Vishnu and Raghul take Formula 4 LGB contest to wire in the season opener

Coimbatore: Safety cars were kept busy throughout Sunday as a series of crashes and infringements became order of the day, forcing marshals to wave appropriate flags and bring drivers in control that saw multi-time champion Vishnu Prasad and young Raghul Rangasamy fight it out in the two races of the premier Formula LGB 4 category on the second the final day of the season-opening round of the 22nd JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway here.

The two challengers spilt the top podium places with wins in contrasting styles—Vishnu was forced to register protest that was upheld allowing him to earn time over his nearest challengers on a day that saw provisional results across three categories being revised thrice before stewards closed their shop well after darkness enveloped the track here.

Driving for MSport, Vishnu, who has won national titles across karting, one-make touring cars to Formula 3 single-seater series’ was nowhere in the picture when results were first put on the board and his team decided to lodge protest. After going through video footage and long deliberations saw Vishnu win his appeal. The close contests at this level augurs well for the sport which for some time has become stagnant due to lack of new blood getting into motorsport.

Raghul opens with big win
The day began with Raghul stealing the win in day’s first LGB4 race, but Vishnu went all out in the penultimate lap to spice up the competition as MSport finished 1-2 on podium. The three podium finishes, including his win on Saturday, handed Vishnu the championship lead with a total of 28 points.

All this came along with a lot of post-race drama.

The JK Tyre Novice Cup too saw some heated off-the-track action as Chirag Ghorpade sailed past the chequered flag for the third consecutive time, only to be penalised by 10 seconds for a jump start, that saw him slide down to 8th position.

Mohamed Ryan (MSports), who had finished second after him was eventually elevated as winner, while Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum; Mumbai) moved up one step to take the second position. The change took away Chirag’s overall championship lead and yielded it to Aaroh.

There was almost no change in the order of finish in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup with Bengaluru’s Syed Muzammil Ali scoring an encore, but this time with over 5 seconds to spare. The JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies saw Ikshan Shanbag of Satara underlining his potential with his second straight win. 
A new category for women was also introduced, celebrating the best racer in the LGB-4 bunch. Vadodara’s Mira Erda (MSport) finished ahead of all the women in each of the races.

Results 
LGB Formula 4 (14 laps):
Race 2: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 18:28.329; 2. Vishnu Prasad (MSport) 18:31.673; 3. Sandeep Kumar A (Dark Don Racing) 18:32.848.
Race 3: 1. Vishnu Prasad (MSports) 20:02.742; 2. Raghul Rangasamy (MSports) 20:02.810; 3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing) 20:05.316.
JK Tyre Novice Cup (15 laps): 1. Mohamed Ryan (MSport) 23:44.056; 2. Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum Motorsports)23:47.212; 3. Mihir Avalakki (Birel Art) 23:47.330.
JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup (10 laps): 1. Syed Muzammil Ali (Bengaluru) 14:19.609; 2. Tanay Gaikwad (Pune) 14:25.458; 3. Sidharth Sajan (Bengaluru) 14:27.480.
JK Tyre Redbull Road to Rookies: 1. Ikshan Shanbag 15:01.223 (10 laps); 2. Prashanth R 14:34.988 (9 laps); 3. Aryan Gurav 14:35.073 (9 laps).
JK Tyre Women’s Category (LGB Formula 4): 1. Mira Erda (MSport); 2. Mega K.S (Ahura Racing); 3. Diana Pundole (Ahura Racing).