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Race report

Volkswagen Ameo: Bandyopadhyay wins from 11th with last lap passes

Saurav Bandyopadhyay pulled off two fantastic overtaking moves on the final lap to claim victory in the second Volkswagen Ameo Class race of the weekend in Chennai.

Saurav Bandyopadhyay

Saurav Bandyopadhyay

Srinivasa Krishnan

With the top 12 finishers put in reversed order, yesterday’s runner-up Bandyopadhyay started 11th on the grid, just ahead of Pratik Sonawane.

As expected, the two drivers quickly rose up the order when the eight-lap race began, Sonawane jumping up to third by lap five, with Bandyopadhyay not far behind in fourth.

By the final lap of the race the two had caught long-time race leader Avik Anwar, who was struggling with a worn set of tyres.

Heading into turn 2, Bandyopadhyay made a crucial pass over Sonawane and then hauled down Anwar two laps later to complete a fantastic 11-to-first charge.

Sonawane also passed Anwar on the final lap - on the very last turn - demoting the Bangladeshi driver to third.

"I was just since yesterday thinking about it, barely slept last night," said Bandyopadhyay after the race. "It was bad. I came here today feeling very weak.

"I couldn't sleep, I kept waking up, going over scenarios 'okay lap 1, I make a move here or I move there' - running through the scenarios, preparing mentally.

"Just kept going over it over over it, all throughout morning. Just one thought 'I am going to go for it, I'm going to make my move, I'm going to make it count.

"Yes, I want to win but I was like even second or third place will be good but in the back of my head I was like I want that win.

"On the last lap it felt like these two were a little ahead but they were fighting and I got an opportunity and I was still giving it 100%. I kept telling myself till the chequered flag 'keep at it'.  guess last lap was a little bit of fortune but rest of it I worked hard for it."

Siddharth Mehdiratta was classified fourth, with Aiman Sadat from Bangladesh completing the top five. Pole-sitter Harsh Sheth finished eighth, nearly 22 seconds down on the race winner.

Ameo Class front-runner Jeet Jhabakh was one of the two retirees from the race, the other being Bangalore’s Chetan Surineni.

Race results:

Pos

Name

Total Time

City

1

Saurav

Bandyopadhyay

15:49.972

Mumbai

2

Pratik Pandurang

Sonawane

15:52.896

Pune

3

Avik Anwar

15:53.007

Dhaka

4

Siddharth Mehdiratta

15:53.232

Lucknow

5

Aiman Sadat

15:53.877

Bangladesh

6

Anuranjan

Velmurugan

16:01.216

Chennai

7

Shubhomoy Ball

16:01.663

Bangalore

8

Harsh Sheth

16:11.324

Chennai

9

Ayush Tainwala

16:11.754

Mumbai

10

Asrar Ahmad Wani

16:12.382

Srinagar

11

Viraj Jairaj Jhala

16:13.276

Nasik

12

Kris Nagdev

16:13.786

Delhi

13

Kamlesh Gehlot

16:32.223

Mumbai

14

Anmol Singh Sahil

17:27.978

Gaziabad

15

Najeeb Ahamed Shaik

16:45.170 (DNF)

Vijayawada

16

Kaushick Mohan Raja

16:05.173 (DNF)

Coimbatore

NOT CLASSIFIED

17

Jeet Jhabakh

08:08.995

Hyderabad

18

Chetan Surineni

06:17.101

Bangalore

Action

Action

Photo by: Srinivasa Krishnan

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