The fourth round of the Volkswagen Ameo Cup 2018 was full of close battles and a spectacular showcase of talent. Dhruv Mohite won the Championship title, Saurav Bandyopadhyay and Jeet Jabhakh took home the first and second runner up silverware respectively. Shubhomoy Ball shined as the Ameo Cup Junior champ.
The qualifying sessions for the fourth round were held on Saturday. With the addition of two guest drivers, it was an even tougher fight for the racers. All the race car drivers were gunning it right from the get go. Guest driver Dhruv Behl pushed the Ameo Cup car to its limit setting the fastest time for the day of 2:22.420. Two laps in, Pratik Sonawane and Dhruv Mohite already found the fastest line through the 5km Buddh International Circuit. Dhruv set a lap time of 2:21.878, almost a second ahead of Dhruv Behl. However, Pratik Sonawane set the fastest lap time for the day, with a time of 2:21.295, and put himself on pole for the first race, ahead of Championship leader Dhruv Mohite.
The first race on Sunday was all chaos. Dhruv Mohite got a better start over Behl and Pratik, and pulled alongside for a clean overtake. Dhruv Behl and Pratik managed to pick up the pace and overtake Dhruv. However before the end of the first lap, Dhruv misjudged Pratik’s line and pushed onto the inside of the corner, colliding with Pratik’s car. While, Dhruv’s car spun into the gravel, Pratik ventured on and pushed ahead. On the last corner of the first lap, Arafeen Ahmed toppled his car causing the safety car to come out. Since Arefeen’s car was stranded at the last corner, the race had to be red flagged and restarted. Shortly after the restart, Shubhomoy Ball went off the third corner that forced the Safety Car to come back in and the rest of the race was held under Safety Car. Dhruv Behl, Pratik and Saurav retained the top three positions till the chequered flag with the Safety Car going back into the pits only on the last lap.
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For the second race, the grid was reversed. Jeet Jabhakh started in pole position, with Dhruv in second and Anmol Singh starting in third position. Everyone got off to a clean start and cleared the first lap. On the second lap, Akshay Bhivshet and Tauhid Anwar spun off at C1 after which the safety car came out for two whole laps. After the third lap, the drivers got to flat on the throttle and pick the pace up. Affan took the third place from Anmol during the fifth lap of the race. The battle for the last spot on the podium went on until the last lap where Anmol charged ahead and made his move. Jeet Jabakh finished in the top spot with Drhuv in close tether for second place while Anmol completes the podium.
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Championship Winners:
Dhruv Mohite gathers a boat load of points putting him on top as the 2018 Ameo Cup Champion. Saurav took home the silverware as the first runner up and Jeet is the second runner up of the Championship. Shubhomoy Ball had an excellent run, earning the Ameo Cup Junior Category star.