Deigo Duez of Mexico came first in the second race of round one of Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012. This is the first time in history that an international driver has won at the J K Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup which took place at Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore.

Second race in Round 1 saw Duez in first place clocking 19:17:543, Alisha Abdullah in second spot, seven seconds later while Prashanth Tharani Singh came in third just six tenths after. Deigo started third on the grid but managed to quickly overtake both Ajay Kini and Alisha Abdullah and thereafter maintained his lead till the end of the race.

Deigo thanked Volkswagen Motorsport and JK Tyres and was ecstatic with his performance and for the fact that he created history on the track. Alisha was also satisfied with her performance and is hopeful for more podium finishes in the future. It was third placed Tharani Singh's first ever Polo R Cup round. He realized that Alisha was in a strong position and did not want to do anything to jeopardize his position in third place.

News release: Diego Duez creates history as he takes the lead in Championship standings after the Inaugural Round of JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012

Avdumber Hede Wins the Inaugural Race
Mexican driver Diego Duez is the first international driver to win in a Polo R Cup race

The past season of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup had cemented its reputation of providing thrilling action to the Indian car racing fans. This season, it builds up the excitement further with an international racer in the top position in the current Championship Standings after the Inaugural Round. Mexico based Diego Duez currently leads other drivers with a total accumulated points of 45 after successfully competing in two races of Round One of the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012.

In Race One, Diego finished sixth and won 17 points. In Race Two, he accumulated 30 points after a spectacular win. This increased his total points tally helping him overtake others in the current Championship Standings of the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012. Race One winner Avdumber Hede is currently in second place with 42 points while Mihir Dharkar occupies third place with a total of 40 points.

Race One was won by Avdumber with a total time of 14:30.038. Mihir finished 0.706 seconds behind him to finish in second spot followed by A. Sandeep Kumar who was 2.500 seconds behind him. Diego had started this race fifth on the grid and finished in sixth position (14:39.314). The race was red-flagged after 9 laps and resulted in splitting of the race into two parts. Winners were decided after aggregating the time of both parts of the race.

Race Two was won by Diego with a total time of 19:17.543 while Alisha Abdullah, the only woman driver, bagged second place with debutant Prashanth Tharani Singh rounding off the podium. The enthralling race culminated in an interesting finish with Alisha finishing 6.747 seconds behind the leader with third place Prashanth, a mere 0.591 seconds behind her. Diego had started Race Two third on the grid and quickly took the lead for the remainder of the race to clinch the podium.

The Championship standings after Round One of JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012, as well as the podium results from the two races:

DNF: Did Not Finish

DNS: Did Not Start

Podium Positions for Race One of Round One***