DREAM DOUBLE FOR DARK DON

Chennai, 13^th day of October, 2012: It was a dream double for Dark Don Racing on the opening day of the fifth round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship here at Irungattukottai track. The Chennai-based team ruled the roost as Ashwin Sundar led Dark Don 1-2 in both the Formula 4 races on Saturday. Ashwin’s teammate Sarosh Hataria finished an impressive second in both the premier class races. The dominant performance helped Dark Don extend their team championship lead to 42 points over Wallace Sports and Research Foundation, who have 216 points. The double triumph means Ashwin (161 points) is 47-point clear of Sarosh and just four points away from sealing the championship. With another 25 points up for grabs from Sunday’s race, Ashwin can wrap up the contest and reduce the final round in December into a dead rubber.

Race 1: The opening race, a nine-lap affair, saw Dark Don drivers fighting against each other for the top spot. The duo had a head start and flew away from the rest of the pack to race in their ‘own world’. Team principal Afsar Riyaz had his heart in mouth when Ashwin, starting from pole, and Sarosh went wheel-to-wheel. The intense fight saw Ashwin having an off-track excursion in C1 during the seventh lap and it gave Sarosh the lead. But the lead was short-lived as Ashwin roared back to overtake Sarosh. The experienced Sarosh wasn’t ready to settle behind his younger teammate as he came out with the fastest lap of the race – 1:56.547 – to close the gap on Ashwin. During the final lap, Sarosh, however, went off the track in a bid to overtake Ashwin, but he recovered to finish second.

Ashwin Sundar 1^st Place Total time (17m:53.143s) Best Lap: 1:56.657 Points: 25

Sarosh Hataria 2^nd Place Total time (18m:01.616s) Best Lap: 1:56.547 Points: 18

Race 2: Sarosh andAshwin had their task cut out as they started from third and fourth spots respectively on a reverse grid. But Sarosh had a perfect getaway and jumped to lead. Behind him, Ashwin also moved up the grid and the duo again entertained the crowd with bumper-to-bumper racing. In ninth and penultimate lap, Ashwin came up with a brilliant overtaking maneuver before taking the chequered flag.

Ashwin Sundar 1^st place Total time: 19m:52.077s Best lap: 1:56.391 Points: 25

Sarosh Hataria 2^nd Place Total time: 19m:53.160s Best lap: 1:56.909 Points: 18

Ashwin Sundar, driver: I put my best foot forward and had to forget that I was racing with my teammate. We, however, raced clean. We knew, every single point is important for us as the team has worked so hard to lead the championship on debut season. As far as Sunday’s race is concerned, I don’t want to make any stupid mistake especially when I am gunning for the title.

Sarosh Hataria, driver: I was well aware of the fact that Ashwinwas the fastest guy on track with brilliant race craft. In the second race, I managed to hold him for nine laps, but eventually he got past me. I am, however, elated with my two podium finishes and confident of continuing the good run.

Afsar Riyaz E, Team Principal: We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the weekend than this. The way our drivers performed was a delight to watch though my heart skipped a beat when Ashwin and Sarosh went off the track towards the end of the race before rejoining. The experiments we did with set-ups seem to be working well and we are confident of ending the weekend on a high with another victory on Sunday.