COIMBATORE: The first race weekend of the 26th JK Tyre National Racing Championship served up a humdinger at the Kari Motor Speedway circuit in Coimbatore on Saturday. The action peaked during the final laps of the first LGB Formula 4 Class race in the morning session, where no single driver managed to keep hold of the lead.
Tijil Rao, Arya Singh and Diljith TS, all of Dark Don Racing, went wheel to wheel several times even as the rest of the field were content with fighting for fourth place. While Diljith started on pole, all three teammates had a go at leading the pack in a race that saw the Safety Car make its way out a few times.
It looked like Diljith, who started the final lap fighting for first, had managed to plot a heist with a smart manoeuvre but he couldn't keep it as both Tijil and Arya overtook him before the final corner before the latter managed to keep his cool to take the chequered flag. After the race, Diljith expressed his happiness but said he could have done better. "Happy with the first race," he told this daily. The 29-year-old is back with Dark Don Racing after a year out.
It was a sort of role reversal in the second of the LGB 4 races as Arya exacted sweet revenge as he managed to finish first ahead of Tijil. In another race that saw the Safety Car make a few excursions, Arya did what he couldn't in the first race. Ahura Racing's Viswas Vijayaraj finished in third place.
It was a double for Arjun Nair, turning out for Momentum Motorsports, in the JK Tyre Novice Cup. While he held off the challenge of Neythan McPherson in the first race (13:23.275 as compared to 13:24.517), the margin of his win in the second was almost six seconds.
Chennai's Anand R occupied the top step of the podium in the Continental GT Cup, the other race on Saturday.
Saturday's results: LGB Formula 4: Race 1: Tijil Rao, Arya Singh, Diljith TS; Race 2: Arya Singh, Tijil, Viswas Vijayaraj; JK Tyre Novice Cup: Race 1: Arjun S Nair, Neythan McPherson, Joel Joseph; Race 2: Arjun, Saishiva Sankaran, Abhay M; JK Tyre Presents Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup: Anand R, Md Samrul Zubair, Abhishek Vasudev.
