Prashanth Tharani takes victory in Polo Cup China debut

Prashanth Tharani, the 2013 Polo R Cup India vice champion, got a surprise offer to drive in the Polo Cup China couple of days ago and was all set to kick start his international racing season with the premier class of Polo Cup China at the Nanjing Wantrack circuit in Jiangsu, China.

Prashant qualified 4th in Q2 for race 1 and a missed startegy saw him qualify 11th for race 2 in Q1 as a delibrate slow lap to qualify 10th fastest which will reverse the grid for pole in Race 2 got messed up when another car went faster and pushed Tharani to 11th. 

For race 1, Prashant gambled with the slick tyres as the track was damp but drying and got a good start to move into P3 in corner 2 and in the same lap he moved to P2 on turn 7.

From then on Prashanth planned his race carfeully to gain confidence on his car and stuck to the leading driver waiting for the oppurtunity to grab the lead. As Prashanth was faster in C1, he tried an undercut move on the leader onto C2 which is tight left hander but had to concede as the other driver was on the inside line for the next few corners.

Prashanth planned the same strategy on the next lap but this time he was determined to go side by side into C3 and C4 and he got the lead on the exit of C5 with a calculated move.  

Once he got the lead he controled the race pace and managed his tryes for Race 2 and took a deserving victory with a 2.8 secs lead making his first international podium with a victory. 

Prashant Tharani shared "My first international podium has finally happened and it turns out to be a win. A rather dominant win with a 3 second lead. I am absolutely elated with the result for it´s been a while since I´ve been under such pressure. To soak it all up and come out successful has definitely given me the confidence boost that I desperately needed."

He continued "To get back to sprint racing without any testing and for the conditions to be wet, I wouldn´t be wrong in saying that I wasn´t feeling confident . I knew that the more time I had with the car and tyres the faster I could go. That is exactly what happened in the race. I am absolutely elated to have my first international win and hope this is the beginning of many more to come"

For Race 2 Prashanth will start 11th on the grid based on the The premier class in which Prashanth is driving features a 1.4 litres turbo charged engines and sequential gear box.