2017 Volkswagen Ameo Cup Round 2: Report

Over a hot weekend at the Madras Motorsport Race Track (MMRT), Round 2 of the 2017 Volkswagen Ameo Cup delivered a couple of thrilling races.

The highlight of the race weekend was the addition of guest driver Devin Robertson, a veteran of the South African Engen Volkswagen Cup series. This is part of Volkswagen Motorsport's exchange program where drivers of similar series run by VW worldwide are given a chance to race in a different country.

The South African set the pace early in the weekend when he qualified in pole position more with a time of 1:54.150. He was over a second faster than second position man and Chennai racer, A Sandeep Kumar. Karminder Singh followed clinched third in the starting grid for race 3 an unbelievably close 0.016 seconds behind.

What was interesting was how impressed everyone in the pits was with Devin's performance, consistency and smoothness. Devin was modest enough to admit that his experience (has been racing since 2006) and tough cars back in South Africa (the Polo Cup cars have a manual gearbox and no ABS, as compared to the 6-speed sequential transmission and race-ABS of the Ameo Cup car) helped him adapt to and dominate at the MMRT.

Studying the telemetry data from Devin's pole lap helped other drivers, both the rookies and the veterans to improve their results. In the race, Devin managed to ease up a gap from pole, with a flawless launch and consistent laps - his best lap in the race was only .088 seconds off the qualifying time!

Behind him, championship contenders Karminder Singh and A Sandeep Kumar fought for the second position from the get go. Karminder had a better launch than Sandeep and was able to overtake and seal his place in the second position by the third corner. Sandeep could have given Karminder a lot more trouble but made a couple of mistakes in the following laps and fell back. 

Sandeep's race pace was also affected by Donovan Vaz, who started 6th on the grid but made a couple of overtakes and was in fourth place. Sandeep had to maintain a defensive strategy to keep Donovan at bay, which helped Karminder open up a gap by the end of the race.

By the end of 8 laps, Devin Robertson finished with a comfortable lead of 10.833 seconds! Karminder Singh finished second, with Sandeep Kumar successfully defending his third position.

For race 4, held the next day, a reverse grid was used. Based on the finishing order of the previous race, the first 8 drivers would have their positions reversed - which meant Devin started in 8th, Karminder in 7th and Sandeep in 6th. The pole sitters for this race were Rohit Goyal, Keith Dsouza (the second guest driver for the weekend) and Dhruv Mohite. 

The decision to reverse the grid only for the leading 8 drivers had been done to keep the most competitive drivers in the title fight. Reversing the whole grid would have made it difficult for the faster drivers to race in the midst of slower drivers, said Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India.

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The racers were pumped up for Race 4; the reverse grid, better understanding of the circuit and more experience in the car meant more drivers were itching to race harder. 

The first lap saw the lead change hands three times. Keith was able to jump ahead of pole sitter Rohit with a better launch and lead the race by the first corner. Dhruv Mohite, the racer from Kolhapur, was able to pass Rohit in the second corner and took the lead from Keith by the third corner. 

Behind them, there was a serious incident involving A Sandeep Kumar (starting 6th) and Johir Suresh (starting 17th). Sandeep had a spin as he entered the first corner, as he tried rejoining the track, he was hit by Johir who could not avoid him as there was low visibility because of the amount of dust that had been kicked up.

Rohit Goyal began falling down the grid after another incident, which promoted Donovan Vaz, Karminder Singh and Devin Robertson up the 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. Karminder and Devin passed Donovan by the end of lap 2 and were on the tail of Keith.

Karminder pressured Keith for a whole two laps, by the end of the 4th lap Keith made a mistake and ran wide. The mistake was costly as it demoted him down the order, with Karminder taking the 2nd spot and Devin taking 3rd. Keith had mechanical issues and finished the race in 10th place.

Meanwhile, Dhruv had a clean race and finished 6.448 seconds ahead of Karminder. Devin caught up with Karminder, finishing just 1.378 seconds behind. Devin's race was hampered by a contact which left him with a bent front bumper, he had to back off to not damage his front left tyre.

With the latest result, the Ameo Cup has seen four different winners in the first four races - this should encourage more competitors to try their luck in the next six races. For now, Karminder Singh leads the competition, followed by Dhruv Mohite and A Sandeep Kumar.

The next round, consisting of race 5 and 6 will be held (tentatively) at MMRT again on August 19-20, 2017.