Vento Cup Round 4, Race 1: One to Sailesh Bolisetti

Unlike bright and shiny Round 3, Round 4’s Race 1 took place in a rather cold and foggy backdrop. The qualifiers marked the return of Sailesh Bolisetti, who after two consecutive lacklustre rounds of the Vento Cup, came back to grab the top spot on the podium. While Sailesh stayed leagues ahead of the rest of the grid, second and third spots came unsurprisingly in the form of the current season leader Anindith Reddy and Karminder Singh respectively, both in the qualifiers as well as Race 1.

While the top three positions never budged throughout the race, Ishaan Dodhiwala,  second in the Round 3 finals, due to brake issues, dropped down to 12th position after starting at number 4. Dodhiwala however managed to claw back to number five. Despite being uneventful from start to finish, the race remained unusually clean.

Guest drivers Advait Deodhar and Dhruv Behl, both no strangers to racing themselves, managed to bag a spot in the top eight, finishing fourth and sixth respectively, giving them a distinct advantage in Race 2 which will follow a reverse grid format. For the second race of round 4 on November 29, high hopes ride on the two guest drivers Advait and Dhruv, along with Karminder, who seems to have made the reverse grid races his specialty. Race 2 begins with Prabhanj Paruchuri, Raghav Sharma, and Dhruv Behl at the top of the grid.

Round 4, Race 1 results

Sr. No.             Car No.                Driver                         Total time

    1.                      19                     Sailesh Bolisetti       19:44.538     

    2.                       25                    Anindith Reddy         19:51.217

    3.                       23                    Karminder Singh      19:53.757