Oshan Kothadiya won his first ever Polo R Cup race as he led from start to finish at Round 4 of the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011 at the Madras Motor Race Track at Chennai. The Pune lad overtook pole sitter Munjal Savla around the outside of the first corner to lead and never looked back. The final spot on the podium was claimed by Rahil Noorani.

Despite finishing third on the road, Mihir Dharkar was demoted down the order after being handed out a 20-second penalty for a jump start, with Angad Singh Matharoo being penalised similarly for the same infringement.

Thrilled with the result, Oshan said, “It is a great day for me and I am happy to be on the podium. The car worked very well and I was always in control. The whole Volkswagen Motorsport team was fantastic and would like to thank them for giving me a great car to drive. Now there is much work ahead of me to prepare for the coming races, it won’t be easy, but I am up for it. I cannot allow myself any mistakes, because I want to close the gap to Vishnu, and I have definitely taken a good step forward today.”

Munjal commented “Being on the podium is an incredible feeling. I got a reasonably good start, but Oshan had seemed to have a much better one. I tried to overtake him again in the second corner but he had a better run into it. After that I just maintained my position and am very happy to finish in second position. It was great race overall and I would work harder to fight for my position in the subsequent races“

Race two turned out to be quite an affair after an incident right off the start line saw the safety car being deployed before the cars negotiated the first set of corners on the circuit. However, a few cars overtook others during this caution period, including that of first and third placed finishers Vishnu Prasad and Sourav Bandyopadhyay. After much deliberation and investigation by the stewards, both drivers were handed out thirty second penalties, promoting second place finisher Rahil Noorani to the top step. Fourth-placed finisher Angad Singh Matharoo had his first taste of a podium, albeit post-race after being promoted to the second spot behind Rahil. Prasad’s championship hopes suffered another major blow as his closest championship rival Avdumber Hede was promoted to third as a result, adding vital points to his kitty in the process.

Race one:

Race two: