The MMSC MRF Volkswagen Ameo Cup 2018 season ended with the final round at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) – India’s Formula 1 track – in Greater Noida on Sunday, October 7, 2018.
Interestingly, enough action was witnessed in the last round of the season as Dhruv Mohite from Kolhapur – a small city in the West Indian state of Maharashtra – with enough points in hand, won this year’s Ameo Cup title organised by Volkswagen Motorsport India. Dhruv Behl, the guest driver, won the first race in the morning while Jeet Jhabhak clinched the top spot in the second race later in the evening.
The first race started with Dhruv Mohite taking a lead in the first corner. But later, an incident with Pratik Sonawane in the first lap pushed him down the order. Dhruv Behl, the guest driver, took advantage of this incident to take the lead, followed by Pratik Sonawane and Saurav Bandyopadhyay. On the last corner of the first lap, an incident left Arefeen Raafi Ahmed stranded, causing the Safety Car to come out and due to which the race had to be red flagged and restarted. Soon after the restart, Shubhomoy Ball went off the third corner that forced the Safety Car to come back in and the rest of the race was held under Safety Car. The first three drivers remained in the same order till the finish, with the Safety Car going back into the pits only on the last lap.
The second race kicked off with Jeet in the lead, followed by Dhruv Mohite in the second position and Anmol Singh in the third position. During the second lap, Tauhid Anwar and Akshay Bhivshet spun off in the first corner bringing out the Safety Car. Unlike the first race, the Safety Car returned after two laps and the drivers got on to race pace. On the fifth lap, Affan challenged Anmol for the third position, got past him and held his position till the last lap. Anmol didn’t give up till the end and made his move on Affan on the last lap to clinch the final spot on the podium.
Although Dhruv Mohite finished second in the race, he gained sufficient points to win the Ameo Cup 2018 title with a solid lead over Saurav Bandyopadhyay. The clash for the second position in the final standings was very close between Jeet and Saurav with Jeet having to settle in the third position overall. The junior champion of the Ameo Cup 2018 was Shubhomoy Ball who showed tremendous commitment throughout the season. With a gap of over 92 points in the final standings of the Junior category, it was a clear win for Shubhomoy.
