Hataria holds nerves to win Formula Rolon race

COIMBATORE - Sarosh Hataria, the 30-year old from Chennai and in Meco Racing livery, survived an errant car and a red flag stoppage to win the Formula Rolon race in the second round of the JK Tyre National Road Racing Championship here Sunday.

Hataria, always considered a very competitive driver but who never quite fulfilled early promise, struggled with a problematic gear box that played up when he was running second and he consequently lost track position.

However, a red flag stoppage following an incident at Turn 1, helped Hataria to get a second wind and he pulled away on restart to eventually win.

Hataria, of course, benefitted from the 20-second penalty that Parth Ghorpade, the quickest driver on the track, was docked for a jump start.

The Rolon class, beset with teething problems that delayed the launch of the refurbished car equipped with a 1300cc Suzuki engine and design changes, was nearly a non-starter, but late night work on the machines enabled 10 of the 13 entries take the start.

Like Hataria, young Vijay Kini, the 20-year old from Bangalore, kept his wits about to win the Formula LGB Swift race that was again split into two runs following a red flag incident, again at Turn 1.

Earlier, Sailesh Bolisetti of RAD Racing team, gave yet another exhibition of his dominance to win his fourth consecutive race in the Super Saloons class.

While Bolisetti, the 21-year old from Visakhapatnam streaked away from the field, veteran B. Vijay Kumar of Prime Racing and young Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) fought a gripping battle, exchanging positions through the 15 laps. Towards close, Vijay Kumar pounced on an opening to pass Kishore and took the second spot.

Vishnu Prasad and Karthik Shankar (Rams Racing) delivered two podium finishes apiece in the Volkswagen Polo Cup series. Prasad won the first outing and then finished second behind Shankar who was third in the previous race.

The results:

Formula Rolon (8+4 laps): Sarosh Hataria (Meco Racing) 1 (14mins, 32.777secs); Vikash Anand (RAD Racing) 2 (14:33.388); Chitesh Mandody (Mohite Racing) 3 (14:43.404).

Formula Swift (Race 2 - 7+5 laps): Ajay Kini (Wallace Sports) 1 (14:53.920); Goutham Parkeh (Wallace Sports) 2 (14:55.568); Akhil Devrag (TVS Girling) 3 (14:57.152).

Super Saloons (Race 2 - 15 laps): Sailesh Bolisetti (RAD Racing) 1 (19:05.240); B Vijay Kumar (Prime Racing) 2 (19:19.914); G Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 3 (19:16.854).

Volkswagen Polo Cup (Race 1 - 20 laps): Vishnu Prasad 1 (27:57.043); Sahil Shelar 2 (27:58.893); Karthik Shankar (Rams Racing) 3 (27:59.608). Race 2 (20 laps): Karthik Shankar (Rams Racing) 1 (26:00.310); Vishnu Prasad 2 (26:00.512); Parth Ghorpade (Meco Racing) (26:05.601) 3.

Indo-Asian News Service