Amith Kutti leads Round 1 of Indian eRacing Championship

Chennai’s Amith Kutti launched his campaign in the fourth edition of the Mumbai Falcons Indian eRacing Championship, in association with Volkswagen Motorsport, winning both the Pro races, warding off Season 2 winner Sai Prithvi’s challenge to take a commanding lead at the conclusion of the first round. Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Ujjwal Belwariar won the Junior race, edging past Sayee Saran who had taken pole position.

Reigning champ Amith Kutti was engaged in a keen battle for pole with Sai Prithvi at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, with the former finishing ahead in 2:13.718 minutes. Prithvi was a close 0.13 seconds behind, while Niranjan Kumar rounded off the podium

The latest season of the Indian eRacing Championship (formerly the Indian Sim Racing League or ISRL) extends to eight rounds and will see multiple new classes as the season progresses. A women’s class along with two separate amateur classes will be introduced soon.

“We are proud to be associated with the Indian eRacing Championship. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the IR eSports team has done a stellar job in keeping the spirit of motorsport flying in the minds of racers,” Ameet Gadhoke, owner of Mumbai Falcons, said.

Sirish Vissa, head, Volkswagen Motorsport India added “The Indian eRacing Championship is making motorsport racing fun, exciting and a unique learning experience for our young and aspirational racers in India. With the continuous development of this platform, it intends to offer a near realistic experience along with reaching out to a wider audience of potential race drivers.”

Race 1 began on a furious note with three cars attempting to enter a corner side by side in the first lap itself before Kutti and Prithvi pulled away. However, a massive crash in the midfield saw multiple cars suffering severe damage.

Kutti eventually won just 0.75 seconds ahead of Prithvi while Hyderabad’s Bhanu Teja was third. Sonipat’s Ankit Tyagi was fourth.

With the reverse grid coming into play for the top 12, Ankit Roy started with the advantage of pole. But after just a few corners, he made a mistake and went off-track, setting off a chain reaction of incidents, resulting in numerous cars suffering damage. Ankit Tyagi took the lead while Kutti made his way up to fourth, before eventually grabbing the lead as also the race ahead of Tyagi and Teja.

F3 Asia race winner and guest racer for the weekend, Sri Lanka’s Eshan Pieris, representing the CMSC (Ceylon Motor Sports Club), suffered technical issues and an accident in Race 1. The highly rated racer started seventeenth in Race 2, but made some excellent moves to ultimately finish fifth. Macau’s Frederico Joaquin finished fourteenth, climbing from 21st, after missing Race 1.

Speaking on the conclusion of round 1 of the IeRL, Rayomand Banajee eight-time national karting and racing champion and founder of IR eSports said, “We have created the Junior Class to help newcomers adapt to the sport in slower cars. We are thankful to the Mumbai Falcons and Volkswagen Motorsport for their continued support. We also welcome and thank Red Bull for their support.”

The final results of all three races are as below: