Chennai trio rule on day 1

Coimbatore: The Chennai trio Karthik Tharani, Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew ruled the opening day of the 21st JK Tyre national racing championship, winning in their respective categories, at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Saturday.

Besides the Chennai boys, the spotlight was on the all-women’s team of Ahura Racing in their striking red cars and uniforms debuting in the event.

Five of the six drivers eventually competed in the LGB 4 category, and looked impressive.

Racing for the first time, Coimbatore’s Megaa K.S. beat the rest of the girls in an overall time of 18:09.051.

Pune’s Ritika Oberoi, a seasoned motorsports competitor, chased her all the way, taking a second longer to finish.

Meanwhile, Karthik claimed the first race in the 15-lap Euro JK 18 category in 18:03.844 seconds.

Nirmal Uma Shankar (Chennai) and Manav Sharma (Faridabad) took the other two places on the podium.

Seasoned racer Vishnu (MSport) staved off a stiff challenge from Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don) and Raghul Rangasamy (also of MSport) to win the opening race in the LGB Formula 4.

In the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, defending champion Matthew was at his imperious best, taking the first race of the season in 14:15.877 seconds.

He was over three seconds faster than Aizawl’s Malsawmdawngliana and Bengaluru’s Syed Muzamil Ali, who was a further three seconds behind.

The Red Bull Road to Rookies was once again dominated by the boys from the North East, with Zothanmawia and Andy Lalhmangaihsang taking the first two places. Jerome Vanlalrengpuia from Mizoram finished third.

Race 2 of the Euro JK 18 could not take place on Saturday as scheduled due to a technical glitch. It will now take place on Sunday, when Round 1 concludes.