Ashwin has battle at hand to consolidate position atop in national racing championship

Ashwin Datta, who has a slender two-point lead in the Euro JK 18 category, would look to consolidate his position on the leaderboard when Round 3 of the 21st JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship begins, here on Saturday.

Ashwin (51 points) has had an impressive season thus far with his speed and guile but Nayan Chatterjee (49 points) was breathing fire in Round 2 and will be keen to carry that momentum forward to stake his claim for the championship in the final round next month.

"The championship has reached a very exciting stage with anyone capable of winning in each of the championships. It is going to be an intense battle this weekend," Sanjay Sharma, Head of JK Motorsports, said.

In the LGB 4 category, MSport's Vishnu Prasad was at his imperious best in the last round, winning two races and finishing second in one to gather a total of 28 points.

With a total of 50 points from two rounds, he will look to go for the kill and widen the gap further at the top. Vishnu, however will be wary of his buddy and team-mate Raghul Rangasamy who is not to far behind him at 45 points.

In the JK Tyre Novice Cup, all eyes will be on 14-year-old Tijil Rao of Momentum Motorsports, who annexed his maiden win to end the round with 13 points. He is currently sitting on the third spot in the championship standings.

Tijil's teammate Siddharth Mehdiratta is currently leading the standings with 16 points, but Viswas Vijayaraj (15 points) is fiercely on his tail.

Defending Champion Joseph Matthew of Chennai continues to rule the Suzuki Gixxer Cup. He is is yet to drop a point in the championship and has four wins out of four for a grand total of 40 points in his kitty.