Volkswagen Motorsport India conducted a special exhibition race this weekend, wherein 12 journalists were invited to participate in the event. The race took place at the Madras Motorsport Race Track from February 02nd to 05th as a support event to the MRF Challenge racing event.
The race was organized for the journalists to get an in-depth understanding of how Volkswagen Motorsport India conducts a typical race weekend in the premium one-make Ameo Cup series. The line-up of drivers that were competing had different racing experiences, while some had raced as guest drivers in races before; others were driving for the first time in a competitive environment.
The race took place over three days with the first Free Practice session on Friday, 02nd February and the second Free Practice session and qualifying on Saturday, 03rd February. The two practices were then followed by a Qualifying Practice session on Saturday. The final day of the weekend concluded with the actual competitive race.
By the time the journalists got into the cars for the race, they had already become almost as competitive as any other race car driver. Abhik Das had qualified on pole position followed by Ameya Dandekar and Anosh Khumbatta. Abhik led from the start and set the fastest lap on the day with a lap time of 1 minute 55.097 seconds to finish the race ahead of everyone else. Ashok George who started the race in 4th position managed to fight his way into 2nd position right at the beginning and held it till the chequered flag came out. Ameya Dandekar finished in 3rd place after dropping down several positions and then fighting his way back up.