Ananth Shanmugham takes the lead in the JK Racing India Series

Greater Noida, 17 October 2015: Ananth Shanmugam of Bangalore won the 10-lap race in the JK Racing India Series as the Round 3 of the 18^th JK Tyre Racing Championship at Buddh International Circuit here on Saturday. Two races of the Formula LGB 4 and a race each in the JK Racing India Series and JK Tyre-VW Vento Cup were held on Saturday, the first day of the two-day event.

Shanmugam clocked 21 minutes 55.344 seconds while Vishnu Prasad came second in 22:06869 followed by Nayan Chatterjee (22:16.022) in third.

In Race One of Formula LGB 4, Sandeep Kumar of Team Meco Racing came first. Diljith TS of Team Avalanche Racing was second and Vishnu Prasad was third. In Race 3 saw a different set of podium finishers in Sudarshana Rao Karwal of Team Dark Don Racing who came in first followed by teammate Ajay Kini and Raghul Rangaswamy of Team Meco Racing took third place.

In the JK Tyre Volkswagen Vento Cup, Konda Anindith Reddy won the race in 15 minutes, 9.504 seconds while Ishaan Dodhiwala and Karminder Singh finished behind him in second and third respectively.

In the JK Racing India Series, karting champion Ananth Shanmugam from Bangalore had a comfortable race as he lead from the start to finish. He ensured he kept a safe distance from his followers behind. The main action was for the second and third place. Karthik Tharani made his move to the third place after starting fourth. Two-times champion Vishnu Prasad was on attack mode and had a great battle with Akhil Rabindra so much that they exchanged positions thrice. Their fight went to the extreme and Akhil lost traction and went off the track and Vishnu managed a second place finish. Karthik fell back too and Nayan who was in fifth position moved ahead to take a surprise podium. For Nayan the hard work paid off as he started seventh and finished third.

The day started with the qualifying sessions of each category. Karting champion Ananth Shanmugam lead in the JK Racing India Series, Chennai lad Ajay Kini lead in the Formula LGB 4 and Anindith Reddy Konda from Hyderabad lead in the JK- VW Vento Cup. In the qualifying race of the JK Super Bike Cup, Sandesh Prasanna finished first.

Race 1 of the Formula LGB witnessed some bumper to bumper racing. It wasn’t a good start to the weekend for pole sitter and current championship leader Ajay Kini. The Chennai lad who is a pilot by profession, lost out in the first two corners of the race and he retired from the race due to a technical snag. It was a constant battle between Delhi boy Rohit Khanna (Team Dark Don Racing) and Kolhapur boy Krishnaraj Mahadik (Team Dark Don Racing) for the first place as they were constantly charging at each other lap after lap. Rohit managed to regain his lead but as Anshul Shah spun, the safety car had to come out and stayed for a lap. The safety car changed the entire race. Rohit was caught up by Sandeep Kumar (Team Meco Racing) who drove brilliantly well to catch up the race leader and finally took the lead. However, a wrong move cost Rohit his second place and it allowed Diljith to move in to the second position and five other cars overtook Rohit. The fight for the third place became a five way fight which has not been seen in the championship in a long time. Rohit got a tough fight from Sudarshana Rao, Krishnaraj, Vishnu Prasad, Raghul Rangaswamy fought hard for the third position but as the chequered flag came out Vishnu Prasad from Chennai crossed the line by just having the nose of his car ahead of Krishnaraj who finished fourth.

Race 2 of the Formula LGB4, Ajay Kini was back in action and fought a tough race from start to finish. It was Ajay’s maiden race at the Buddh International Circuit and focused on finishing the race ahead of everyone. However, Sudarshana Rao Karwal from Bangalore was the surprise package and it was a roller coaster race for him as he kept swapping places with Ajay Kini on most of the laps. At the end it was Sudarshana who took the chequered flag followed by Ajay Kini. Raghul Rangaswamy from Chennai finished in the third place.

JK Tyre- VW Vento Cup: Anindith Reddy from Hyderabad had a good start and ensured he stayed focused throughout the race to seal his first place finish. Last year’s runner-up Karminder Singh from Delhi who is vying for the overall champion title this year kept the pressure on. Nayan Chatterjee the podium finisher in the JK Racing India Series who was on his maiden outing in this category had a poor start and fell back to the tenth place. HarkisanWadia from Delhi got stuck on the home stretch due to which the race was stopped. When the race restarted, Anindith resumed his lead and despite getting a tough competition from Hyderabad boy Ishaan Dodhiwala, Anindith smoothly took the chequered flag. Karminder due to his usual aggressive start finished third. The experienced SaileshBolisetti and the rookie Raghav Sharma fought really hard for the fourth place and in the end, Sailesh managed to cross the line ahead of Raghav.

The races are webcasted live on www.jktyremotorsport.com. The championship is run under the aegis of Federation of Motor Sport Clubs of India (FMSCI) and Motul is the official lubricant partner to the championship.

Provisional Race Results: Formula LGB 4- Race 1 (8 laps): 1. Sandeep Kumar (Team Meco Racing) – 22:27.062; 2. Diljith TS (Team Avalanche Racing) – 22:30.554; 3. Vishnu Prasad (Team Meco Racing) – 22:34.904. Race 2: 1. Sudarshana Rao Karwal (Team Dark Don Racing) – 21:58.469; 2. Ajay Kini (Team Dark Don Racing) – 21:58.934; 3. Raghul Rangaswamy (Tea Meco Racing) – 22:01.164.

JK Racing India Series (10 laps): 1, Ananth Shanmugam – 21:55.344; 2. Vishnu Prasad – 22:06869; bNayan Chatterjee – 22:16.022.

JK Tyre -VW Vento Cup: 1. Anindith Reddy Konda – 15:09.504; 2. Ishaan Dodhiwala – 15:10.323; 3. Karminder Singh  -15:15.724.

For JK racing updates visit: www.jktyremotorsport.com, www.twitter.com/JKTyreRacing, www.facebook.com/jktyremotorsport,

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