After setting the fastest lap on Saturday, Rahil Noorani continued to be in top form by winning the Race 1 of Polo R Cup 2013. Following him closely for initial laps was South African driver, Jeffrey Kruger, who finished 2nd. Prashant Tharani, starting 4th, made an early move on first lap to climb up a position and retained it till the end. With less than 4 laps to go, Diviraj Thakran’s car hit the tyre wall and toppled. The incident forced him to retire while the race was red flagged.
The 2013 season of Polo R Cup started off in a rather unexpected way. Rookie driver Diviraj Thakran had a tough start to his racing debut as his car hit the tyre wall at corner 7 with 4 laps. The car toppled and landed back on its wheels. With all the safety features of the Polo R Cup racecar in place, Diviraj managed to walk out of the car without any injuries. However, he will not be able to start Race 2 as his car has sustained damages.
Rahil Noorani, the fastest driver on Saturday managed to continue in top form by winning the first race of the season. This victory makes Rahil, who is now in his third Polo R Cup year, one of the favourites for the season. South African driver Jeffrey Kruger started off the race next to Rahil and tried to overtake him on first corner as both of them entered parallel to each other. However, he could not make best of the situation and had to settle behind Rahil till the end of the race. Prashant Tharani, who started 4th, one place behind rookie Anshul Shah, made his move early in the race to take 3rdposition. From there he defended his position till the end.
Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Motorsports, said, “After over 6 months, we are glad to have the Polo race cars are back on track. The drivers were excited to go out and all of them have put up a solid performance today. Though there was an unfortunate incident, it was good to see that the driver walked away without getting hurt. Overall, the rookie drivers have shown steady improvement and are coming up to the pace. The reverse grid for Race 2 will make it even more interesting.”
Rahil Noorani, winner of Race 1, commented, “With a pole position yesterday and a win today, it was the perfect start for the season. This victory has motivated me further and I am looking forward for Race 2. It is going to be a tough one as I will have to start 8th on grid and it will be an interesting race as the other competitors are in good form too.”
Race 1 result:
|
Pos. |
Car No. |
Driver Name (City) |
Best Lap Time |
Total Time |
Difference |
|
1 |
1 |
Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) |
1:15.100 |
14:26.151 |
- |
|
2 |
8 |
Jeffrey Kruger (Johannesburg) |
1:15.400 |
14:28.820 |
+2.669 |
|
3 |
9 |
Prashant Tharani (Chennai) |
1:15.746 |
14:35.441 |
+9.290 |
|
4 |
2 |
Angad Singh Matharoo (Chandigarh) |
1:16.093 |
14:37.337 |
+11.186 |
|
5 |
7 |
Samarth Jaiswal (Mumbai) |
1:15.999 |
14:39.432 |
+13.281 |
|
6 |
4 |
Kartik Tharani (Chennai) |
1:16.436 |
14:39.820 |
+13.669 |
|
7 |
6 |
Rahul Gupta (New Delhi) |
1:15.989 |
14:41.483 |
+15.332 |
|
8 |
18 |
Niranjan Todkari (Aurangabad) |
1:16.602 |
14:45.268 |
+19.117 |
|
9 |
17 |
Hanoosh Surapaneni (Hyderabad) |
1:16.409 |
14:49.982 |
+22.831 |
|
10 |
3 |
Maninder Singh Prince (New Delhi) |
1:16.636 |
14:49.451 |
+23.300 |
|
11 |
14
Anshul Shah (Nagpur)
1:16.796
14:53.471
+27.320
12
10
Yatin Magu (New Delhi)
1:16.907
14:55.044
+28.893
13
20
Gaurav Mehta (Pune)
1:17.112
14:55.662
+29.511
14
5
Gowdham Raj (Coimbatore)
1:16.650
14:56.414
+30.263
15
11
Shivjeet Malik (Gurgaon)
1:17.096
14:57.237
+31.086
16
23
Rakesh Ramkunar (Chennai)
1:17.493
15:09.193
+43.042
17
19
TriVikram Singh Toor (Chandigarh)
1:17.791
15:09:908
+43.757
18
15
Tanmay Ugale (Pune)
1:18.156
15:19.010
+52.859
19
16
Venkatesh Shreyas(Coimbatore)
1:19.268
15:22.167
+56.016
20
21
Adnan Lehry (Chennai)
1:18.831
15:24.903
+58.752
|
DNF |
12 |
Divijraj Thakran (Gurgaon) |
1:16.935 |
13:38.979 |
- |
The Polo R Cup 2013 will have five race weekends. The season has begun with the current round and will be on till December. Besides Coimbatore, races will take place at Madras Motorsport Race Track in Chennai, Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida and a street circuit (TBD) as below:
|
Round |
Venue |
Dates |
|
1 |
Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore |
19 July – 21 July |
|
2 |
Madras Motorsport Race Track, Chennai |
9 August – 11 August |
|
3 |
Street Race - TBD |
6 September – 8 September |
|
4 |
Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida |
27 September – 29 September |
|
5 |
Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida |
29 November – 1 December |
Thanks to its proven concept of promoting young talent abroad, the Polo Cup enjoys the reputation of being an ideal stepping stone to enter professional racing. Building on its success of two great seasons since its inception in 2010, Volkswagen Motorsport hopes to make the Polo R Cup this year an exciting and challenging season in the Indian Motorsports calendar.
Source : CarDekho - Volkswagen Polo - Rahil Noorani wins Race 1 of Polo R Cup 2013
