Arya Singh and T.S. Diljith of Dark Don Racing shared a race win each in the LGB Formula 4 class in the 26th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Chettiapalayam here on Sunday.
Arya stole the limelight winning both the races in style the other day. It did raise his confidence levels but, despite that he decided to play it smart and straight going into the opening race of the day, which turned out to be a tight affair.
Starting on pole, he quickly jumped into the lead. Diljith played catch up and, at one stage, even managed to scream ahead but Arya shut the door on him.
Diljith was not one to give in. He put the pedal to the metal a bit more and, this time around, and nosed ahead. From there, the duo exchanged positions a couple of times. Midway through, Tijil Rao (Dark Don Racing) joined the action and had the large crowd roaring in delight.
Arya began to feel the heat but the deployment of safety car came in as a breather on time. He managed to pull a gap and played it safe over the last five laps to take the lead and the flag.
“It’s never comfortable when my own teammates are right on my tail for the first ten laps. To beat them at the end feels really good,” said Arya after the race.
The second race turned out to be really tight for Dark Don Racing as the reverse grid came into play. But the boys did the team proud yet again sweeping the podium clean in the 20-lapper event.
Starting on P9, T.S. Diljith for once held his nerve despite the pressure from the back of the pack. Having surged ahead from the back to the front, the Kerala racer upped the pace and kept increasing the lead to win in style. Tijil Rao and Arya Singh battled hard from the start to finish second and third much to the joy of the team.
In the JK Tyre Novice Cup, Arjun S. Nair and Neythan McPherson won a race each but it came with a lot of sweat. Championship leader Arjun pulled off a comfortable win in the first race but met his match in McPherson in the second race that went down to the wire.
It was all about holding one’s nerve. McPherson handled the pressure cooker situation well to finish on top of the podium. Arjun had to rest content for the second position.
It was Bengaluru Jagadeesh Nagaraj who ruled the track in the JK Tyre presents Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup as he withstood firm challenge from his counterparts to go atop the podium. His citymate Ullas Nanda and Abhishek Vasudev came second and third respectively to cap off a wonderful day for Bengaluru.
Hubballi’s Sarvesh Balappa claimed the top spot in the JK Tyre presents 250 Cup, while Aldrin Babu of Chalakudy came second. The last spot on the podium was taken by Ashish Patel of Vadodara.
The results (provisional):
JK Tyre Novice Cup:
Race 1:
- Arjun S. Nair (Momentum Motorsport) 14:04.119; 2. Neythan McPherson (Momentum Motorsport) 14:04.903; Jigar Muni (Momentum Motorsport) 14:05.709.
Race 2:
1.Neytham McPherson 13:57.174; 2. Arjun S. Nair 13:57.347; 3. Jigar Muni 13:58.230.
LGB Formula 4:
Race 1:
1.Arya Singh (Dark Don Racing) 19:25.449; 2.Tijil Rao (Dark Don) 19:29.336; 3. T.S. Diljith (Dark Don) 19:29.549.
Race 2:
1. T.S. Diljith 27:43.905; 2. 27:48.518; 2.Tijil Rao 27:48.538 3. Arya Singh 27:49.901.
JK Tyre presents RE Continental GT Cup:
1. Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Bengaluru) 13:38.407; 2. Ullas S. Nanda (Bengaluru) 13:39.060; 3. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) 13:39.112.
JK Tyre presents 250 Cup:
1. Sarvesh Balappa (Hubballi) 15:00.976; 2. Aldrin Babu (Chalakudy) 15:08.360; 3. Ashish Patel (Vadodara) 15:08.617.
