Volkswagen Vento Cup Round 2 Concludes After 2 Days’ Action

The Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT), which has recently been refurbished, witnessed a power-packed weekend with the 2016 Volkswagen Vento Cup. The event saw twenty drivers fighting it out for the title at the race track in their VW Vento race cars. In the two-day event Keith Desouza clinched the first place, followed by Niranjan Todkari in second and Karminder Pal Singh grabbing the third spot at the podium on the first day. While, on the second day, Ishaan Dodhiwal bagged victory, followed by guest driver Li Huiwe and Sirish Chandran. Here’re all the details you need from both the day’s races.

Day 1

The race started with Pune’s Niranjan Todkari starting at pole position, and starting off with a good lead ahead of the rest of the pack. However, he was keenly trailed by Keith, who took advantage of him shortly into the race at turn seven of the track. Thereafter, Keith led the race till the end with a noteworthy chase from Niranjan. Following these two was Karminder Singh, who ultimately finished at third after rising from his grid position (sixth). The fourth and fifth spots were filled by Ishaan Dodhiwala and Aditya Pawar, who too put up a great show.  

The Goa-based top spot winner, Keith Desouza, said, “It was fantastic race for me. The Volkswagen Vento Cup race car was extremely consistent throughout helping me get to pace early in the weekend. Starting the race from second position was not the best but I took the lead at the first opportunity I got and held on to it till the end.” He further added, “Tomorrow I will start from eighth position and I am expecting another exciting race. There are quite a few guys ahead of me who have good pace.”

Day 2

Day 2 turned out to be bit challenging as the sun went harsh on MMRT with temperatures hovering around 35-degree Celsius. This meant that the drivers endured more than 50-degrees of temperatures inside their race cars. However, all the racers showed their mettle of racing throughout the race.

The race started with Li Huiwei, beginning on the pole position, followed by He XiXi in second, while the third spot was taken up by Ishaan Dodhiwala. Li Huiwei started off strong and went on to build a decent lead over his Chinese peer, He XiXi and Ishaan. However, Ishaan was quick to react and was able to pass XiXi after three laps and then efficiently trail Huiwei. This paid off well as Huiwei made a slight error in to the first section on the circuit on the last lap, allowing Ishaan to pass him and clinch the title for the first race of Day Two.

Meanwhile, behind these two, the battle for the third spot continued between Xixi, Aditya Pawar, guest driver Sirish Chandran, Karminder Pal Singh and Keith Desouza. But, as Aditya and XiXi crashed out of the race after a collision, Sirish darted towards the finish line to take third spot on the podium, ahead of Karminder and Keith.

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Ishaan Dodhiwala said “It was a very difficult race today. Getting past He Xixi wasn’t easy. Once that was done, my target was to get to Li Huwei. I did close up to him by the last lap and the small mistake that he made gave me the chance to get past. For sure, this one was the toughest race of the season so far.”

Guest driver Sirish Chandran said, “The conditions were really difficult today. The temperatures were really high and retaining concentration till the end was definitely very tough.” Talking about the finish, he said, “All the drivers were pushing hard and the competition was really high. I am used to rallying where you are up against the clock, the conditions around you and the rally stage. Here, you are up against 20 other drivers who are driving as hard as you are and that’s the tough part. It was great to have finished on the podium in the end after putting in all those efforts.”

Speaking of the last race, Niranjan Todkari won with a clean lead throughout the race from the very beginning. This race also marked his first victory in the 2016 Vento Cup -- which has already seen four different winners in five races, including himself. Clinching second and third spot in this race were Keith and Ishaan, respectively.