India’s Aditya Patel has scored his second ever victory in the penultimate round of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup in Germany. Aditya qualified seventh for race 1, and had a close bout with Berke Bayindir of Turkey to maintain his position. In the course of the race he got passed by guest driver Daniel La Rosa and current championship rival Daniel Lloyd, just three laps before the finish. Ultimately Aditya crossed the finish line in eighth place, to start on pole for race 2, which has the top eight finishers in race 1 reverse their grid positions for the second race. Aditya was hopeful of making good use of the pole position, but heavy rains had the track wet on Sunday afternoon even as the race began.
Aditya had a good start, but had Berke and Lloyd challenging him almost immediately, even they approached the first corner. Aditya was able to hold on to his lead till the third corner, after which Lloyd passed him – but Aditya was quick to reclaim his lead even before the lap ended.
With only four laps left, Lloyd passed Aditya once again to take the lead, and this time was able to hold on. Ola Nillson too passed Aditya at the same time, but just two corners later Ola and Lloyd collided, and Aditya was back in the lead. He then had to fight tooth and nail with rookie driver Moritz Ostereich to maintain his lead, and ultimately crossed the finish line less than half a second ahead of Ostereich to register his first win this season. Post the win an elated Aditya said, "It was a nail-biting race. I can't remember the last time I fought for the lead like that. Moritz drove fair and brilliantly as well. I have to admit, there was a lot of luck involved as well. Ola and Lloyd had an unfortunate incident which went in my favor. Anyway, I guess that's racing! Now, with one race to go, my aim is to finish in the top three in the championship."
The final race of the season is scheduled to be held at Hockenheim in next month.
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