The third round of the Volkswagen Ameo Cup began proceedings on a rather damp note as unseasonal rains in Chennai dumped a large amount of water on the Madras Motor Sports race track. The morning turned out to be a major washout with almost the whole day looking like it would carry on the same way.
However, Mother Nature finally relented and parted the clouds allowing the racers to get on with their business in the early hours of the afternoon. The shortened hours meant that the practice session and qualifying were merged into one big track excursion of 35 minutes with 15 for practice and 20 for qualifying.
The practice session saw Pratik Sonawane, Saurav Bandyopadhyay and Shubhomy Ball take top honours with the best timing going to Pratik who clocked a time of 1.55.257 with a top speed of 116kmph. The qualifying session saw Saurav Bandyopadhyay take pole position with Shubhomy Ball and Ayush Taniwala taking second and third respectively.
By the time, the drivers hit the race track for the race 1, the tarmac had dried prompting the race officials to make the drivers switch to slicks and this instantly raising the stakes as well as the degree of the action on the track.
Saurav Bandyopadhyay led the race from start to finish with only a minor loss off the line, something he managed to rectify before even hitting C1 on the track. Such was his lead that by the end of the race Saurav was a full four seconds clear of Shubhomy Ball in second place and five-second clear of Pratik Sonawane in third place. He even managed to clock in the best lap of the race with a time of 1.54.529 and with a top speed of 116.8kmph.
The action returns to the race track tomorrow for the second and final race for the third round of the 2019 Volkswagen Ameo cup.
Volkswagen Ameo Cup Car at the 2018 CarWale Track Day
Building a Volkswagen Ameo Cup Car
