2017 Volkswagen Ameo Cup Round 3: Race Report

Despite rains playing spoilsport just before race weekend, Round 3 of the 2017 Volkswagen Ameo Cup -- held on the short loop instead of the full track, as previously planned -- gave fans three thrilling dry races, just what they’d come to see. When the dust settled, Karminder Pal Singh had strengthened his lead, finishing on the top spot on the podium in two of the three races, taking his points tally for the season to 384. At a distant second Dhruv Mohite trails Karminder with 280 points, followed closely by Sandeep Kumar with 258 points. Friday’s downpour meant that the organisers had to make a hasty decision to conduct the race on the shorter loop, since the other extreme of the track was water-logged and showed no signs of drying up before Race 1. All of the Ameo Cup racers were unfamiliar with this part of the track, and it was Sourav Bandyopadhyay who made the most of the new track layout and qualified pole. Title favourite Karminder qualified second while his arch nemesis, Sandeep, came in third. 

On Race 1 on Saturday, Sourav showed that his feat in the wet qualifying was no fluke, and got off to a strong start, making sure that he wasn’t caught in the crucial first corner by Karminder. While Sourav kept building his lead with each lap, Karminder, on the other hand, was having a hard time repeatedly fending off attacks from Sandeep, who simply refused to give up. However, this non-stop onslaught took a toll on Sandeep’s tyres and he started falling back by the tenth of the 15-lap race. This enabled Dhruv to catch up to the warring duo, but he couldn’t find an opportunity to pass them.

On Race 2 on Sunday, the order of the grid was reversed for the first eight racers, which meant Rohit Goyal started from pole position, followed by Donovan Vaz and Jeet Jhabak. Meanwhile, last day’s winners Sandeep, Karminder and Sourav started in sixth, seventh and eight positions respectively. 

Karminder had a brilliant start which saw him gain one position right in the first corner, and then move past Sandeep and Dhruv in the second. His relentless attack on Donovan saw fruition as the latter missed the apex and ran wide on the turn-in to the short loop. Donovan then kept sliding down the line, giving away lap after lap to Jeet, Dhruv and Sandeep.

In Race 3, the last of the weekend, Sourav had a great start from pole, trailed by Karminder and Sandeep. However, he couldn’t maintain his consistency for the full lap, hitting a patch of track with some oil spill, thus giving away Karminder the lead two corners later. In the second lap Dhruv moved up a spot, and from there on the order remained unchanged till the chequered flag.

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From the MMSC racetrack near Chennai, the Volkswagen Ameo Cup will now head to the Buddh International Circuit in Great Noida on 6-8th October for its final round.