Ananth, however, had his own
plans and showed his intentions and aggression right away, shooting past Nayan
at the lights itself. Nayan almost seemed to freeze Anindith Reddy who jumped
ahead of him even though it was quite apparent that he had made a false start.
By the time he recovered from the shock, Ananth had picked up a huge gap.
Nayan put up a brave fight but
just couldn’t find a way past Ananth. He had to settle for the third position
while Mohammmed Nalwalla and Dhruv Mohite (both of Maharashtra) took the fourth
and fifth places.
There was barely any change in
positions in the second Euro JK 16 Race either, with Ananth, Karthik and Nayan
finishing in exactly the same positions: first, second and third.
“I got a very bad start and
was lucky not to lose more pace” explained Ananth, after winning the afternoon
race. He had even conceded the lead to Karthik in the opening lap itself but
found some space to reclaim his position by the second lap. “I picked up a huge
gap midway through the race and had my heart in my mouth when the safety car
came out,” he conceded.
Luckily for him, the track was
cleared of danger quickly enough and didn’t hurt him. The unfortunate driver
was Donison whose car went out of control and took a sharp spin. He didn’t
throw in the towel though and valiantly finished the race, even if he was more
than half a lap behind.
Ananth was amazingly quick all
through the two races, even timing a special 1:00.874 minutes in the 12th lap
of the second race.
In the LGB Formula 4,
Chennai’s drivers effected a clean sweep, taking the first three positions and
also the fifth in a hard-fought, thrilling race. Lanky Vishnu Prasad of Meco
Racing, who was nursing an injury, looked in no discomfort behind the wheel and
put up a fast and furious show. Starting at No. 2 in the grid behind Ashwin
Sundar of Dark Don Racing, he didn’t have to wait long to jump into the lead.