2019 JK Tyre NRC, Round 3: Vishnu Prasad regains LGB Formula 4 lead

The 2019 JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship is nearing its conclusion, and the penultimate round held at the Kari Motor Speedway saw Aaroh Ravindra seal the JK Tyre Novice Cup title, while Vishnu Prasad once again moved to the top of the LGB Formula 4 standings and Tanay Gaikwad further consolidated his lead in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup. Here’s a summary of how the races in all three classes panned out:

LGB Formula 4

Prasad bounced back from a difficult Round 2, and a strong points haul in Round 3 sees him re-take the overall lead. The first race of the weekend was won by Diljith TS, with Sandeep Kumar A and Ashwin Datta behind him. Meanwhile, Prasad was able to beat erstwhile championship leader Raghul Rangasamy to take 4th place. Prasad enjoyed even better form on the next day, securing a 2nd-place finish in the first race of the day and winning the next one.

Balaprasath AS won Race 2 ahead of Prasad, with Datta completing the podium. Another 5th-place finish in Race 2 delivered a blow to Rangasamy’s title chances, but he was able to redeem himself in the final race of the weekend with a 2nd-place finish, ahead of Datta.

After Round 3, Prasad now leads the standings with a total of 68 points – five points ahead of Rangasamy.

Results
Race 1
1. Diljith TS (Dark Don Racing – 20:52:145);
2. Sandeep Kumar A (Dark Don Racing – 20:52:462);
3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing – 20:55:619)

Race 2
1. Balaprasath AS (MSport – 18:09:374);
2. Vishnu Prasad (MSport – 18:12:358);
3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing – 18:15:824)

Race 3
1. Vishnu Prasad (MSport – 19:25:872);
2. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport – 19:26:830);
3. Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing – 19:27:810)

Suzuki Gixxer Cup

After dominating the races in the previous round, Tanay Gaikwad was tied with Syed Muzammil Ali at the top of the standings, and continued his strong form in Round 3. Both, Gaikwad and Muzammil Ali, were engaged in a tight battle in Race 1, when the latter fell off his bike, giving Gaikwad a clean run to victory.

Muzammil Ali came back strong to beat Gaikwad and win Race 2. But a 2nd-place finish was yet enough to hand Gaikwad an eight-point lead in the championship.

Results
Race 1
1. Tanay Gaikwad (14:11:820);
2. Jagdeesh N (14:16:047);
3. Sidharth Sajan (14:17:570)

Race 2
1. Syed Muzammil Ali (14:12:167);
2. Tanay Gaikwad (14:12:445);
3. Sidharth Sajan (14:13:942)

JK Tyre Novice Cup

After the leading the championship in the first two rounds, Ravindra’s title bid took a serious hit as he failed to score any points on the Day 1; he was unable to start one race, and retired from the next one. Instead, Mohamed Ryan won Race 1, while Himanshu Thukral won Race 2.

This made it a three-way fight for the title between Ravindra, Ryan and Chirag Ghorpade. Aditya Swaminathan ended up winning the final race, but a 5th-place finish was enough for Ravindra to secure the title with a total of 56 points. Ghorpade finished four points behind him in the standings in 2nd place, with Ryan a further four points adrift in 3rd place.

Results
Race 1
1. Mohamed Ryan (MSport – 12:15:739);
2. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports – 12:19:676);
3. Mihir Avalakki (Birel ART – 12:25:387)

Race 2
1. Himanshu Thukral (MSport – 14:18:548);
2. Kishore  (DTS Racing – 14:19647);
3. Mihir Avalakki (Birel ART – 14:19:941)

Race 3
1. Aditya Swaminathan (MSport – 18:29:654);
2. Himanshu Thukral (MSport – 18:35:245);
3. Udbhav Goyal (MSport – 18:37:686)