Sudharshan Rao (2) and defending champion Gaurav Dalal (23, below) emerged winners in the Formula LGB Swift and Formula Rolon Chevrolet classes respectively at the second day of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship’s season opener. The result capped a great weekend for Rao who had finished second to Vishnu Prasad in race 1 of the Swift class on Saturday. Prasad didn’t go down quietly, however. The two ran close and scrapped in the early stages of the eight lap race before Prasad suffered damage to his car and dropped down the order to finish eighth. Following Rao home were Wallace Sports’ Prithveen Rajan and Goutham Parekh.

In a break from last season’s format there was only one race in Formula Rolon Chevrolet. The race was an odd mish mash off racers who were committed to racing in international series this year: Ashwin Sundar, Aditya Patel, and the familiar faces of the domestic scene: Dalal, Sarosh Hataria, Saran Vikram(33, below) and Akhil Khushlani. Sundar and his Speed NK Racing team owner Narain Karthikeyan both admitted that their entry for the opening round had not been confirmed until the proverbial last minute. Patel too had opted to get the off season rust off by driving with Wallace Sports before the start of what is likely to be a second season of Formula BMW Asia. JK Tyre’s motor sports boss Sanjay Sharma admitted that the staggered racing calendar had been designed keeping in mind the schedule constraints of Patel and Sundar.

His rivals’ schedules were probably the last thing on Dalal’s mind. Dalal and Red Rooster Racing teammate Hataria would have locked out the front row had it not been for Patel grabbing second. Patel got the jump on Dalal at the start while Vikram moved up from fourth on the grid to slot into second place. A win seemed likely for Patel but he was forced to retire after five laps due to faulty brakes. Sundar seemed content to with fourth place while Vikram moved into the lead and tried to hold off Dalal. Vikram had entered as a privateer after being dismissed from NK Racing last year for causing an avoidable accident. A kind way of saying that it was a five car pile up. He had a point to prove and definitely did so by finishing just 0.143 seconds behind race winner Dalal and over 18 seconds ahead of Hataria.

It was an odd race in that while being entertaining it was low key. Blame it on the recession if you like or administrative hassles or what have you.

The bottom line remains that it’s difficult to see there being a ‘wings and slicks’ racing series where all the teams are run up to a minimum standard of professionalism in the current racing climate in India. Or even in the world for that matter given the sort of news of cost cutting that comes out of Formula 1 as well as its feeder series (GP2) these days. Either way there doesn’t seem to be much choice besides riding out the storm and looking for light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully the tunnel’s not too long.

Results (15/02/2009)
R2 Formula LGB Swift

1. Sudharshan Rao 15m58.964s
2. Prithveen Rajan +2.038s
3. Goutam Parekh +4.215s

Formula Rolon Chevrolet

1. M. Gaurav Dalal 15m05.245s
2. Saran Vikram +0.143s
3. Sarosh Hataria +22.315s

16/02/2009