Sandeep Kumar wins inaugural VW Polo Cup

Chennai: Sandeep Kumar clinched the national championship title for the inaugural Polo Cup with a race to spare in the fourth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship here on Sunday.

The 29-year Chennai racer displayed controlled aggression and was content with his fourth and fifth-place finish in the final two races of the Volkswagen one-make championship.

After starting way back in the top-12 reverse grid, he finished fourth in the penultimate race. He took advantage of the incidents in lap 2 and 3, and moved forward gaining five places in a race that was red-flagged.

Making a restart and overtaking one more Polo, Sandeep garnered enough points from the fourth-place finish to seal the championship. In the afternoon heat, he managed to bring the Polo home in fifth for a creditable championship victory, his second national title.

A former Volkswagen Polo R Pro Cup champion, who raced in Scirocco R Cup for two years in Germany, Sandeep was also the winner of Formula LGB4 National Championship-2020.

"I am so relieved. It is a very happy moment for me and I thank all the Volkswagen family and all my team who put in many hours of dedicated hardwork to give me a wonderful machine. The powerful car built by Volkswagen Motorsports India is a pleasure to drive and I enjoyed every bit this season," said Sandeep, a corporate lawyer by profession.