Hare claims double; Khushlani second

South African 16-year-old Aston Hare produced a blistering run to win both the races in the JK Racing Asia Series at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) here on Saturday.

Akhil Khushlani and Aditya Patel ensured Indian presence on the podium of the Sidvin Festival of Speed.

The podium finishes (20:23.383 and 20:16.541) helped Hare close in on championship leader Nabil Jeffri, who was not in his elements. Jeffri finished 10th and last in the first race and seventh in the second. He still holds a slim 12-point lead over Hare.

Afiq Ikhwan came third and second in his two outings and felt his chances of winning the championship are all but over.

Meanwhile, Khushlani and Patel impressed with their performances. Khushlani was second in the first race and Patel third. In the qualifiers of the JK Tyre-VW Polo R Cup, guest driver Jeffrey John Kruger (2:26.039) finished on pole followed by Avdumber Hede (2:27.562) and Ameya Walavalkar (2:28.066). The cup will witness its final clash for the grand trophy on Sunday.

In the first race of the LGB Formula 4 championship, Sarosh Hataria claimed victory with a total time of 14:48.281. Diljith TS came second (14:48.745). Chennai based Saran Vikram (14:57.804) finished third.

The Indian Touring Cars Championship witnessed Coimbatore racing and rally champion N Leelakrishnan (14:58.753) taking the top honours. Finishing second was gifted driver B. Balavijay (15:12.148), followed by V Ramnarayanan (15:14.839).

In the Indian Junior Touring Cars Mumbai-based Fahad Kutty of Team Game Over won his sixth win of the season with time of 16:45.111 while championship leader S Feroze Khan finished second (16:45.584) and S Sreeram of Mega Racing third, just over two seconds behind the winner.

In the MRF F2000 championship, Jordan King  grabbed a brilliant double. Englishman Jordan (19: 21.419 secs) comfortabley took the first race followed by American Conor Daly (19:24.893) and countryman Luciano Bacheta (19:26.188).

Jordan (19:17.762 secs) surged ahead to lead series points table.