Indian motorsports veteran and eight-time Formula Racing and Karting Champion, Rayomand Banajee, returned to the race track after 9 years, competing for the first time in the MMSC FMSCI National Drag Racing Championship. Racing in a Volkswagen Ameo, with a total time of 14.364, Rayomand completed third, recording the fastest reaction time of the entire event at just 0.502 seconds, in the Unrestricted Category, in the 1^st round of the Championship. The Unrestricted Category is the most prestigious, where essentially all cars compete against each other without any restrictions. Rayomand also bagged another podium finish when he raced a completely unmodified Skoda Octavia, Diesel, in the Pro Stock Diesel category. He came in third yet again, with a total time of 17.271 seconds, once again with the third-quickest reaction time of the entire event at 0.564 seconds.

Speaking to Parsi Times about his winning experience and return to the sport, Rayomand said, “Full credit goes to the Volkswagen Motorsport team. The entire Volkswagen Ameo Race car has been built in-house at the factory in India. As a circuit racing car, it is brilliant. We decided to participate in the race just for fun and that too, just a few hours before the event! But then things turned serious -the whole team put in a lot of effort to tune the car for a drag race, especially to get a really quick launch. My background is hard core circuit racing. Drag racing is very different in terms of functioning, preparation and execution. The reaction time, is the time taken to get the car moving, once the lights turn green. Initially, my reaction times were slow, but luckily with the Volkswagen team monitoring this, we saw scope to improve. I worked hard on this and eventually I had the fastest and the 3^rd fastest reaction time of the event.”

When asked to share a message with Parsi Times readers, especially the youth who share a passion for sport, Rayomand says, “My message to the youth of our community is to go out there and give in everything with complete passion and hard work – no matter how difficult the task on hand. Anything unconventional is not easy and if you want to succeed, it will take a lot of determination, hard work and discipline.”