COIMBATORE: The season opener started under rain but the excitement remained the same. The Kari Motor Speedway had some sizzling moments as the race war was marred by red flags and safety cars too. On Saturday, the By the end of an eventful opening day, early leaders had emerged in every class, with plenty of challengers close behind.
According to the organisers' release, in LGB Formula 4, Arya Singh is the man to beat after winning an eventful LGB Formula 4 race. The contest was cut to 11 laps after four laps behind the safety car, and when the green flag fell, front-row rivals Mehul Agarwal and Arya Singh went to war while Meco Racing's Raghul Rangasamy barged his way into second. Agarwal snatched the lead back but spun through 360 degrees just laps from home, handing Singh the lead and Rangasamy second place. Singh splashed home to win by 2.456 seconds, with Dark Don rookie Aditya Patnaik pipping the recovering Agarwal by 0.120 seconds for third. Rangasamy, Patnaik and Agarwal are the ones to watch, along with Dhruv Goswami, who fought back from 19th on the grid to sixth.
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup: In the Amateurs, Kabir Sahoch is the undisputed leader after back-to-back lights-to-flag wins, taking Race 1 by 2.298 seconds with the day's quickest lap of 1:19.880 and Race 2 by 3.218 seconds. Mumbai's Saurav Sanjay Dey is the rider to watch, having climbed from tenth to fifth in Race 1 and from fifth on the grid to second in Race 2, while Brandon Dsouza and Johnson Xavier Saldanha, separated by just 0.184 seconds in Race 2, keep the podium fight alive. In the Pro class, Coimbatore's Senthil Kumar won Race 1 from pole by 0.025 seconds over Anish Shetty, who set the fastest lap of 1:15.546. Navaneeth Kumar then mastered a red-flag restart to win Race 2 by 1.245 seconds over Senthil, with Vivek Satyanarayan Pillai third and Shetty slipping to fifth. Senthil and Navaneeth have a win each, with Shetty and Pillai the ones to watch.
JK Tyre Levitas Cup: Mumbai's Pratik Sonawane leads the Gentleman class after an imperious pole-to-flag win by 8.574 seconds over Sidharth Balasundaram. The drama came behind them, where Mira Erda climbed from eighth on the grid to third overall as rivals ran wide, while a collision between Vinith Kumar and Ashwin Pugalagiri ended Ashwin's race on lap six. Erda held off Aadam Junaid, who romped to the Rookie class win ahead of Ajay Sankar and Vikram A B. Balasundaram, Erda and Junaid are the ones to watch.
F1300 Novice Cup: Meco Racing's Shatveer Shetty leads the class after a crushing 10.865-second win from pole, with opening-lap tangles ending the races of Avishek Datta, Sanjay Balakrishnan, Geetvika Rajni Patsamatla and Amanjeet Singh Gilard. Pranav Ramasamy chased in second before retiring on lap nine, one lap from the flag, which handed second to DTS Racing's Augustine Boby, who held his third-on-grid position through the order. Sri Lanka's Aadam Junaid charged from sixth to third for Momentum Motorsports, with Yash Vikram Singh moving from tenth to fourth. Nine drivers failed to finish. Boby, Junaid and Yash Vikram Singh are the ones to watch.
