Coimbatore ITC: Ramaswamy begins season with impressive win

Driving for Red Rooster Performance, Ramaswamy had to battle hard with another Bangalore driver, Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts), to take the opening win of the season at the Kari Motor Speedway.

Pole sitter Chinnappa had a bad start and ended up last at the very beginning. However, he fought back and took the lead into the sixth lap. Ramaswamy, not done yet, came up with a superb drive and snatched back the lead with two laps to go.

Though Chinnappa tried his best to take the lead and even came close to succeeding, Ramaswamy defended well to end Saturday on a happy note.

Later, Ramaswamy said: "My start was good but there were some niggles in the car as the race went on and he (Chinnappa) was able to pass me. 

"However, the car came back to life later and enabled me to take back the lead. There were still some niggles again but I managed to stay ahead and win," he added.

Chinnappa said: "The clutch did not engage at the start and I lost places.

"Later, I lost the second and fourth gears and that affected my race performance too," he explained.

Earlier, Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) took pole position for the 15-lap race but did not take the start due to engine problems. This elevated Chinnappa to pole position.

The second day of the first round will see the second and third races of the ITC class being run. The two races of the 2017 Volkswagen Ameo Cup will also be run on Sunday.

Delhi's Karminder Singh took pole position for the Ameo Cup.