SRIPERUMBUDUR: Mumbai racer Saurav Bandyopadhyay was spot on at the Madras Motor Race Track here when he drove splendidly to snap up the pole position in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup as the weekend awaits final round of the premium one-make series here.
Saurav will start ahead of two guest drivers from South Africa, Tasmin Peper and Jeffrey Kruger and will look to consolidate on his seven-point lead with over 150 points to play for. Bandyopadhyay currently leads the championship in Ameo Class with 305 points followed by Lucknow’s Siddharth Mehdiratta (298) and Pune’s Pratik Sonawane (294).
Even though only 12 points split top three drivers in the Ameo Class National Championship, one should not discount Jeet Jhabakh of Hyderabad who has 284 and very much calibre to give the leaders tough time on the track.
Round Three saw top drivers Saurav Bandyopadhyay, Pratik Sonawane and Jeet Jhabakh secure one win each and with reverse grid in play on Sunday it will be interesting to see who takes chances and sets the track on fire.
In the Junior Championship debutant Aiman Sadat has a commendable lead with 388 points and if everything goes right, he already has the Junior Championship Trophy sealed for him. Aiman is followed by Viraj Jhala with 334 points and Kaushick Raja with 294 points.
Round three was definitely a difficult race weekend as things got a little upsetting because of the tricky weather conditions. The drivers and technical team had to up their game at the last moment to align them to the weather conditions.
“We have had a fantastic year racing the Ameo race-cars in the National Championship. The last round was especially great with tricky conditions making it tough for the drivers and having three different winners over the weekend. This is the level of competition that makes things exciting and we are delighted to have put together this platform for the Indian racing talent,” said Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India.
OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3
Top 10: 1. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) 305 pts; 2. Siddharth Mehdiratta (Lucknow) 298; 3. Pratik Sonawane (Pune) 294; 4. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) 284; 5. Anmol Singh Sahil (Ghaziabad) 266; 6. Aiman Sadat (Bangladesh) 243; 7. Shubhomoy Ball (Bengaluru) 218; 8. Avik Anwar (Bangladesh) 206; 9. Ayush Tainwala (Mumbai) 148; 10. Najeeb Ahmed Shailkh 142.
