Round 3 of the VW Polo Championship has come to an end and over its weekend at MMRT, Chennai, we were treated to three races. Pune’s Oshan Kothadiya and Pratik Sonawane won the first and second race respectively, and Ghaziabad’s Anmol Singh Sahil took the victory in the last race. However, Sandeep Kumar stood out from the pack after he claimed podium places in all the three races which assured his position on the top of the driver’s championship. With that said, let us see how the weekend unfolded in the 12th edition of the VW Polo Championship.
Race 1
Oshan Kothadiya from Pune started his weekend with a bang and was able to qualify at the top of the pack for the first race. He had a great start off the line and remained pretty much unchallenged for the remainder of the race. Anmol, who started behind Oshan, had a race to forget, as he was given a drive-through penalty for a jumpstart. But he was soon shown the black flag and disqualified from the race after he failed to complete the drive-through penalty. With Anmol out of contention, Sourav Bandopadhyay and Sandeep Kumar were competing for the second spot, but it was ultimately Sandeep who overtook Sourav and finished P2. Sourav ended the race on the final podium spot.
Race 2
The second race of the championship started in a reverse grid order, with Ayush Tainwala taking pole position, followed by the only female racer in the grid, Diana Pundole at P2. Winner of Race 1, Oshan started the race from P12 and made his way up to P6. But just as things were going good, his car hit a technical fault and ended the race at P16. The race witnessed a lot of action and overtakes, especially by Pratik Sonawane, who started the race at P6 and claimed the victory of the race in the end. He was followed by Avik Anwar and Sandeep at P2 and P3 respectively.
Race 3
The grid for the third race was decided on the second-best time recorded by the drivers during the qualifying round. This meant that Sourav, Anmol Singh Sahil, Siddharth Mehidratta, Oshan Pratik, and 17-year-old Sai Sanjay were the top 6 on the starting grid. Sandeep started at a distant P11 but he was still able to carve his way through the field and finished the race at P3. Anmol, who started the race at P2, overtook Sourav at the start and maintained the lead till the end of the race. Sourav ended the last race of round 3 at P2.
Commenting on the occasion, Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India said, “With a mix of experienced and rookie drivers, round 3 of the Championship witnessed some exhilarating performances and clean racing from all the drivers. I would like to congratulate Oshan Kothadiya, Pratik Sonawane and Anmol Singh, the deserved winners of the three races that were held over the weekend. I am now eagerly looking forward to the penultimate round of racing, which will decide the winner of the 12th edition of the Volkswagen Polo National Racing Championship.”
With that said, Sandeep Kumar sits at the top of the driver’s championship with 280 points, followed by Sourav Bandopadhyay in P2 with 226 points and Avik Anwar in P3 with 223 points. The final round that will determine the ultimate winner of the Volkswagen Polo National Racing Championship and will be held from February 11-13. For more news and updates from the world of motorsports, stay tuned to evo India!