Raghul, Vishnu win one race each at JK Tyre National Racing Championship

Coimbatore : The Chennai duo of Raghul Rangasamy and Vishnu Prasad registered dramatic wins in the FLGB-4 category in the opening round of the 22nd JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship, here on Sunday.

The day began on a winning note for Raghul but ended with Vishnu racing to his second last-lap win to spice up the competition. It made for a perfect weekend for their team MSport.

The three podium finishes, including his win on Saturday, handed Vishnu the championship lead with a total of 28 points. All this came along with a lot of post-race drama, with Vishnu being dislodged from the top before being reinstated again after a series of protests.

In the JK Tyre Novice Cup, Bangalore's Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports) sailed past the chequered flag for the third consecutive time, only to discover that he had made a jump start. He was penalised by 10 seconds that saw him slide all the way down to the eighth position.

Mohamed Ryan, who had finished second after Ghorpade, was declared the winner while Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum; Mumbai) moved up one step to take the second position.

The change hurt Chirag badly taking away the overall championship lead from him and yielding it to Aaroh. The Suzuki Gixxer Cup was a repeat of opening day, with Bangalore's Syed Muzammil Ali topping the charts but this time with over 5 seconds to spare.

Pune's Tanay Gaikwad (14:25.458) and Sidharth Sajan (14:27.480) held on to their podium places, in almost identical fashion.

The JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies saw Ikshan Shanbag of Satara underlining his potential with his second straight win. Prashanth R (Chennai) and Aryan Gurav (Pune) took the other two places on the podium.

A new category for women was also introduced, celebrating the best racer in the LGB-4 bunch. Vadodara's Mira Erda (MSport) grabbed the honours by finishing ahead of all the women in each of the races.

Ahura Racing's duo of Megaa KS and Diana Pundole took the first and second runner's up trophies in this round.

Results (Provisional): LGB Formula 4 (Race 2): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 18:28.329; 2. Vishnu Prasad (MSport) 18:31.673; 3. Sandeep Kumar A (Dark Don) 18:32.848 LGB Formula 4 (Race 3): 1. Vishnu Prasad (MSports) 20:02.742; 2. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 20:02.810; 3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing) 20:05.316 JK Tyre Novice Cup (Race 3): 1. Mohamed Ryan (MSports) 23:44.056; 2. Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum Motorsports) 23:47.212; 3. Mihir Avalakki (Birel Art) 23:47.330 JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup: 1. Syed Muzammil Ali 14:19.609; 2. Tanay Gaikwad 14:25.458; 3. Sidharth Sajan 14:27.480 JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies : 1. Ikshan Shanbag; 2. Prashanth R 3. Aryan Gurav 14:35.073 JK Tyre Women's Category (LGB Formula 4) : 1. Mira Erda (MSport); 2. Mega K.S (Ahura Racing); 3. Diana Pundole (Ahura Racing).