singh Matharoo
8
4
4
3
18
24
14
48
26
32
181
9
Vidit Jain
5
5
6
10
26
34
30
20
28
10
174
10
Abhinav Aditya Agarwal
11
13
13
11
10
14
26
34
12
24
168
11
Aditya Pawar
9
12
5
4
8
20
20
28
24
28
158
12
Sourav Bandyopadhyay
10
8
DNF
6
20
22
28
22
14
16
146
13
Achintya Mehrotra
7
11
10
9
16
18
12
16
16
18
133
14
Swamathia Rayen
4
6
8
DNF
12
16
18
32
10
22
128
15
Ajay Kini
DNP
DNP
24
20
48
32
DNP
DNP
DNP
DNP
124
16
Donovan Vaz
6
10
14
5
14
12
6
DNS
22
30
119
17
Lawrence Taur
DNF
7
9
7
DNP
DNP
22
24
18
26
113
18
Prateek Dalal
DNF
DNF
11
17
30
48
DNP
DNP
DNP
DNP
106
19
Sayeed Shaikh
12
9
DNP
DNP
DNF: Did Not Finish
DNP: Did Not Participate
EX: Excluded from the race
Podium Positions for Race One of Round Five
Position
Car Number
Driver
City
Total Time
1.
20
Rahil Noorani
Mumbai
20:46.700
2.
14
Oshan Kothadiya
Pune
20:49.075
3.
2
Avdumber Hede
Goa
20:51.552
Podium Positions for Race Two of Round Five
Position
Car Number
Driver
City
Total Time
1.
10
Gaurav Dalal
Chennai
20:43.175
2.
22
Vishnu Prasad
Chennai
20:48.082
3.
19
Mihir Dharkar
Mumbai
20:52.651
Thanks to its proven concept of promoting young talent abroad, the Polo Cup enjoys the reputation of being an ideal stepping stone to enter professional racing. Building on its success with the debut Polo Cup India last year, Volkswagen Motorsport will continue to make Polo R Cup the premier touring car championship in the country.
Motor sports enthusiasts interested in getting further information can log on to the website, www.polocup.in. This website displays information about the format of Polo R Cup, race updates and driver profiles. Follow Polo R Cup on www.facebook.com/vwpolocupIndia.
