Karthik Tharani crowned 2014 Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2014 Champion

Nailbiting is what you can call the battle between Ameya Bafna and Karthik Tharani during the final moments of the last lap. Ameya emerged triumphant, fraction of a second ahead of Karthik, thereby getting his second win of the weekend. Ameya being a guest driver was not entitled to championship points and Karthik gained higher points overall making him the Polo R Cup 2014 Champion.

Karthik Tharani said, "I came to the last round of the season determined to put up the best show and with a win and a second place yesterday, I was even more motivated for today's race. Ameya and I had a good battle on the last lap but he proved to be the better one."

The weather was not favourable, forcing drivers to go out on the damp track with wet tyres. Karthik set two fastest lap times during qualifying practice. He started Race 3 of the weekend from pole followed by Lee Keshav in second. After losing the initial lead to Lee for a couple of corners, Karthik regained the spot and held it till the last lap. Ameya, starting third, came charging ahead in the seventh lap and overtook Karthik and went on to win the second race of the weekend. Coming in third was Lee Keshav, followed by Anindith Reddy.

Karminder Pal Singh was leading since Round 3, but ended up finishing eighth and took enough points to maintain his lead by a single point. However, with the rule of best nine  finishes being considered for the final championship standing, Karthik got past Karminder with 11 points and was crowned champion with a total of 358 points. Runner-up Karminder finished off with 347 points. Bonnie Thomas and Anindith Reddy finished off with 296 points each. However, with two victories to Bonnie's credit, he got on to the better side of the battle and clinched the second runner-up spot in the championship.

Sirish Vissa, head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, said, "Karthik has shown excellent pace throughout the season and this weekend was just perfect for him. With 180 points scored in the three races of Round 4, he has proved to be the best of the lot and rightfully deserves to be the champion." He also found Anindith Reddy who clinched the Polo R Cup 2014 Junior Championship extremely promising.

As a prize for winning the 2014 Volkswagen Polo R Cup Championship, Karthik Tharani has been awarded a season of the FB02 (Formula BMW) 2015.