First win for Leelakrishnan in JK Tyre National Racing
Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan (RAD Racing) rolled back the years and won his first race in 18 seasons as he pipped two youngsters en route to claiming the honours in the Super Saloon class at the fifth and penultimate round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship, here Saturday.
It was master class in track driving by the 47-year old Leelakrishnan, a six-time National rally champion, who last raced in 1993 when he won in a Formula Maruti car before retiring to focus on rallying.
“For sure, it is a nice feeling to win after so many years. It helped that I started from pole position and had a clear run into first corner after which I dictated the pace,” said Leelakrishnan, who joined the championship after missing the first round and had four consecutive second place finishes before Saturday’s win.
Leelakrishnan’s victory was marked by the clean lines through corners and his car was visibly quick while exiting it. That helped him open up a sizeable lead by the end of the first lap leaving championship leader Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) and Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) to finish in second and third spots.
Both Rajvirdhan, 31, and Kishore, 32, were involved in a tight battle at the start. Rajvirdhan, starting second, lost a position when he slid off an oil patch, allowing Kishore to pass him. However, Kishore met a similar fate at the same spot on the next lap and Rajvirdhan moved up to second, but could not catch Leelakrishnan.
Rajvirdhan picked up 18 points that took his tally to 156 as against TR Radha Selvarajan (123), who didn’t participate in the race while Leelakrishnan moved to third spot (101) and Kishore slipped to fourth (97).
Earlier, 25-year-old Chennai businessman Gautham Parekh of Wallace Sports won a close race in the Formula LGB Swift class that saw just five seconds covering the top five finishers.
Parekh was made to fight every inch of the way after he jumped from fifth to first by the end of the first lap and then hung on grimly to finish ahead of Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) and Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling).
The result put Walavalkar on par with championship leader Deepak Ravikumar, who finished a distant 13th. The two are level on 118 points while Parekh gained a few positions to get among the top six.
Late in the evening, B Balavijay (142) chalked up a fluent win in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class to narrow the championship leeway with Diljith Shaji (176), who finished second ahead of Feroze Khan.
The results:
Formula LGB Swift (10 laps): Goutham Parekh (Wallace Sports) 1 (19mins, 54.126secs); Ameya Walavalkar (Mars Racing) 2 (19:54.238); Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling) 3 (19:57.034).
Touring Cars - Super Saloon (10 laps): Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan (RAD Racing) 1 (20:19.040); Vijaykumar Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 2 (20:20.695); Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 3 (20:28.890).
Indian Junior Touring Cars (10 laps): B Balavijay (Moto-Rev India) 1 (21:36.028); Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 2 (21:36.554); Feroze Khan (HCZ Racing) 3 (21:44.780).
