Advait Deodhar gets podium at Brands Hatch, moves up to 3rd in Championship

David Bodapati June 8, 2019

853 2 minutes read

Advait Deodhar who finished 3rd at Brands Hatch in Elite 2 on June 2. Photo by Team Deodhar

Brands Hatch, 2 June 2019: Indian race driver Advait Deodhar notched up a creditable podium in Race 1 of the Elite 2 Division of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2019 on Sunday.

The reigning Elite Club division champion, now competing in the higher Elite 2 Division, despite having to change three teams notched up his first podium in the third round here. He did get a rookie podium in Round 1 at Valencia and managed two top-10 finishes in the second round in Franciacorta. The Mumbai-based driver became the first Indian to win at Nascar last year when he won the Elite division championship in April 2018 when he won the final race held at the Circuit Zolder in Belgium.

In a close qualifying at Brands Hatch, Deodhar. made it into Super-pole (similar to Q3 in F1) for the first time for the top-12 shootout. Then he put in a lap that placed him 8th on the grid for Race 1.

“I was not entirely pleased with the lap as I believe I could have got a better exit out of the last corner but then again, we can do a lot of things better in hindsight,” he quipped after the qualification session.

In Race 1 over 30 laps, Deodhar started in Row 4 on the outside line. Euro NASCAR uses the rolling start procedure and the Indian missed gear shift at the start which dropped him down to 10th into the first corner. But he managed to gain a position back and then two more after a spin in front of him. A few laps later, another incident brought out the safety car, allowing the field to bunch up which gave him a renewed chance to fight at the front.

Deodhar then pushed hard and made his way up to 3rd, finishing just 0.7 seconds behind British driver, Scott Jeffs. He needed just one more lap to pass him as he had the pace but ran out of laps. However, due to another incident earlier in the race, Scott was given a time penalty, which promoted the Indian to second place.

Advait Deodhar on the podium at Brands Hatch.

In Race 2, Deodhar started on P6. The series rules state that the best lap times from Race 1 dictate the starting order for Race 2. The Indian racer managed to put in the 6th fastest time in Race 1 where the top-8 were separated by a few tenths of a second.

The tyres he used were very worn out as he had to use them in Qualifying, Race 1 & Race 2. A clean battle for positions 2 to 6 in the first 18 odd laps allowed the leader to run away into the distance, with the next 5 including Deodhar fighting for positions. Then an incident brought about the safety car and the pack was bunched together for the last seven laps. Deodhar then got a fantastic start and managed to get up to 4th on the restart but a mistake on the next lap saw him drop down to 6th and he ended up finishing in the same spot.

The Elite 2 category podium helped Deodhar take the 3rd position overall in the Championship standings. “I’m proud of it. A lot of hard work and effort has gone into getting behind the wheel and I’m going to fight for this Championship,” he said after the races. The 29-year old is now having 172 points and with just 24 points behind the championship leader, he hopes to do well in the remaining four rounds.

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