Ruhaan Alva dominates with a double; Arya Singh crowned

Fastest Sohil loses his 'victory' in LGB F4 Race 1

David Bodapati October 23, 2021

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Ruhaan Alva wins both the Novice Cup races on Saturday. INDIAinF1 photo by arrangement

Coimbatore, 23 October 2021: Talented Bengaluru adolescent Ruhaan Alva, dominated the proceedings for the second consecutive day with a double in the JK Tyre Novice Cup but it was Sohil Shah who stole the fastest lap of the day before his he forefeited his LGB Formula 4 ‘win’ in the 24^th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship held at Kari Motor Speedway here on Saturday.

Sohil, who started on P5, moved to 4th in the very first lap overtaking Diljit and clocked the fastest lap of the race at 1min: 17.326sec (Lap 3). By the end of fourth lap he was leading the race. Dilijit who followed him into P2 lost position to Arya Singh after Lap 11. But the honour of the fastest lap is no consolation as Sohil lost the hard-earned race due to a technical infringement and the 10-sec penalty.

Thus, young Arya Singh who crossed the flag second, actually won the gold thanks to his clean race. Starting on P2, he overtook the experienced Raghul Rangasamy in the very first lap. But he slid to 8th position (P8) at the end of Lap 4 and used the two-lap Safety Car period to his advantage and jumped to P2 in Lap 11, and thereon, drove a steady race to keep P2 and eventually win the race as he was alert not to make any fouls. A great result for the talented Kolkata youngster, who is growing with experience as he managed two Safety Car periods to his advantage.

“I am happy to start the season with a win, though it was not easy. I was in the lead but once the safety cars came out, there was a lot of bunching. The net effect is the lead which you had in time and distance gets shrunk. I waited for the right moment in the final lap and won,” said Sohil, after the race before he was penalised.

**LGB F4 podium before results were audited:** Bengaluru’s Sohil Shah, centre, 1st, followed by Arya Singh of Kolkata, right, 2nd and Diljit TS, 3rd (2nd from left) and Sohil’s tuner at Kari Motor Speedway on Saturday. Arya Singh won the race after Sohil was relegated to 10th following his penalty by the race stewards.

Bullets weigh 180kg and are quite demanding, especially at small tracks like KMS. But they did not deter Anish Damodara Shetty one bit, and the rider from Hubli eventually emerged winner in the 10-lap race, timing 1:18.325, ahead of Allwin Xavier from Thrissur by just 0.117 seconds. Telugu rider Jayanth Prathipati took the final spot on the podium.

‘”It was a great challenge to win the maiden race and the last lap was electrifying,” said Anish. Speaking about the close second spot, Allwin took it philosophically. “It’s a new race in a new bike. There is speed and also your legs feel tired handling the weight. I am happy to come second,” said Allwin.

Teen sensation Ruhaan Alva from Bengaluru, well known for his exploits since the age of seven, began the proceedings with dominance. Competing for MSport, Ruhaan showed poise and purpose after the first race was red flagged.

Novie Race 2 Podium: Ruhaan Alva, centre, wins a double, while Jaden R Pariat, right, notches his maiden podium in Race 2 while Adithya Parusuram, 2nd from left, gets a second and third respectively in Race 1 and Race 2 in the Novice Class on Saturday.

It had to be restarted. Ruhaan was fully focussed, not letting the brief stoppage affect him. On a pleasant and sunny afternoon, the 15-year youngster raced without any glitch, virtually, as he timed 14 minutes 22.061 seconds in the 10-lap race. His best lap time was 1:18.001, was actually not his best, but the he gained more time by being consistent as he was within half a second margin in all lthe laps except during the yellow flags. He best on Saturday came in Race 2 at 1:17.685, the second fastest time on the day as Sohil clocked 1:17.326 in a better car, the LGB F4 car.

“I am happy to have begun with a win. Once a race is red-flagged, it’s very important to remain focussed. I was happy with my start to the championship,” said Ruhaan, who took to karting at the age of seven. He idolises legend Ayrton Senna, which speaks a lot about how much he has followed the sport of Formula 1 racing.

Later in the evening, Ruhaan once again was in his elements in the fight between the ‘master and the student’. Fourteen-year school boy Jaden R Pariat from Guwahati, who was trailing by two laps in the first race eventually, staged a superb comeback in the second race, to take second on the podium. Race 2 also saw a crash and Ruhaan used a different technique to restart, once the safety car was in, as he slowed down before zooming off once again to create enough gap and thwart any chance that Jaden got with skilled driving. Ruhaan has been the mentor for Jaden in his first karting season and it showed good results. Jaden not only impressed with his driving skills but notched up many victories with good emotional control.

Provisional audited Results: (Editor’s note: corrected on 24 Oct 2021 at 6.30am)

Formula LGB 4: Race 1:

LGB Formula 4: Race 1 (Overall Race 3 of the day):