Archive | Motorsport

01 September 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010: third round wins for Bolisetti and Ghorpade

Sailesh Bolisetti and Parth Ghorpade were the most successful drivers at the third race weekend of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 at Coimbatore on 28 and 29 August. Bolisetti, who had celebrated two victories as early as the first race weekend, triumphed in race one and finished the second race in second place. 17-year-old Ghorpade took fifth place in the first race and in the second round captured the lead which he maintained all the way across the finish line.

Bolisetti clinched the first two races of the season back in June, and started second on the grid at for the first race of Round 3 at the Kari Motor Speedway, overtaking Vishnu Prasad on pole in the fourth lap. Completing the race in 25 minutes and 55.675 seconds, Prasad and Sahil Shelar were on his heels, finishing second and third respectively. An ecstatic Bolisetti said: ‘I got a good line and was able to pass Prasad on lap four. After a minor set back in round two, it feels great to be back on the top of the podium. I hope my luck continues to the next race and I hope to back here on the podium.’

The second race in Round 3 saw 17-year-old Parth Ghorpade from Pune take the chequered flag, improving on his third place podium finish in race one. Starting from fourth on the grid, he overtook pole-sitter Samyak Shah, completing the race in 26 minutes and 00.295 seconds. Sailesh Bolisetti, winner of race one, finished second followed by Mohd Fahad Kutty. Commenting on his win, Ghorpade said: ‘In qualifying our setup was not so good, but for the race the car felt really good. I am really happy with my performance today and to win my first Polo Cup race is a really special moment.’

Round 4 of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 is at Irungattukotal, Chennai over the weekend of 25-26 September. The series is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo Cup cars.

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24 August 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Volkswagen 1-2 as Polo S2000s take first and second on Osram Rally

It was a Volkswagen finish all the way on the Osram Rally, which took place on 21-22 August. The BP Volkswagen Racing Polo S200s of Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson, and Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries finished the sixth round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship in first and second places respectively, while the third factory-backed car of Jan Habig and Douglas Judd came in fourth. A Polo-filled podium was broken by the Ford Fiesta S2000 of Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh. Kuun and Hodgson finished the event 23.7 seconds ahead of Fekken and Arries, while the next Polo to finish was the car of Theuns Joubert and Carl Peskin, which came across the line of the 164km event in ninth place.

Further down the field, the A7 class Polo of Gavin Cronje (the current Le Mans Series Champion) was beaten in the first stage by Leeroy Poulter and Henry Dearlove in their Toyota RunX. The Japanese-driving duo finished 13th overall, a fraction under eight seconds ahead of the 2-litre factory Polo S2000 of Gugu Zulu and Cindi Harding. Other Polo finishers included the Motorite Racing car of Evan Hutchison and Elvéne Coetzee in 12th place, and the privateer Polo of Nicholas Ryan and Armand Du Toit, which was placed a disappointing 17th out of the 25 teams that completed the event after Ryan bent the Jonnesway car’s suspension. The penultimate round of the 2010 Sasol South African Rally Championship is the Swartland Rally in the Western Cape on 17-18 September.

[Images: QuickPic]

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17 August 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Hodges takes double Polo Cup
South Africa victory at Phaksia Raceway

Taking a double victory at the Phaksia Raceway, Matthew Hodges impressively underlined his 2010 championship title ambitions during the most recent rounds of the 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa on 14-15 August. The remaining podium places went to Kosie Weyers and Devin Robertson; Weyers was second in race one and third in race two, while Robertson was third and second respectively. In the overall standings, Hodges holds a comfortable lead over both Robertson and Weyers. The 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa series is similar to the other racing Polo championships run in Europe and India. Just as in those series, the one-make format highlights new young driving talent. As many as 30 drivers regularly take to the track in technically identical cars, full grids ensure close-fought races.

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03 August 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Second and third places for Polo S2000s on the Volkswagen Rally 2010

The 2010 Sasol South African Rally Championship resumed after a six-week break in the same thrilling fashion experienced at the end of May. Staged in Port Elizabeth on 23-24 July, the Volkswagen Rally 2010 is the fifth round of the eight event championship, and saw Castrol Team Toyota’s Johnny Gemmell take the fight to VW on their home turf to win the event by just 1.5 seconds from Enzo Kuun. The second BP VW Racing Polo S2000 driven by Jan Habig finished behind Kuun in third.

Gemmell and navigator Drew Sturrock took just three special stages on day one of the event to assert their authority on the rally. The first stage was won by Conrad Rautenbach by a 12-second margin over Gemmell with the second quickest time. A win for Gemmell on the second stage saw the gap close to just 1.2 seconds with that deficit converted to a lead of 13 seconds over Habig by the end of the third stage. By the end of the first day Kuun had taken over from Habig as Gemmell’s main challenger, but was 5.3 seconds off the lead.

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27 July 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010:
Prasad and Shankar win at Coimbatore

Following the historical inaugural round of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 on 29–30 May on a street circuit in Pune, Vishnu Prasad and Karthik Shankar were the most successful drivers at the second race weekend of the new championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on 17–18 July. In the first race, 17 year-old Prasad clinched a commanding start-finish victory after starting from pole position. Sahil Shelar took second place in the 20-lap race in front of Shankar.

Great start
Vishnu had a great start and led comfortably with Sahil Shelar and Karthik Shankar close behind him. Sailesh Bolisetti made a brilliant overtaking move to pass Mohammed Fahad Kutty for 4th position on lap 11. The safety car came out on lap 12 after Suraj Bhagat stopped on track at the second corner due to a collision. It was back to racing when the safety car veered back into the pits with five laps to go. Vishnu had no trouble picking up from where he left off and crossed the chequered flag to win his first race in the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010.

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