Ameo Cup returns with Karminder and Sandeep dominating

This is the first year of the Ameo Cup. Last year’s Vento Cup winner Karminder Singh topped qualifying, putting in a 1:09:368 — faster than the ITC cars could manage this weekend. In P2 was Sandeep Kumar, followed by Kolhapur lad Dhruv Mohite in P3.

Karminder had a good start and took off in to the lead, with Sandeep Kumar in second. Karminder managed to build a good lead from Sandeep, who himself managed to put a lot of space between himself and the rest of the pack. Jeet Jhabakh was in third, but the battle for fourth was really heating up — with four cars within split seconds of each other vying for the same spot. Donovan Vaz managed to win that little melee to position himself comfortably in fourth. In lap 10, a car went off at C1, requiring the safety car to be called in. The massive gaps between the leaders were negated.  Karminder controlled the restart well, and stayed in the lead when the safety car pulled in to the pits with three laps to the finish. Jeet and Donovan, who were in third and fourth respectively were both given 20 second penalties for overtaking under the safety car. They dropped to 11th and 12th place, promoting the unsuspecting Aditya Pawar in to third.

Race 2 started with a reverse grid from fourth — Tauhid Anwar was in pole, followed by Aditya, Sandeep and Karminder. Aditya had a terrible start and dropped to 11th even before the first corner, while Sandeep nailed it and took the lead. Hot on Sandeep’s tail was Karminder and Dhruv Mohite, who started at P5. Sandeep drove a superb race, defending every single move Karminder tried to pull on him for 15 straight laps. The three of them took off from the rest of the pack, and were on each others’ backsides for the entire race. Sandeep didn’t slip once, even with a little contact from Karminder’s bumper didn’t faze him and he took the victory. Karminder had to settle for second — and Dhruv, who was biding his time to make a move got no such opportunities and finished third. As things stand, Karminder and Sandeep stand tied for first in the Ameo Cup championship. The second round of the Ameo Cup will continue alongside round 2 of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship on July 21-23.