MMSC Volkswagen Vento Cup 2016 Round 3: Day 1

The first day of the third round of the MMSC Volkswagen Vento Cup 2016 saw Karminder Pal Singh emerging as the race winner. The Delhi-based racer stunned everyone with his surprise performance even after starting second on the grid after Ishaan Dodhiwala, who took a remarkable pole position in the qualifying race. Whereas, Aditya Pawar came third as he was able to pass Keith Desouza in the initial stage of the main race and thereafter maintain his lead throughout the ten laps.

Interestingly, since the freshly laid track had settled firmly as compared to the previous round -- in which it was peeling at a number of curves -- the drivers were now able to race through the track at a faster pace. This was also reflected in their respective lap times, with each driver shedding as much as three seconds over their previous lap time on the track in the second round. The competition was so close in the top order that the first four drivers were separated from each other by just 0.33 seconds.

The day took off with Ishaan comfortably securing pole position in the qualifying round. However, in the main race his launch was accompanied by a lot of wheelspin, forcing him to lose to Karminder, who started off in a very composed manner and was able to pass the former around the very first corner of the track. Karminder was then able to carry on a very neat and error-free race throughout the ten laps with Ishaan closely following him. Nonetheless, it was quite exciting to see both the drivers put a great show for the spectators with several close call situations.

The action trickled down to the upper middle order as well, with Keith, Niranjan, Aditya and Jeet charging forward to grab the third spot. Keith started at third off the grid, but owing to a bad launch he lost his position to the other three. Aditya and Niranjan exchanged their positions on several instances, however, the former was able to regain and maintain his third spot till the end of the race.

Meanwhile, Keith was trying his best to climb back to the position he had lost in the beginning of the race. Ultimately, he was only able to climb to fourth from the sixth spot by the end of the race, and wasn’t able to close in on Aditya.

Commenting on his victory, Karminder said, “My launch off the grid was the best today – that helped me get past Ishaan in the first corner itself. From then, I just wanted to drive a clean race and make no mistake. I went off a little bit mid-way through, but fortunately Ishaan made the same mistake and I retained my lead in the race.”

Sirish Vissa, Volkswagen Motorsport India head, said “It was a tight competition today – the top drivers are really within a fraction of a second of each other. This is the perfect recipe for a title battle for the title.” Speaking on the increased pace of the racers, he said “In the Qualifying, we already have a lap time under 1 min 56 and I am expecting the race pace to come in the late 1 min 56 timing range tomorrow. The Madras Motor Race Track has been improved a lot. That, along with our improved Vento Cup race car with the new tyres, new suspension and its updated setup has helped us find that extra pace.”

The second race of the weekend will take place with drivers arranged in reverse order, which means that the racers who started on the topmost positions on the grid on Saturday will take the last spot today. The first order will be served up by last year’s Junior Cup winner Pradeep Rao, with Niranjan Todkari on second, Dhruv Behl in third and Jeet Jhabakh in fourth.