The fourth and final round of the 24th JK Tyre Indian National Racing Championship is underway and racers Amir Sayed, Ruhaan Alva & Meka Vidhuraj dominated the first day, bagging wins in their respective categories. Amir Sayed took a hard-fought win to keep the championship alive in LGB Formula 4, while Ruhaan Alva continued to extend his lead in the Novice Cup. Lastly, Meka Vidhuraj battled it out with points leader Anish Shetty to secure a win in the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup feature race on Saturday.
A photo finish for Meka Vidhuraj who claimed the win with a few inches to spare before the chequered flag
The day began with the RE Continental GT Cup at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore. The first race was as action-packed as things could get. Points leader Anish Shetty began on pole position and remained nearly undefeated for most of the 16 laps. The rider though had a few close brushes with Meka Vidhuraj and Allywn Xavier as the race progressed. Over the next few laps, Meka dominated the track and followed hot on the heels of Anish, building pressure on the championship leader. While Allwin trailed at P3, a battle ensued between Anish and Meka. Anish managed to keep Meka at bay for most of the laps. But Meka made an enthralling move as he pushed hard on the start-finish line to pass Anish with the chequered flag in sight. Meka took the win by a few tenths of a second with Anish slipping down to P2. Allwyn finished third.
Ruhaan Alva has sealed the championship and the battle is to find the second runner-up
Next up was the JK Tyre Novice Cup and Bengaluru-based race Ruhaan Alva showed no signs of slowing down. With the championship wrapped up in his favour with a total of 80 points so far, the racer began from pole making sure he did not make a single wrong move. However, the race did see competition from his closest challenger Jaden Pariat from Guwahati, who was lagging behind by 24 points. Ruhaan defended his lead well, never giving in to the pressure from Jaden and went to take another win and seal the championship. Racers Neym Rizvi and Aadithya Parasuram finished on the podium as well. Meanwhile, Jaden Pariat finished fifth despite a collision early on in the race.
Amir Sayed won the feature race in the LGB Formula 4 category on Saturday. Vishnu Prasad though still leads the points table
Lastly, the LGB Formula 4 category was a hotly contested space with the top contenders making it a closely-fought battle. LGBF4 rookie Amir Sayed led the race from pole and did a great defending his position from the more experienced Diljith TS who continued to build pressure from P2. Meanwhile, championship leader Vishnu Prasad moved down to fifth. The top order remain unchanged Amir and Diljith took the top two spots, while Ashwin Dutta made a surprise last-minute to grab P3 from Sandeep Kumar.
The LGB Formula 4 champion will now be decided on Sunday with the final two races left. Vishnu Prasad continues to lead the points table by a single point, followed by Sandeep Kumar in second place. Meanwhile, Amir Sayed is now placed third after his victory on Saturday. In the Novice Cup, the fight is on for third place in the championship and racer Neym Rizmi seems to be in contention. Lastly, the RE Continental GT Cup will see the battle go down between Anish and Allywn with a 7-point difference between the two.
Day 1 Provisional Race Results:
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup
1. Meka Vidhuraj – 13:32.000
2. Anish D Shetty -13:32.061
3. Allwin Xavier -13:40.861
JK Tyre Novice Cup
1. Ruhaan Alva (MSport)-14:27.599
2. Neym Rizvi (MSPort)-14:29.854
3. Aadithya Parasuram (Hasten Performance)– 14:31.26
LGB Formula 4:
1. Amir Syed (Ahura Racing) -21:47.001
2. Diljith TS (Dark Don Racing) – 21:49.327
3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing) -21:52.460
