Buddh Ameo: Guest racer Behl wins chaotic race, Mohite only 11th

As the eight lap race at the Buddh International Circuit got underway, pole sitter Pratik Sonawane and fellow front-row starter Mohite battled it out for the lead in the opening sequence of corners.

The two drivers made contact heading into turn 5, dropping points leader Mohite down to 16th and paving the way clear for Behl to seize the lead.

Just as Mohite was rising back up the pack to lose as few points in the title fight, a red flag had to be brought in after Arefeen Raafi Ahmed’s car flipped at the final corner.

When the race resumed after a lengthy interruption, Behl quickly pulled a one second lead over Sonawane, with title contender Saurav Bandyopadhyay slotting into third position.

Thereafter, the race was brought under caution period once again, this time due to a driver running wide at turn 3 and getting beached in the gravel.

With not enough laps for the car to be recovered, the race effectively finished under the SC, with Behl clinging on to victory.

Sonawane finished second, while Bandyopadhyay, who is still recovering from dengue, bagging a healthy bag of points in third.

Affan Sadat Safwan finished fourth ahead of Siddharth Mehdiratta, while Anmol Singh and Jeet Jhabakh, who had an outside chance heading to Buddh, were classified sixth and seventh.

Mohite could only recover to 11th as several interruptions and the reduction of lap count to seven prevented his charge up the pack.

Update: Mohite was eventually classified seventh on the basis of aggregate times, while Jhabakh was demoted to eighth.