Polo R Cup: OVERDRIVE contest winners race their Ventos
A few years back, circuit racing in India was restricted to the JK Tyre National Championship. The single seaters and the saloon cars in the championship were built by local tuners and the only involvement of an automotive manufacturer would be the supply of engines. All this changed in 2010 when Volkswagen signed a letter of intent with JK Tyre Industries to introduce a one make series in India as part of the national championship, bringing the globally acclaimed Volkswagen Polo Cup to India. To race, all you had to do was to sign up, participate in a screening process, pay a nominal fee if selected, and show up at the track on the race weekend. It was for the first time that circuit racing was accessible, albeit at a price, to anyone who wished to race.
OVERDRIVE went a step further. In collaboration with Volkswagen, OVERDRIVE organised a contest where all you had to do was to answer a simple question: which technology does the VW Polo R Cup car use? Next, a statement was to be completed: "The VW Polo R Cup is India's premier racing series because...". Seven lucky winners of this contest got a chance to participate in a support race to the VW Polo R Cup. They drove in the OVERDRIVE Volkswagen Vento Cup in race-prepped Ventos. Although the race Ventos run stock 105bhp, 1.6 litre petrol engines, they get a free-flowing intake and exhaust, race suspension (employed by the old TDI Polo Cup Cars), performance tyres and rims and a single bucket seat with all the other seats and carpets removed, making them lighter. The race supported round 2 of the 2013 VW Polo R Cup held in Coimbatore 9-11 August 2013.
It was Siddharth Santosh who took pole position in the inaugural Vento Cup with a qualifying time of 1:22.675, followed by Shrivatsa Sinha and Karan Makhija making up the top three on the grid. On race day however, Siddharth had a disastrous start as he not only jump started the race, but also lost his top spot to Shrivatsa in the first corner. Shrivatsa drove flawlessly from that point on showing incredible pace and finished the race with a comfortable margin of 20.2 seconds! Siddharth was awarded a penalty for his jump start and hence could only manage 7th place. Shrivatsa was joined on the podium by Sahil Gahuri and Adithyan Ellan, completing the podium of the first VW Overdrive Vento Cup race.
Interestingly, almost all of the participants have harbored dreams of racing, no matter what destiny decided their path should be. So the OVERDRIVE contest was like a godsend for these guys who have dreamed but not realized their dreams yet. So yes, here at OVERDRIVE we also give your dreams the opportunity to become a reality. If you think you can beat this current crop of racers or that you deserve a chance at racing in the Polo Cup, watch this space for our next contest.
Standings| Position | Laps |
| 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 10 |
| 7 | 10 |
| 8 | 3 |
| Position | Name |
| 1 | Shrivatsa Sinha |
| 2 | Sahil Gahuri |
| 3 | Adithyan Ellan |
| 4 | Jamshed Patel |
| 5 | Karan Makhija |
| 6 | Himanshu Kadyan |
| 7 | Siddharth Santosh |
| 8 | Ameet Ayare |
| Position | Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 1 |
| 7 | 7 |
| 8 | 5 |
| Position | Best lap time |
| 1 | 1:21.435 |
| 2 | 1:22.928 |
| 3 | 1:22.954 |
| 4 | 1:22.246 |
| 5 | 1:23.060 |
| 6 | 1:24.377 |
| 7 | 1:23.035 |
| 8 | 1:23.590 |
| Position | Best speed (km/h) |
| 1 | 92.835 |
| 2 | 91.163 |
| 3 | 91.135 |
| 4 | 91.919 |
| 5 | 91.019 |
| 6 | 89.598 |
| 7 | 91.046 |
| 8 | 90.441 |
| Position | Total time |
| 1 | 13:53.551 |
| 2 | 14:13.755 |
| 3 | 14:17.663 |
| 4 | 14:18.169 |
| 5 | 14:29.852 |
| 6 | 14:39.807 |
| 7 | 14:41.839 |
| 8 | 4:30.781 |
| Position | Difference |
| 1 | - |
| 2 | +20.204 |
| 3 | +24.112 |
| 4 | +24.618 |
| 5 | +36.301 |
| 6 | +46.256 |
| 7 | +48.288 |
| 8 | DNF |