Aditya Patel narrowly misses podium

COIMBATORE: Aditya Patel narrowly missed out on a podium finish once again, ending fourth, just four-hundredths of a second behind championship leader Marcus Lisowski of Poland in the fourth round of the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup in Lausitzring, Germany, on Sunday.
In a thrilling race, in which the top-four were involved in a riveting battle for places, Aditya made his move in the last lap to pass Lisowski.But the Pole closed the window to see off the challenge from the Indian to finish third and extend his lead in the standings.
The race was won by David Lloyd who took the chequered flag ahead of J Mobley. Rookie Indian Sailesh Bolisetti finished 15th in the race. Bolisetti, last year’s VW Polo Cup national champ, is sure taking his time to get to grips with the competition abroad but is hopeful he will be up in the top-10 in a couple of races.
Aditya, who is harbouring hopes of fighting for the championship, is currently fifth in the standings with 99 points. Lisowski, 148 points, leads the table with Mobley (120 points) in second place with Lloyd (119) breathing down his neck. German rookie Stefano Proetto is fourth with 112 points.
Aditya had qualified for the race in fourth place, the busy traffic from the 27-car grid hampering his flying lap. The 22-year-old Chennai lad made his move right at the start of the race, taking third place behind Ola Nillson.
What followed was the three-way battle for the lead with Nillson and Mobley. In fact, the second lap began with the three drivers going into the first corner together. Something had to give and Aditya, being away from the racing line, lost traction and was forced to run wide. He lost a couple of places.
The 22-year-old came back into the race though and gave the Polish championship leader a run for his money before settling for fourth place.
Aditya enjoyed the tight fight even though he missed out on a podium finish and valuable points. “That’s racing,” he said.
“It was too close to call. There was a lot happening on the first few laps and unfortunately I got caught out on the dirty side of the track while I was making a move on the leaders. All credit goes to the drivers who race hard but fair. I enjoyed every minute of it,” added Aditya.
The fifth round of the series will be held at Norisring in Nuremburg on July 3.