Rahul Pillari Shetty took the top podium in the pro category while Abhishek Vasudev and Kayan Zubin Patel came second and third, respectively. The amateur category saw Adam Feroz Backer win with Mohd Yosuf and Shashanka Sharma following the lead. Ann Jennifer came first in the women’s category while Lani Jena Fernandez and Tanisha Sanjay Arora came second and third, respectively.  

In addition to the cash prize, the first-place winners in each category will receive a trip to Austria to attend the KTM Academy of Speed. There, they will train with KTM Pro instructors and interact with Moto GP maestros.  

The KTM Cup is conducted in three stages, starting with a selection round, then a qualifier, and a finale. Throughout all the stages, riders race on a company-provided KTM RC390 GP. Interestingly, this year also saw India’s very own auto experts on the track in a friendly media race. 

Competition remains cutthroat at KTM Cup, In the selections round, only 66 made it out of the 860 in the amateur and women’s category, 36 pros then joined them for the qualifiers. The racers are trained by ex-Moto-GP racer Jeremy McWilliams and 7-time INMRC winner Emmanuel Jebaraj during the selection and qualifier rounds at the KTM Race Academy.

The post KTM Cup S2 concludes at Kari  first appeared on Turbocharged.

How the race transpired

The race weekend was anything but straightforward as extreme heat, excessive tyre wear as well as tyre safety concerns thanks to the kerbs on the Lusail International Circuit meant the FIA mandated a three-stop race stint distances not going beyond 18 laps. That wasn’t the end of it as a chaotic start meant the two Mercedes of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made contact into the first corner, wiping out the former, while the latter was forced into an early pitstop, dropping him down to 18th and last of the field. 

Nevertheless, Russell scythed his way through the field to finish a commendable fourth in the end. Meanwhile up front, Verstappen had things under control with Piastri closely shadowing the Dutchman. Lando Norris managed to claw his way up to the podium, finishing third after starting 10th on the grid. 

Now that the drivers’ title is all wrapped up, the fight is on for second position as Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez sits 30 points ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. In the constructors’ standings, McLaren are rapidly catching up to Aston Martin for fourth place in the standings with the former just 11 points behind thanks to their recent double podium finish. Next up is the 2023 Formula One United States Grand Prix which is set to take place between October 20-22. 

The post Max Verstappen clinches his third world drivers’ title at the Qatar Grand Prix first appeared on Turbocharged.

As the race happened

Unlike the sprint, Bezzecchi did manage to get through the opening lap without much trouble aside from Martin taking the lead early on. Bezzecchi took back the lead in quick succession and never looked back enroute to taking the win.

Meanwhile, behind him there was an almighty scrap for second place between championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and even the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez at one point before a mistake at Turn 1 had Marquez slide out of contention. But disaster struck in the closing stages as Bagnaia crashed out of the race. 

The drama didn’t end there as Martin had begun dropping back to the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo with issues like his riding leather needing to be zipped up again that cost him a second worth of lap time. On the final lap, Martin going wide after the back straight had Quartararo take second place, only for Martin to snatch it back with a bold move in the second sector. Such was the heroic defence of second place for Martin, the Spaniard almost collapsed in parc ferme due to dehydration from the extreme weather conditions over the duration of the 21-lap race.  

Thanks to Francesco Bagnaia’s costly DNF on the factory Ducati, the title race is getting even more intense as the Italian’s lead over Jorge Martin in the riders’ standings has been cut down to just 13 points. 

The post Marco Bezzecchi wins MotoGP’s first ever race in India!  first appeared on Turbocharged.

How the race transpired

Right from the opening lap, chaos ensued as spits of rain meant it was either a gamble to stay out or pit for intermediates and give up track position. Fortunately for those who chose the latter, it was the right call as the rain quickly intensified. Sergio Perez was the biggest gainer in all this as he jumped from sixth to first being the early stopper and held a healthy 13-second lead. However, Verstappen quickly eroded that gap within a couple of laps and looked set to retake the lead.

Fortunately, Verstappen didn’t need to make the pass on track as when the other drivers pitted back on to dry tyres, the championship leader comfortably took back the lead. Meanwhile, Alonso, after a fine start from fifth, was in third place and had begun pressuring Perez for second place. However, that challenge didn’t really materialise and the race was looking to settle down.

But the weather gods were saving their best trick for last, and torrential rain poured down with less than 10 laps to go, getting to the point where many drivers went off track including Perez, which handed Alonso second place. Eventually the weather conditions were too extreme to continue and the red flag had to be called out. After a 45-minute delay, racing got underway again, with Verstappen and Alonso managing to finish in the same order. Perez however, copped a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which meant Pierre Gasly inherited the final spot on the podium. 

This win means Verstappen is now tied with ex-Red Bull driver and four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel on the record of nine consecutive wins and is well on course to break it. In the drivers’ standings however, the battle for third place has taken another twist as Alonso’s second place has pulled him 12 points clear of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Next week, Formula One heads to the temple of speed, Monza and Ferrari’s home turf for the Italian Grand Prix. It is scheduled to run between September 1-3, 2023.

The post Max Verstappen wins a chaotic 2023 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix   first appeared on Turbocharged.

For the former, Geoffrey Emmanuel from Chennai who also races in the FIM World Junior Championship took double podium finishes in his debut MSBK weekend. Racing for Gusto Racing India in the MSBK 250 A category, the 18-year old from Chennai finished third in both races onboard a Honda CBR 250. Ashish Patel, Ramesh Rohan and Abhinav Gunasekeran, representing CRA Motorsports, finished in fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively in Race 1. In the second and final race of the weekend, Ramesh Rohan and Abhinav Gunasekeran repeated Race 1’s results, while Ashish Patel had a DNF.

As for the MSBK 250 A category, Rakshit Dave from Chennai won both races in the MSBK250 B category for CRA Motorsports, kicking off his season in fine form.

There are another two rounds left in the season, with the next one, scheduled for September 8-10 and the season finale set for December 15-17.

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