Indian Racing League: Sohil Shah claims maiden victory to boost Goa title hopes
Championship contender Goa Aces JA Racing received a massive boost when Sohil Shah destroyed a high-quality field and delivered a hat-trick of pole position, race win and best lap, in the Indian Racing League at the Kari Motor Speedway on Saturday.
It was 23-year-old Shah’s first win, and he did it in style by beating the likes of veterans Neel Jani (Hyderabad Blackbirds) and Alvaro Parente (Speed Demons Delhi) who came in second and third, respectively. However, Parente was docked a five-second penalty and was pushed to P4 with Jon Lancaster (Chennai Turbo Riders) moving up a spot to P3.
The winning margin of 17.156 seconds underlined Shah’s dominating performance that came on the back of several podium finishes this season.
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In the Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC), South African Aqil Alibhai (Hyderabad Blackbirds) came up with yet another brilliant drive on a drying track to post his sixth overall and fifth win in a row to consolidate his spot on top of the leaderboard in the FIA-certified F4IC.
Finishing in P2 was his closest rival, Ruhaan Alva (Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) who couldn’t keep his pole-position start while Canadian Hady Noah Mimassi (Chennai Turbo Riders) completed the podium while also winning the Rookie award and clocking the best lap of the race.
At the start, Alva made a poor getaway and left the door open at Turn-1 for Alibhai to surge ahead. Thereafter, the South African maintained his lead, literally tiptoeing past the water patches and later the back markers. Behind him, Alva settled in second place, unable to come close to making a move on Alibhai while Mimassi couldn’t make much headaway and had to be content with P3.
27th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship
Starting from P2 on the grid, Bengaluru’s Tijil Rao (Dark Don Racing) pulled off yet another win to move closer to the championship title in the 27th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship on Saturday at the Kari Motor Speedway.
In a close LGB Formula 4 race, Tijil held off a strong challenge from Chennai’s Saran Vikram Tmars (Momentum Motorsports) while Rookie Dhruvh Goswami (MSPORT) from Bengaluru finished third. Meanwhile, as many as seven drivers failed to finish the incident-filled race.
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup
Championship leader Navaneeth Kumar S from Puducherry consolidated his position on the points table with one win and a P2 finish in the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup. His arch-rival, Rohan R from Coimbatore matched the performance to remain in title contention.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Yogesh P also notched a double in the Amateurs category to seal the championship in this class.
The results (Provisional):
Indian Racing League (Race-1, Driver-A) 25 mins+1 lap: 1. Sohil Shah (India, Goa Aces JA Racing) (26mins, 34.598secs); 2. Neel Jani (Switzerland, HyderabadBlackbirds) (26:51.754); 3. Jon Lancaster (UK, Chennai Turbo Riders) (26:54.848). Best Lap: Sohil Shah (01:03.088).
Formula 4 Indian Open (Race-1, 25mins+1 lap): 1. Aqil Alibhai (South Africa, Hyderabad Blackbirds) (26:14.474); 2. Ruhan Alva (India, Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) (26:15.614); 3. Hady Noah Mimassi (Canada, Chennai Turbo Riders) (26:17.254). Best Lap: Mimassi (01:10.638).
JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship: LGB Formula 4 (Race-1, 15 laps): 1. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Dark Don Racing) (22:02.750); 2. Saran Vikram Tmars (Chennai, Momentum Motorsports) (23:03.725); 3. Dhruvh Goswami (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (23:04.504). Rookie: 1. Dhruvh Goswami (23:04.504); 2. Abhay Mohan (Bengaluru, 23:06.147); 3. Neythan McPherson (Pune, Momentum Motorsports) (23:08.494).
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup (Race-1, 9 laps) – Professionals: 1. Rohan R (Coimbatore) (11:44.984); 2. Navaneeth Kumar S (Puducherry) (11:45.320); 3. Anish Shetty (Bengaluru) (11:45.470). Amateurs: 1. Yogesh P (Bengaluru) (12:16.480); 2. Johring Warisa (Umrangso) (12:16.891); Johnson Saldanha (Mangaluru) (12:22.450). Race-2 (6 laps) – Professionals: 1. Navaneeth Kumar S (07:48.397); 2. Anish Shetty (07:50.894); 3. Rohan R (07:51.227). Amateurs: 1. Yogesh P (Bengaluru) (08:08.594); 2. Johring Warisa (08:10.664); 3. Johnson Saldanha (08:21.798).