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Category: Indians Abroad
News about Indians racing in different motorsports events abroad
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Sam Bird seals victory in the Putrajaya ePrix
Sam Bird cruised to victory at the second race of the season in Putrajaya ahead of championship-leader Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi.
Putrajaya (Malaysia), 22 Nov 2014: The Virgin Racing driver crossed the line to pick up the full 25-points and clinch his maiden ePrix win.
Bird said: “The weekend went really well, we were quick from the first outing and we were quickest in practice. Qualifying didn’t quite go our way as I think we were not in the best group for doing a fast lap time but we put that right in the race.
“The first stint I was able to get a very good gap which meant we could take it easy and not make any silly mistakes, do some lift and coasting, and coast to the finish. I have to dedicate this win to a good friend of mine who is very ill. It’s very sad what’s happened to him and this one is for Jules.”
Audi Sport ABT driver Lucas di Grassi and e.dams-Renault’s Sebastien Buemi both managed to fight their way through the field to stand on the podium despite starting at the back of the grid.
Di Grassi said: “For sure this was beyond my expectations. Everyone is here to win, everyone is pushing to the limit as this track has proven once and for all this car is very tricky to drive even if you have done all the testing. The tiniest margin can ruin your whole weekend and that’s what happened in qualifying from my side and then to come all the way from the back of the grid on a street track to second is an amazing feeling. I felt I had a much better race than in Beijing where I won.”
“I’m really happy I have to say,” said Buemi. “We were really good in testing and then when we came to the first race it just didn’t go well. It went bad today in the qualifying which is quite strange, we did some set up changes that didn’t work so well but I felt the strongest in this car and finished third.”
Bird’s win means he moves up to second place in the championship standings just three points behind Beijing race-winner di Grassi.
Nicolas Prost continued the strong form he showed in qualifying to finish fourth. The Frenchman started from 11th position after carrying over a 10-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision in Beijing.
Dragon Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio showed his reliance from last place on the grid to come home in fifth. D’Ambrosio qualified in the top-three only to be penalised for exceeding the maximum power usage.
Oriol Servia, who inherited pole position, made a good getaway to retain the lead at the start as Daniel Abt dropped back with what seemed to be a power issue.
The Qualcomm Safety Car was deployed on the opening lap to clean the debris from the track as Amlin Aguri’s Katherine Legge and Michela Cerruti (Trulli) collided. Legge looked to make a pass on the inside but lost the back end and caused Cerruti to spin.
Andretti racer Matthew Brabham clashed with Venturi’s Nick Heidfeld at the tight turn 10 hairpin sending the Formula E debutant into a spin.
Brabham’s team-mate Franck Montagny was in a feisty mood as he carved his way through the field but forced Heidfeld into the tyre barrier on the outside of turn five. The stricken Venturi brought out the safety car for a second time.
Abt make the most of the opportunity and pitted under the safety car in an attempt to run a long second stint. However, it was a gamble that didn’t pay off as he dropped to 10th place to pick up a solitary point.
He said: “I had some problems at the start which I’m not sure what it was, it seemed like a power issue and it didn’t kick in. I pitted in under the safety car which was a risky strategy and a bit of a gamble which unfortunately didn’t pay off.”
Mahindra’s Bruno Senna crashed heavily on the final lap in pursuit of Sebastien Buemi for the final podium spot. Senna said: “I saw Buemi and had an opportunity to get a podium but I made a mistake. I just went for it and got out on the marbles when I lost the car.”
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Raj Bharath pips Ryan Cullen to take pole: MRF Challenge in Bahrain
Raj Bharath takes pole at Bahrain. An Adrenna image Bahrain, 13 Nov 2014: Raj Bharath continued his brilliant form to qualify on pole position for Race 1 of Round 2 of The MRF Challenge 2014 at Bahrain International Circuit. GP3 driver Ryan Cullen traded fastest laps with Bharath but had to settle for 2nd place on the grid, albeit just 0.076secs off pole position. Championship leader Toby Sowery will start from 3rd position while it was a good day for Indian fans with Vikash Anand enjoying his best ever qualifying session in the MRF Challenge to start 4th on the grid. Round 2 of the MRF Challenge is the main support race for the second biggest motorsport series in the world, the FIA World Endurance Championship.
After a highly competitive Round 1, which was held under floodlights in Qatar as a night race, the action continued from where it left off with the top 10 drivers close to each other. Bharath started off qualifying with a strong first lap but Cullen was quick to match it and go faster. This went on for the next 5 laps with both drivers exchanging fastest laps and almost nothing to choose from them. With 15 minutes to go the red flag came out after a racing incident between Tarun Reddy and Advait Deodhar, ruining both their sessions.
When the session resumed it was the same story with Bharath leading Cullen by 0.033secs. Both drivers still managed to go faster with Bharath managing to hold on to pole after a brilliant session. The gap between 3rd and 8th place was 0.203 with Sowery starting in 3rd position ahead of Vikash in 4th place. Dylan Young will start in 5th position with Camren Kaminsky in 6th position.
Bharath was ecstatic after taking his first ever pole position. He commented, “The car has been great from the beginning and i have been confident ahead of qualifying. It was a really close session and even after the red flag I felt we had the pace to go faster. Cullen was close and it was a great battle for pole position. I am confident ahead of tomorrow and look forward to fighting for the win.”
Earlier in the day Free Practice 1 saw Australian driver Dylan Young fastest ahead of Sowery, Cullen and Bharath. The times got even faster in Free Practice 2 with Cullen taking over the top spot in a highly competitive session. The top 12 drivers were covered by less than a second. Tarun Reddy was 2nd fastest with Sowery and Bharath completing the top 4.
Out of the 5 Indians on the grid, 4 drivers have graduated from the MRF 1600 category, which runs with the MMSC National Racing Championship. Tarun Reddy won the 2014 MRF 1600 Championship, with Advait Deodhar, Lee Keshav and Vikash Anand finishing in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively. Raj and Tarun were both race winners in Round 1 in Qatar, and are currently lying 2nd and 5th in the Championship respectively.
18 year Toby Sowery currently leads the Challenge with 86 points. He finished on the podium in all 4 races in Round 1 which included 2 wins. The battle for 2nd is tied with Raj Bharath and GP3 driver Ryan Cullen on 53 points. Kyle Mitchell is 3rd on 51 points with Tarun Reddy on 49 points.
MRF Challenge
In its third year, the MRF Challenge 2014 will feature 16 MRF Formula 2000 race cars, which have been made in India by JA Motorsport based in Coimbatore, in collaboration with Dallara, world’s largest racing car manufacturer and also Jayem Automotives Ltd, which is a strategic partner for Tata Motors Ltd. The Formula 3 style car has been built by JA Motorsport in technical collaboration with Dallara, and is considered to be the fastest of its kind in Asia. The MRF Formula 2000 is powered by a 2.0 litre 210 BHP Renault Sport Engine and will have a Hewland 6-Speed sequential gearbox. The race car has also been crash tested to FIA F3 safety standards and will race with MRF ZLO slick and wet tyres.
The MRF Challenge has fielded a strong driver line-up in the last two seasons, with drivers going on to win races in GP2 and British Formula 3. The MRF Challenge Alumni include GP2 drivers like Arthur Pic, Tio Ellinas, Jon Lancaster, Conor Daly, GP3 drivers like Ryan Cullen and Carmen Jorda, Former Formula 2 Champion Luciano Baccheta and British Drivers Harry Tincknell (WEC) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook.
MRF Challenge 2014 Calendar:
Round 1: October 17-18, 2014, Doha, Losail International Circuit (Night Race)
Round 2: November 14-15, 2014, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit (World Endurance Championship Support Race)
Round 3: January 24-25, 2014, Chennai, Madras Motor Race Track
ends/Adrenna release
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Raj Bharath storms to stunning win and a second in Quatar MRF Challenge
Qatar, 19 October 2014: Raj Bharath pulled off two stunning overtaking moves enroute to winning his first race in the MRF Challenge 2014 at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar. Raj finished ahead of Kyle Mitchell and Toby Sowery in Race 3 to make it two consecutive wins for Indian drivers after Tarun Reddy won Race 2 on Saturday.
Raj almost made it two wins in a day but just missed out by 0.212secs to Toby Sowery in Race 4. Fans were treated to great racing under the floodlights with both races providing plenty of overtaking and close racing in what is probably the closest MRF Challenge grid.
The main feature race started with Toby on pole position with Raj alongside him. Raj had a great start and went into the lead with Toby falling to 3rd position behind Ryan Cullen. Cullen passed Raj at the end of the first lap to take the lead with Kyle Mitchell also squeezing through. Toby ran wide and slipped back to 6th position. Raj spent the next few laps trying to find a way past Kyle as Cullen failed to take advantage of his lead. Raj pulled off a great move to get past Kyle and within a lap he was right behind Cullen. Raj overtook Cullen on the next lap to take the lead of the race.
Behind him the battle continued when Kyle got past Cullen and in to 2nd place. Toby also found his way past Cullen and started challenging Kyle for 2nd place. Raj crossed the finish line to take the win with Kyle managing to hold off Toby to take 2nd place. Cullen finished in 4th position with Pedro Cardoso in 5th position. Mathias Lauda took 6th place to take reverse grid pole for the 4th and final race of the weekend.
Race 2 started with pole sitter Mathias Lauda going into the lead ahead of Ryan Cullen. Pedro Cardoso slotted into 3rd position with Tarun Reddy jumping from 7th to 4th after the 1st lap. Tarun passed Pedro and started catching the top 2 drivers. On lap 4 the top 7 drivers were separated by just over a second with nothing to choose from them. Toby and Raj, who had poor starts, started carving through the field and on lap 8 were in 3rd & 4th positions.
Toby quickly passed Cullen and took the lead from Lauda on lap 10. Raj took a little longer to pass both the drivers and set off to catch Toby, who had a 3 second lead with 3 laps to go. Lauda, meanwhile, made a mistake and went off track which dropped him out of the top 6. Raj became the only driver to go under the 2 min lap time as he set two fastest laps and reeled in Toby. However he ran out of laps as he crossed the finish line in 2nd place, 0.212secs behind Toby. Cullen held on to take the final step on the podium with Pedro and Tarun crossing the line side-by-side, with Pedro ahead by 0.012secs to cap off a brilliant weekend of racing for the MRF Challenge 2014.
Raj Bharath, who also won the Mercedes Young Star Driver program earlier this year, was ecstatic after taking scoring the most points of the day. He commented, ” It was an amazing day today, after all the issues we had yesterday. Starting on the front row, the start wasn’t the best and I fell back to fourth. All the drivers I ended up fighting with were far more experienced – so it was an incredibly close and tough dice and I’m really happy to have come out on top”.
“In the second race starting sixth I was hoping to get on the podium and the first few laps was a bit chaotic obviously. My aim was to just stay out of trouble because I knew the pace was there and then push from there on. Last two laps I really caught up to Toby but just fell short at the line. It was a bit disappointing at that point to be honest but getting the fastest lap of the weekend along the way made up for it somewhat.”
Race 4 winner Toby Sowery, who was the only driver to finish on the podium in all 4 races, commented, “Another great race and really happy to end the weekend as the Championship leader. I had a poor start again so had to work through the field to get on the top step of the podium. It was a great battle with Raj as he was really quick at the end but it was a nice way to end such a great weekend for me.”
Race 3 Top 10:
Pos
Driver Name
Country
Total Time
1
Raj Bharath IND
30:33.379
2
Kyle Mitchell RSA
30:33.705
3
Toby Sowery GBR
30:34.591
4
Ryan Cullen GBR
30:36.420
5
Pedro Cardoso BRA
30:42.693
6
Mathias Lauda AUS
30:43.400
7
Tarun Reddy IND
30:44.074
8
Dylan Young AUS
30:47.176
9
Vinicius Papareli BRA
30:47.797
10
Freddie Hunt GBR
30:53.413
Race 4 Top 10:
Pos
Driver Name
Country
Total Time
1
Toby Sowery GBR
30:28.285
2
Raj Bharath IND
30:28.497
3
Ryan Cullen GBR
30:33.088
4
Pedro Cardoso BRA
30:37.804
5
Tarun Reddy IND
30:37.816
6
Nikita Mazepin RUS
30:38.336
7
Kyle Mitchell RSA
30:38.866
8
Vinicius Papareli BRA
30:39.287
9
Mathias Lauda AUS
30:41.975
10
Dylan Young AUS
30:42.515
Bharat Raj passes Lauda at Qatar on Sunday. An Adrenna image -
SFI Academy’s Daruvala finishes second in German Championships
Sahara Force India Academy driver Jehan Daruvala went within a whisker of claiming an incredible German Karting Championship crown, finishing second in the standings in one of Europe’s top competitions.
The final race, on the Belgian track of Genk, was the perfect theatre for a thrilling finale. The closing round came at the end of a fiercely fought season that saw Jehan and Championship rival Martijn van Leeuwen stand in a class apart from the rest of the field: between them, the two racers had won seven of the eight finals disputed up to the Genk weekend, amassing podiums and building a huge gap over the remaining opponents. The young Indian racer, in particular, had impressed with four wins and one second place in his first season of senior karting – among some of the world’s best racers.
With all the elements for a brilliant showdown between the only two drivers with a shot at the title, the weather intervened to play a role in the proceedings. Rain on Sunday morning meant that, after a solid performance in qualifying on Saturday, Jehan was to face a completely different set of circumstances on the day of the finals.
A battling display in the first final wasn’t enough, however, to maintain the championship lead on van Leeuwen – the Dutchman finishing second to Jehan’s sixth place. And when everything was ready for a sizzling second final, with the standings hanging in the balance before the closing race of the weekend – the Sahara Force India driver requiring to comprehensively outscore his rival to win the title – controversy struck.
A botched start by van Leeuwen saw the Dutchman collide with guest driver Alessio Lorandi, resulting on them both falling off the track. With Jehan only needing to be in the top three to win the championship and having already secured second place in the race, Jehan was looking in good shape. Unexpectedly and without any apparent safety or track issues, the race officials threw a red flag, which resulted in the grid being reformed with the drivers in their original starting positions – nullifying Jehan’s advantage. After a further red flag and a dubious decision to commence the race in single file, Jehan’s fate was determined. Although he claimed fourth position, the advantage gained by van Leeuwen from the decision to restart the race in qualifying order could not be overcome.
Despite the obvious disappointment at the manner in which the final race unfolded, the Mumbaikar was very composed and took the events of the day in his stride. He outclassed a host of experienced racers to claim a very strong result, and runner-up spot in the German Championship, showing throughout the season a growing confidence with senior ka
File photo of Dr Vijay Mallya (L) with Jehan Daruvala at Buddh International Circuit, during the Indian Grand Prix 2013. Photo: Chitra Subramanyam / RidingFastAndFlyingLow rting that will surely prove useful in his future career.
eom/SFI academy press release
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Ruhaan Alva finishes ninth overall in tough field
Nottingham, October 6: Bangalore lad Ruhaan Alva capped his 2014 stint of karting in the United Kingdom with a commendable ninth overall in the ‘B’ final of the Little Green Man Championship at the PF International Circuit here on Sunday. He is with team Fusion Motorsport.
The eight-year-old has moved out of the novice class, in which he got several podium places, and is competing in the overall category that has drivers more experienced than himself.
“I am happy with the effort and look forward to coming back next year,” said an excited Ruhaan. “I was overjoyed when the spectators cheered me for overtaking six other experienced drivers. This gives me confidence. To finish ninth overall feels good, particularly since I am not competing in the novice class anymore.”
Ruhaan was 10th fastest in qualifying out of a field of 30 drivers and had three heats to decide on the start order. He started 21st in the first heat and ended up finishing where he started. In the second heat he started sixth and was shunted out at the first corner and had to begin from last position and made up five places to finish 25th. In the final heat, Ruhaan started in 21st and finished 24th since he got blocked at the start.
Ruhaan poses in Nottingham. An Alva image ends
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MRF Tyres’ Jan Kopecky wins APRC title with a round to spare; Gill misses out after Rally Hokkaido accident
Hokkaido, 28 Sept 2014: Team MRF Tyres driver Jan Kopecky from the Czech Republic won the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) title after a convincing win in the Rally Hokkaido. 2013 European Rally Champion Kopecky takes an unassailable 50 point lead with only one round remaining. His main rival and Indian Rallying ace Gaurav Gill crashed out of the lead of the rally and his team was unable to get the car ready in time for the final day.
Rally Hokkaido in northern Japan is traditionally one of the fastest rallies in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship where the faster cars often reach 240kph on the narrow tree lined roads, but also an event that can get very rough as the surface breaks up into deep ruts.
While Kopecky won the event easily by 42 seconds from his nearest rival, he controlled his speed and saved the car over the rough sections. Kopecky commented, “The car was great, the team was great and I would like to thank everyone from Team MRF Skoda to making this possible. They did an amazing job these past five rallies and hopefully we can do it again i
n China”.Kopecky was also quick to thank his co-driver Pavel Dresler also from the Czech Republic. He said,“ I was trying my best and big thanks to my co-driver, he’s a part of the game and 50% of the result. Without him I would be lost somewhere in the forest and am happy that we didn’t make too many mistakes in the last 5 rallies. It’s been a great experience competing together in all these different countries”.
With a total of 154 points accumulated over the past five events Kopecky wins the 2014 Asia Pacific Rally Championship Drivers title as he cannot be beaten, even with one round to go in China. India’s Gaurav Gill is currently second on 104 points but with only 39 points available to win in the one remaining round, it’s now impossible for Gill to retain the title he won in 2013.
Sanjay Takale from India finished 10th overall and won the Production Cup in Hokkaido, driving a Cusco prepared Subaru Impreza. “This was our goal to come here and win a round of the Production Cup as this will my last APRC event of the year. We’ll be back next year though, preparation for that begins now” said Takale at the finish.
The next event in the 2014 Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the MRF Tyres Skoda team is the China Rally 4-7 November.
Overall Classification:
STAGE CLASSIFICATION
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
Pos
No
Cls
PosDriver
VehicleTime
Diff Ldr
(Prev)Pos
No
Cls
PosDriver
VehicleTime
Diff Ldr
(Prev)1
1
AP/TRC2
1J.KOPECKY
SKODA39.8
*.*
(*.*)1
1
AP/TRC2
1J.KOPECKY
SKODA2:12:29.5
*.*
(*.*)2
11
RC2
2Toshi.ARAI
SUBARU41.5
+1.7
(+1.7)2
11
RC2
2Toshi.ARAI
SUBARU2:13:11.8
+42.3
(+42.3)3
3
A/TRC2
3Y.SUMIYAMA
SUBARU42.3
+2.5
(+0.8)3
5
TRC2
3H.YANAGISAWA
SUBARU2:16:09.2
+3:39.7
(+2:57.4)4
4
AP/ARC2
4J.XU
SKODA42.6
+2.8
(+0.3)4
3
A/TRC2
4Y.SUMIYAMA
SUBARU2:17:17.4
+4:47.9
(+1:08.2)5
15
RC2
5T.NIIHORI
SUBARU42.7
+2.9
(+0.1)5
15
RC2
5T.NIIHORI
SUBARU2:22:10.1
+9:40.6
(+4:52.7)6
5
TRC2
6H.YANAGISAWA
SUBARU42.9
+3.1
(+0.2)6
14
RC2
6F.TAKAHASHI
SUBARU2:25:49.1
+13:19.6
(+3:39.0)7
13
RC2
7H.ISHIZAKI
SUBARU44.1
+4.3
(+1.2)7
20
RC2
7T.YOSHII
MITSUBISHI2:26:21.9
+13:52.4
(+32.8)8
23
RC2
8K.KOIDE
MITSUBISHI44.5
+4.7
(+0.4)8
16
RC2
8T.OHASHI
SUBARU2:26:31.6
+14:02.1
(+9.7)9
20
RC2
9T.YOSHII
MITSUBISHI45.0
+5.2
(+0.5)9
4
AP/ARC2
9J.XU
SKODA2:27:11.6
+14:42.1
(+40.0)10
18
RC2
10T.NASU
MITSUBISHI45.2
+5.4
(+0.2)10
6
AP/A/TRC2
10S.TAKALE
SUBARU2:31:58.3
+19:28.8
(+4:46.7) -
Heartbreak for Gaurav Gill; Chances of retaining APRC crown bleak
Hokkaido (Japan), 27 Sept 2014: Indian rallying Ace and Team MRF Tyres driver Gaurav Gill put in a blistering performance at the Rally Hokkaido before an accident caused extensive damage to his car in the penultimate round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). Any chance of retaining the Asia Pacific Rally Championship that Gill won in 2013 now appears to be remote, although the Team MRF Tyres are working to get the car repaired in time to restart tomorrow. With Gill’s retirement, MRF Tyres driver and teammate Kopecky took over the lead of APRC Rally Hokkaido, 25 seconds ahead of Japan’s Toshi Arai.
After seven stages and 70 kilometers of flat out competition, MRF Skoda driver Gaurav Gill from India led the 2014 APRC Rally of Hokkaido. Through the first morning of competition Gill has built a steady lead on MRF team-mate Jan Kopecky, arriving at the first break confident he had the right strategy. Unfortunately for Gill on stage 8 Yam Wakka, a high speed crash ended his rally. Gill commented “I was a little surprised this morning that Jan was faster than me on the first stage, but after that I dug in and put in some good (stages) times to take the lead. We’re not pushing, looking after the car is really important here. It’s a shame what happened as the car felt really good this weekend.”
Kopecky, who started the Rally with an 8 point lead is looking to finish the race tomorrow after seeing his main competitor go out. “It’s unfortunate what happened to Gaurav, we were having a good battle but these roads are very unforgiving. Our plan today was to keep the same safe pace especially through the long stages. Tomorrow the stages are very tricky, very difficult and are different from today, so hopefully we can keep our position and bring the car back to the finish. We must finish tomorrow as this will win for the MRF team, the APRC Manufacturer’s award”.
eom/Adrenna Communications
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Daruvala into the lead after Kerpen dominance: German Karting Championship
Jehan Daruvala. Image courtesy Sahara Force India Academy Kerpen, 18 Sept 2014: Sahara Force India Academy driver Jehan Daruvala jumped into the lead of the German Karting Championship standings with a commanding performance in Kerpen. He came third twice and won the last race. (Centre in pic)
The fourth round of the calendar, running on the track that saw Formula One World Champions Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel hone their skills as young drivers, marked an excellent weekend for the Indian racer, who was quick from the get-go, qualifying third in a very competitive field of 32 drivers.
Starting on the dirty side of the track alongside Championship leader and main rival Martijn van Leeuwen, Jehan dropped some position at the start of the first heats, but a solid display of racing saw him move all the way up to third by the flag. Our Academy driver’s recovery drive was even more aggressive in the second race of the weekend, when he had to claw his way from 10th after the first corner to claim another third spot at the line. This was crucial as it guaranteed Jehan a good position on the grid for the first final – third and on the ideal side of the track.
With van Leeuwen able to get off cleanly at the start, Jehan took the first few laps of Final 1 to clear all other opponents and throw himself in the leader’s pursuit. Despite the large gap, the Indian racer clawed away second after second and managed to put a move for the lead by the halfway mark. A fierce, but clean, fight ensued, with the two Championship protagonists exchanging positions several times; finally, with three laps to go in the 23-rounds race, Jehan claimed the lead and took good defensive lines to hold back his rival until the chequered flag. In a post-race interview, the One From A Billion graduate stated he felt it was one of the best races he had ever driven.
Final 2 promised to be another tight battle between the two drivers, but fate had other plans. With most of the field, unlike Jehan, on fresh tyres, the race appeared to be very close for the top seven; on lap three, as Jehan was leading and van Leeuwen was trailing in third place, the Dutchman’s kart ground to a halt. The remainder of the event, however, wasn’t going to be straightforward for the Sahara Force India Academy racer either, as he fell to sixth, behind drivers mounting fresh tyres. As that advantage faded, Jehan set out to relentlessly close the gap and, one overtake after the other, he regained the lead of the drivers eligible to score points and crossed the line in second overall.
With a full 50-points loot for the weekend, Jehan rises to 147 points, 12 ahead of his Dutch rival with one round left in the Championship. The two worst results for each driver will be dropped, meaning the gap between the two remains small: all is set for a grand finale showdown in Genk (Belgium) on October 3-5.
Jehan will return to action in the CIK FIA World Championship in Essay (France) next weekend.
eom/Press Release from Jehan’s Manager
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Ruhaan Alva gets on to the podium twice in S1 British Karting Championship
Northampton, September 14: Bangalore boy Ruhaan Alva bagged the second spot in both races in the novice IAME Club category, the support races for the S1 British Karting Championship, here on Sunday. The eight-year-old was eighth and seventh overall in the two races held at the PF International Circuit.
The heats were conducted late on Saturday night and Ruhaan qualified seventh and eighth in the first two heats respectively. Points are given for the positions in the heats and as a result of the seventh and eighth positions, Ruhaan got the eighth position on the starting grid.
It was a normal first race without any incidents in the first race but in the second, another karter spun off and Ruhaan had to brake. This pushed him down to the last position. However, the third standard student of NPS (Koramangala) fought back and clinched the seventh place overall.
“I would have liked to finish first. But it is okay, you win some and you lose some,” he said.
ends
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Singhania for 2014 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli – Coppa Shield at Silverstone
By Sanjay RajanGautham Singhania poses with the car after making his entry as Indian from FMSCI. An FMSCI image Chennai, 10 Sept 2014: Gautam Singhania will take part in the 2014 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli – Coppa Shell to be held at Silverstone between Sept 12 to 14 as an official Indian entry endorsed by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
The Coppa Shell is a series for “amateur gentleman drivers” in the one-make racing series organised by Ferrari, and Singhania will be competing in a Ferrari 458.“It will be a proud moment as an Indian to represent the country at Silverstone. I am looking forward to a great race ahead, as one can never get tired of burning rubber in a Ferrari,” Singhania said.A racing enthusiast since his college days, Singhania, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of Raymond Group, has had some impressive results in international competition this season.In July, Singhania came second in the opening race ofthe Britcar Championship at Oulton Park, two months after winning both races in the opening round of the 2014 Pirelli Ferrari Open held at Brands Hatch.Singhania on his debut won the amateur category in the All Stars European Drifting Championship in Malta in September 2012, and last year unveiled India’s first purpose-built drifting car.The Super Car Club that he co-founded is promoting drifting as an auto sport in a big way in the country, and Singhania also holds the lap record at the Buddh International Circuit in a non-open wheel car.eom/FMSCI press release/By Sanjay Rajan
