by NR INDRAN / INT

The fourth round of the 14th JK Tyre National Racing Championship 2011 gets underway at the Irrugatukottai track in Chennai this weekend with past masters giving the young Turks of Indian racing a run for their money.

While veteran T.R. Radha Selvaraj has consolidated his position at the top of the heap with 111 points in the Indian Touring Car cl-ass (Saloons) following his third victory in six races in Round 3, his teammate at Rad Racing, N. Leela Krishnan, had the young competitors sit up and take notice with a stunning performance.

Leela, a former multiple national rally champion and one of the countryⳠpremier race car tuners, made a spectacular return to competitive racing with two second-place finishes in the Saloon cl-ass in a thrilling entry at the halfway stage of the six-leg championship. He is currently placed sixth in the standings.

V. Rajvirudhan of Prime Racing, who won the opening race in Round 3 had to withdraw from the second race following engine trouble, and is in second place in the Saloon Car standings behind Radha with 88 points. B. Vijayakumar, also of Prime Racing, is currently third with 80 points.

There is no doubt that saloon car racing has caught the fancy of many drivers, with as many as 68 entries (including 36 in the Indian Touring Cars cl-ass) this season. Yet, it does not entail that the competition in the only single-seater cl-ass is any less interesting.

Karthik KrishnaⳠvictory on August 21 capped a 1-2-3 finish for TVS Girling in the sixth Formula LGB Swift race of the season and showed that the Chennai-based team could mount a serious challenge to Mars Racing. With 80 points so far, Krishna is sandwiched by the championship leader R Deepak (110) and pre-season favourite Ameya Walakwalkar (75).

The duel between defending champion B Bala Vijay (MotoRev India) and Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigaram Sports) in the Indian Junior Touring Cars cl-ass has been riveting, not the least because the former was stripped of all points in the second round and has had to bounce back into contention with twin victories here last month.

In the Polo R Cup, ChennaiⳠVishnu Prasad will return to the track with memories of being black-flagged in the second race here last month. The stewards had decided on August 21 to impose a further penalty on Vishnu Prasad. He would be moved back 10 places on the grid after qualifications this weekend. Yet, the 22-year-old remains the man to beat.

Avdumber Hede (Goa) and Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) are the only drivers other than Vishnu Prasad to have won a race each in the Polo R Cup series this season. Hede is now 19 points adrift of the championship leader and just five points in front of the consistent Oshan Kothadiya (Pune). Noorani is in fourth place with 139 points.

Also on Sunday, ace international driver Terry Grant will showcase his drifting skills in two separate segments.

Drivers championship standings after Round 3 (six races):

Formula LGB Swift: 1. R Deepak (Mars Racing) 110 points; 2. Karthik Krishna (TVS Girling) 80; 3. Ameya Walawalkar (Mars Racing) 75; 4. S Narendran (TVS Girling) 75; 5. A Sandeep Kumar (TVS Girling) 46; 6. Akhil Devraj (TVS Girling) 42.

Indian Touring Cars: 1. TR Radha Selvarajan (Rad Racing) 111 points, 2. V Rajvirdhan (Prime Racing) 88, 3. B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) 80, 4. Siddharth Kishore (Performance Racing) 52, 5. D Vidya Prakash (Prime Racing) 46, 6. N Leelakrishnan 40 (Rad Racing).

Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Diljith Shaji (LCT Sigraram Sports) 122 points; 2. B Bala Vijay (MotoRev India) 100; 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (LCT Sigraram Sports) 80, 4. S Narendran (IPL PowerPak Racing) 78; 5. Gokul Krishna (MotoRev India) 36, 6. Feroz Khan (Performance Racing) 30.

Polo R Cup: 1. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) 170 points, 2. Avdumber Hede (Goa) 151, 3. Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) 146, 4. Rahil Noorani (Mumbai) 139, 5. Ajay Kini (Chennai) 132, 6. Alisha Abdullah (Chennai) 107.

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