A two-kilometre stretch leading up the Kari Motor Speedway here on Sunday was punctuated with posters of Prashanth Tharani even outnumbering the official hoardings of JK Tyre Racing Championship.
The intensive publicity by Prashanth’s sponsors, however, didn’t turn out to be mere a hype as the Chennai driver notched up two podium finishes including a flawless victory in the Volkswagen Polo Cup.
Prashanth, the 24-year-old commercial pilot, surprised the paddock when he snatched maiden pole position on Saturday.
Prashanth didn’t have a kind of start he would have hoped for in the 15-lap race, but he fended off challenges from three cars to stay in the lead. Jeffrey, the lone foreigner on the grid, kept putting pressure on Prashanth, but the Chennai driver proved a tough nut to crack.
“My sponsors had surprised me with a lot of branding for me on my way to the track and that definitely contributed to the motivation,” said Prashanth.
In the FB02 class, Vishnu Prasad capped off his eventful weekend with two more victories to add to his Saturday’s success. Competing in six races in two categories over the weekend, Vishnu managed his workload with elan.
In the Formula 4 race that was red-flagged midway, Sarosh Hataria stormed to victory for Dark Don Racing. Young Meco Racing drivers Tejasram Caveripakam and Akash Gowda completed the top-three.