Report & Photography: Rahul Kapoor
Vishnu Prasad has won the JK Racing Formula BMW 02 held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, UP. Prasad won both the FB 02 and the Formula LGB F4 races, but only managed to take home one title as Diljith TS was crowned Formula LGB F4 champion for 2014. JK Superbikes championship title was clinched by Manmeet Singh.
Consistent drizzle had left the BIC track wet and all the drivers and riders struggled to find grip or gain tyre temperature in the weather conditions. Yet they put up brilliant races with terrifying risks and close shaves.
As the cars lined up on the grid, the eyes of the 25,000 people in the Grand Stand were on Vishnu Prasad and Akhil Rabindra. Armaan Ebrahim featured as a guest driver for FB 02 in which he won the race but gained no points as he wasn’t competing for the title. A couple of laps in race 2, Prasad managed to find his way past Rabindra to take a decisive lead. As Vishnu Prasad came up on top behind Ebrahim to finish 2nd as per regulations, he clinched his 2nd win of the weekend in the series. Race 3 saw Ebrahim take his third race win, but due to his non compete, the winner of race 3 was awarded to Akhil Rabindra. Prasad finished 3rd behind Kumar who finished 2nd. But on the final count Prasad was crowned champion for the 2nd time in his career.
Formula LGB saw similar close wheel to wheel racing with even lesser amount of grip available to the drivers. Once the five red lights went out, Diljith TS (Dark Don Racing), Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing), Karthik Shankar (Team Avalanche) and Sandeep Kumar (Meco Racing) left the rest of the field behind. For the first half of the eight lap race, Diljith, who had already sealed the championship on Saturday (December 13, 2104), opened up a slim lead over the pack behind him. But on lap six, Diljith and Kumar came together, but the former’s bike developed a puncture. Once he started falling back, Prasad took the lead which he held till the end after fending off a desperate lunge from Kumar at the last corner just before crossing the finish line. Shankar was also forced to fight hard till the flag for his third place.
With apprehension and some riders unwilling to race, it was certain that in the slippery conditions and on slick tyres, the JK Superbikes race wouldn’t take place. The officials ordered the riders to go out for 3 practice laps and then make a decision. They did so and after this all the riders felt confident and decided to line up on the grid for a short 5 lap race. As the 5 red lights went out, Kulwant Singh Monty led the pack away but only up to the first corner where he lost control of his bike making all other riders behind him over cautious. All riders maintained their positions while they struggled to simply finish the race. Manmeet Singh in his BMW crossed the finish line ahead of Vijay Singh and Aashir Agrawal. Manmeet was crowned as the first JK Superbikes Cup champion for his brave effort with 24 points.
Final championship points standings (Provisional)
JK Racing India Series (FB 02)
1st
Vishnu Prasad
104 pts
2nd
Akhil Rabindra
88 pts
3rd
Ananth Shanmugam
55 pts
JK Formula LGB F4:
Diljith TS
98 pts
76 pts
Sudarshana Rao
52 pts
JK Superbikes:
Manmeet Singh
24 pts
Gurvinder Singh
20 pts
Aashir Agrawal
18 pts
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