Dream Debut for Rayo Racing in LGB Formula 4

It was a dream debut for Team Rayo Racing, as they launched their new Formula Racing team in the newly introduced – LGB Formula 4 at the 2nd Round of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship 2012.

Rayo Racing’s Sudarshan Rao, put in a splendid lap to qualify 2nd behind Ashwin Sundar of DarkDon Racing on Friday. They were closely followed by Vishnu Prasad from Meco Racing. Rayo Racing’s Sudarshan, fell to 3rd at the start & soon the top 3 drivers were involved in a vicious battle.

After a few laps Ashwin & Vishnu touched slightly & Sudarshan seized the opportunity. He led the race for 4 laps, but was soon caught by Sarosh Hataria of WSRF Tiger Sports. On the last lap, Sudarshan was overtaken & lost the race by a mere 0.2 seconds. Race 2 grid was decided by the top 4 of Race 1 being reversed. Sudarshan therefore started 3rd, but quickly moved into the race lead.

He soon built up a healthy gap to the others behind. Unfortunately for him, the race was red flagged due to an on track incident. At the restart, it all seemed to fall apart for the Rayo Racing driver. Starting on pole, his clutch got stuck & the entire field passed him on the formation lap.

This meant he had to start last. As soon as the lights went out, Sudarshan made a scorching start & overtook 4 cars on lap 1. In a matter of a few laps Sudarshan was soon up to 2nd position. An impressive drive thereafter saw him grab the head on the last lap on the 1st corner. He fell back to 2nd at the 2nd corner but soon surged into the lead once again & held it there till the end of the race.

The victory was the 1st for Sudarshan, the Former National Champion after more than a year away from the sport. For Rayo Racing – it was a dream debut in Formula Racing. The highly successful kart racing team, bagged a 2nd place and a victory in its very first weekend. “Expanding our Go-Kart team into Formula Racing has been on the cards for a while.

It would be a natural progression for our drivers from Go-Karting. A victory & leading the National Championship on our debut event, is more than we could have asked for. The team has put in a lot of hard work under Steve, and Sudarshan drove a splendid race as well” said Rayomand Banajee. “It is good to be back after so long.

I was a bit disappointed with 2nd place yesterday, because I lost by a very small margin. Today, I had to work hard & fight my way up from last. It was a fantastic race. I would like to thank my sponsors – JK Tyre & also Rayo Racing for providing such a fantastic car” said an ecstatic Sudarshan, who is a first officer for Jet Airways.  Sudarshan’s 2nd place & victory with Rayo Racing, means that he now leads the JK Tyre FMSCI National Championship in the LGB Formula 4 category by 3 points.