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Normal service had resumed, one might say, based on the fact that post the 3rd round of the VW Polo Cup in Coimbatore, Sailesh Bolisetti is 25 points ahead of second-placed Vishnu Prasad in the overall standings. The 22 year old from Vizag has displayed some excellent race-craft so far – both on the street track in Pune and at the Kari Speedway in Coimbatore, resulting in his current status of championship leader with 188 points.
Parth Ghorpade from Kolhapur is in third place with 151 points, ahead of commercial pilot Karthik Shankar who was the toast of Round 2 of the Polo Cup. Karthik tried hard, but could not repeat that showing – as he could only finish 6th and 10th in the two races of Round 3. Karthik can still bounce back in the coming races, though, as he’s on 146 points. Sahil Shelar rounds off the top 5 with a total of 140 points. The Polo Cup India 2010 season is just half-way through so things could change, especially with three races still to go.
In Coimbatore, for the last time this season, before the Cup moves on to Chennai, Sailesh Bolisetti started 2nd on the grid, behind Vishnu Prasad who claimed pole on Saturday. It took the Vizag boy just four laps to get past the teenager, and there was no looking back after that – completing the 42 kilometre race in 25 minutes and 55.67 seconds. Vishnu Prasad from Chennai had his own problems to deal with thereafter, namely Munjal Savla snapping at his heels, till he made a mistake and let Sahil Shelar past – and that’s how they finished the race. Sahil admitted he got lucky thanks to Munjal’s mistake. 21 year old Alisha Abdullah, the only woman racer in the Polo Cup, finished way down in 10th place.
The second race saw a reverse grid start for the top-eight finishers from the first race. That meant Samyak Shah was on pole position. This time it was 17 year old Parth Ghorpade winning the race, taking just three laps to get in front of the field and staying there till the chequered flag. Sailesh Bolisetti made up a lot of ground from eighth place thanks to a good start. But, as he said after the race, he used up his tyres in getting to second place, and when it came to challenging Parth he was struggling. Unlike the previous round where he was disqualified after crossing the line first, Mohd Fahad Kutty made sure of a place on the podium, coming in third behind Sailesh Bolisetti. Ghorpade completed the race in 26 minutes and .29 seconds. Meanwhile, Vikash Anand, the youngest driver in the grid, finished in an excellent 5th position with Alisha Abdullah ending a disappointing weekend in 12th.
Prithviraj Siddappa, head of Volkswagen Motorsports India, commented, “The goal of Volkswagen through the Polo Cup India is to nurture talent from India. This is the first time in the history of Indian motorsport that a diesel engine is being used in a racing car. The winners of the Polo Cup India will get an opportunity to participate in other one-make series of Volkswagen across the world. We are midway through the Polo Cup India 2010, with three rounds down, and three more to go. As the drivers get to know their cars better, the next three races at the Irungattukottai Race Track, Chennai, are sure to be filled with burning rubber, squealing tyres, screaming fans and adrenalin pumping action.”
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