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Ameya Walavalkar was crowned the Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012 champion last weekend, at the series’ final rounds at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida. Fighting a difficult first race, Walavalkar only made the break on the final lap, passing Jeffrey John Kruger. The second race saw Prashanth Tharani Singh take a perfect lights-to-flag victory from his pole position – his first win in the championship. In the final results, Walavalkar won the twelve-race, six-weekend series on 476 points, with A Sandeep Kumar second with 381, and Avdumber Hede third on 355. Volkswagen India Motorsport runs the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India series in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young Indian racers drive identical and centrally prepared 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars.

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Over the weekend of 13-14 October Ameya Walavalkar and Rahil Noorani crossed the finish line first, taking the chequered flag in the two races of the Volkswagen Polo R-Cup India. Championship leader Walavalkar had a good fast start in the first heat, overtaking pole-sitter Avdumber Hede, as well as Saurav Bandopadhyay. He was also on the podium for the second race, finishing second, from an eighth place start.

Noorani took victory, though, helped by Akhil Khushlani being imposed a 20-second time penalty for jump-starting at the start of the race. The second podium of the penultimate race weekend was rounded out by last year’s champion, Vishnu Prasad. Volkswagen India Motorsport runs the six-round Polo R Cup India 2012 series in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young Indian racers drive identical and centrally prepared 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars, new to the 2012 series.

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Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2012 championship leader Ameya Walavalkar had a good start to the round three race weekend on 25-26 August. Taking the race one victory, he finished ahead of Sailesh Bolisetti and Sandeep Kumar at the MMRT in Chennai. Walavalkar started on pole and led into the first corner, followed by Kumar and Avdumber Hede. A two-driver collision meant a restart after a red flag, and once again Walavalkar was out in front. Pulling ahead to extend his lead, he crossed the finish line to win his second race of the season. Ex-Polo R-Cup India champion Bolisetti said: ‘I was 1.394 seconds behind in qualifying and knew I had to go faster in the race to challenge for the lead. I managed to set similar times to Walavalkar but could not come close enough. It took me some time to get used the new TSI Race Polo but the more I drove it the more comfortable I was.’

Race two was equally as action-packed. Race leader Ajay Kini received a 20-second time penalty after colliding with Donovan Vaz on the last lap, therefore handing the win to Mihir Dharkar, with Walavalkar and Bolisetti also rising up the final results, placing second and third respectively. Dharkar said: ‘I am happy with my performance today. My plan was to stay behind Ajay and attack at the end of the race. Every time I tried to overtake Ajay, I felt Ameya try to overtake me but there was clean racing between all of us. It is unfortunate but I am happy to inherit the win from Ajay.” Round four of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2012 is at the MMRT, Chennai, on 15-16 September.

Overall standings
1 Ameya Walavalkar: 182 points
2 Mihir Dharkar: 168 points
3 A Sandeep Kumar: 160 points

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Both Ameya Walavalkar and Donovan Vaz took victories during the second Volkswagen Polo R Cup India race weekend at the Kari Motor Speedtrack, Coimbatore on 27-29 July. Pole-sitter Walavalkar won the first race convincingly ahead of Rahil Noorani and Mihir Dharkar. In the second race, winner Vaz led the pack. The remaining podium positions went to Sandeep Kumar and Walavalkar. Volkswagen India Motorsport runs the Polo R Cup India 2012 series in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drives identical and centrally prepared 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars, new to the 2012 series.

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The Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2012 celebrated its season opening on 6-8 July at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore in the south of the country. In a turbulent race meeting, Avdumber Hede took victory ahead of Mihir Dharkar. Newcomer Sandeep Kumar completed the podium. Mexico’s Diego Duez meanwhile, made a historic victory in the series, being the first international competitor to win a Volkswagen Polo R Cup race. Duez took the chequered flag ahead of Alisha Abdullah and Prashanth Tharani Singh. The series is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 1.4-litre TSI engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars, new to the 2012 series.

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