Indian drivers perform steady in Round 4 of VW Scirocco R-Cup 2011 in Germany

India’s Aditya Patel continued to show promise by finishing fifth in the fifth round of Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup at the Norisring circuit in Germany while compatriot Sailesh Bolisetti finished 17th.

Patel, who finished second in the free practice on Friday, was aggressive from the moment lights flashed green at the start of the race. Starting seventh on the grid, the Chennai racer went past sixth-placed US’s James Mobley. Mobley punctured his tyre in the first lap itself and had to leave the race in less than 30 seconds in to it. Before the first turn, Patel also overtook Polish driver Adam Gladysz who had started from the fifth place and Great Britain’s Daniel Lloyd to move to fourth position. For many laps, Patel maintained his fourth place before Llyod outpaced him during the 19th lap.

Aditya commented, “I really enjoyed the race and gave it my all. I started in 7th position and I’m happy to finish 5th. I got off the line pretty well at the start of the race. Going into the first corner, the first pack of cars stuck to the inside and braked really early. I went on the outside, braked late and managed to take 3 cars on the first corner. I didn’t have the pace like Daniel Llyod so eventually he got past me. Finishing fifth is pretty decent as I’m building up my points and hope to finish in the top 5 of the series.”

Sailesh who started 22nd on the grid and finished 17th said, “Our practice was on wet tyres and qualifying was on slicks. Braking points and other dynamics changed drastically because of which whatever I had done in practice wasn’t working for me during the qualifying. Starting 22nd on the grid I overtook about 6 cars in the 1st lap itself but I fell back due to an accident right in front of me when James Mobley crashed and I had to let go a few cars. Then again I overtook 2 cars before yellow flags came in and I was getting better timings. But starting at the back of the grid it was hard pushing my way up.”

The top 4 drivers led by Swedish driver, Ola Nilsson, started and finished in the same order. Nilsson was followed by Stefano Proetto of Italy with Polish Mateusz Lisowski and Britain’s Daniel Lloyd finishing third and fourth respectively.The 2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup calendar for remaining rounds are as follows:05–06 August at Nürburgring (D),02–04 September at Brands Hatch (GB),16–18 September at Oschersleben (D)* and 21–22 October at Hockenheim (D).