TR Radha Selvarajan (Rad Racing) claimed his third victory in six starts this season in the Indian Touring Cars race, riding on some luck when leader V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) went out with a blown engine after three laps.
Radha Selvarajan’s win came after three races and put him back in the lead in the drivers’ championship with 111 points. With Narendran doggedly defending Ameya Walwalkar (Mars Racing) for a little over six laps before the latter spun out of the race with a broken axle, Krishna needed to look into the rearview mirrors only to keep track of the keen battle behind him.
He secured a start-to-finish win that lifted him to the second spot in the drivers’ table behind R Deepak (Mars Racing).
“It is a fantastic feeling to win my first race. I have no words to express my delight but a 1-2-3 for TVS Girling makes it so much more special,” said Krishna, referring to A Sandeep Kumar’s dramatic elevation to third place after having started the final lap in fifth place on a day when overnight rain added to the drivers’ challenge on the track, especially in the morning.
Radha Selvarajan, whose car spun and ended up in a rain-water well off the track on Saturday, said he knew he had to win to stay ahead in the championship at the halfway stage. “I lost crucial points yesterday but I am glad I was able to take full points today,” he said. “I am also happy my team-mate N Leelakrishnan finished second again and is now sixth in the standings.”
Results: FormulaLGB Swift (10 laps): Karthik Krishna (TVS Girling) 20:05.416, 1; S Narendran (TVS Girling) 20:05.867, 2; A Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling) 20:13.800, 3.
Indian junior touring cars (10 laps): B Bala Vijay (MotoRev India) 21:55.172, 1; Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) 21:55.452, 2; Feroz Khan (PerformanceRacing) 22:08.780, 3.
Polo R cup race 1 (10 laps): Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 22:36.484, 1, Ajay Kini (Chennai) 22:39.012, 2; Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) 22:41.046, 3.
Polo R Cup race 2 (10 laps): Avdumber Hede (Goa) 20:51.568, 1; Prateek Dalal (Delhi) 20:57.537, 2; Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 20:58.048, 3.
Drivers championship standings (after six races): Formula LGB Swift: R Deepak (110 points) 1; Karthik Krishna (80) 2; Ameya Walawalkar (75) 3; S Narendran (75) 4.
Indian touring cars: TR Radha Selvarajan (111) 1; V Rajvirdhan (88) 2; B Vijayakumar (80) 3.
Indian junior touring cars: Diljith Shaji (122) 1; B Bala Vijay (100) 2; Jai Prashanth Venkat (80) 3.
Polo R cup: Vishnu Prasad (140) 1; Oshan Kothadiya (109) 2; Avdumber Hede (109) 3.