Rayomand Banajee won an action packed final race of the season in the Formula Swift category. The final round of the series was conducted at the Sri Perumbudur race track in rainy conditions. After a superb qualifying in rainy conditions, Rayo failed to capitalise on the good qualifying position for Race 1, after his gear linkage broke at the start.
Inspite of falling down the order to 9th position at one stage, Rayo fought tooth & nail, despite being stuck in only 3rd to gear. He recovered to eventually finish a creditable 7th for Team Amaron.
As per the rules, Rayo had to start in 7th position for Race 2. The championship battle was exciting with Rayo 2 points behind the Rajan brothers – Prithveen & Sudanand. It was imperative that Rayo finish ahead of both drivers & also on the podium.
The start witnessed absolute carnage as 2 cars ahead collided & a number of cars following were unable to avoid an accident. Some luck, quick thinking & years of experience, allowed Rayo to just about scrape through unscathed while drivers immediately in front of him & behind him were not so lucky.
On the restart, Rayo took advantage of the 2 missing cars in front & made his way to 4th. Soon he moved into 3rd & after a couple of laps he was into 2nd. Rayo absolutely had to overtake Prithveen in terms of championship position. With 3 laps to go, Rayo made a good move for the lead & made it stick. But the duo fought hard & almost touched wheels for the next few corners. Rayo eventually made a break & won the race.
The win tied Rayo & Prithveen on points for second in the championship, but the win, proved important for Rayo as that was the tie breaker & Rayo was awarded 2nd in the Championship.
“It was a lot of hard work & the win certainly felt good. It was a close race with Prithveen. I thank the team for the good car as well” said an elated Rayo, who is now the only driver to have won races in all the single seater categories in India as well as finished in the top 3 in the championship in each & every category.