National Racing C'ship: Ruhaan Alva Crowned LGB Formula 4 Champion

National Racing C'ship: Ruhaan Alva crowned LGB Formula 4 champion (Image Source: IANS)

JK Tyre National Racing Championship: Championship leader Ruhaan Alva of MSport signed off on a merry note by winning the LGB Formula 4 title much to the joy of his team on an action-packed final round of the 26th JK Tyre National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Chettipalayam here on Sunday.

Ruhaan had a good 20-point lead over Kolkata’s Arya Singh of Dark Don Racing getting into the final round.

With just a race to go, it was enough for the Bengaluru boy to seal the title. But it turned out to be a different story as Arya got some relief and his points back after they appealed to the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court (IMSAC). So did a couple of Momentum Motorsport drivers in the JK Tyre Novice Cup.

Post-event scrutiny saw their points docked in the penultimate round, held at the same venue, for technical infringement and they slipped down the table. So that put the pressure back on Ruhaan gunning for his maiden national championship title in the premier category.

However, Ruhaan put that at the back of his head and fought hard from P8 to take the second spot on the podium in the final race and emerge the champion with a final tally of 82 points.

The youngster was obviously elated after the race. “I feel great to have got the title. It was a crazy final race. Diljith [Dark Don] and I were involved in a great battle that went neck-and-neck. He tried to hold me up for some time, but I managed to cut a corner to come in second,” said Ruhaan.

“It was a bit tense at the beginning, but I am a lot relieved now,” he added.

Arya and his teammate Tijil Rao, who finished on top of the podium, were tied for the second spot with 71 points each.

Arjun S. Nair (82pts) brought great delight to his team Momentum Motorsports by clinching the JK Tyre Novice Cup without much ado. His teammate Neythan McPherson (53pts) and DTS Racing’s Joel Joseph (44pts) had to be content with the next two places respectively.

It was a clean sweep by the Bengaluru boys in the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup with Abhishek Vasudev (54pts), Jagadeesh Nagara (45pts) and Ullas S. Nanda (39pts) finishing in that order.

Sarvesh Balappa (Hubballi), who dominated the entire season, finished with 30 points, to seal the title in the JK Tyre Presents 250 Cup followed by Sachin Jothees (Hosur) and S. Govidharaj (Tirupur).

The results (provisional):

Day 2:

LGB Formula 4: 1. Tijil Rao (Dark Don Racing) 28:19.852, 2. Ruhaan Alva (MSport) 28:22.808, 3. Mira Erda (MSport) 28:25.478.

JK Tyre Novice Cup: 1. Arjun S. Nair (Momentum Motorsport) 10:07.713, 2. Neythan McPherson (Momentum Motorsport) 10:07.754, 3. Jigar Muni 10:10.095.

JK Tyre Presents RE Continental GT Cup: 1. Anish Shetty (Bengaluru) 13:17.302, 2. Abhishek Vasudev 13:18.817, 3. MD Samrul Zubair 13:19.706.

JK Tyre Presents 250 Cup (10 laps): 1. Sarvesh Balappa (Hubballi) 15:49.274, 2. Sachin Jothees (Hosur) 15:53.109, 3. S. Govindharaj (Tirupur) 15:53.250.