Chennai, Sep 20 Arjun Chheda (Pune) and Arjun S. Nair (Bengaluru) notched fluent wins in the Formula 2000 and Formula 1600 categories, respectively, to set the tone for the second round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.
Chheda, 17, made a good start from pole position and won untroubled and unchallenged while posting his second consecutive win and third in four starts this season. Finishing behind him were Bengaluru’s Ethan Joy and Ishaan Madesh.
Similarly, the 20-year-old Nair scored a fine win after pole-sitter Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran (Pune) retired after Lap-1, with Mumbai’s Zahan Commissariat finishing second ahead of Gyan S. (Chennai) in the eight-lap race that saw a combined grid of the two categories.
Later, Chennai’s Ritesh Rai (Buzzing Hornet), driving a Volkswagen Polo, who skipped the first round in Coimbatore, scored a commanding win in the premier Indian Touring Cars class from pole position, leaving his arch-rivals, defending champion Biren Pithawalla (N1 Racing) and former title winner Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) in the shade. Pithawalla, also in a VW Polo, finished second after easing past Balu, whose Honda City V-tec developed issues in the very first lap.
Team Performance Racing, returning to the championship after missing the previous round, delivered a podium sweep in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class with Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) taking P1 ahead of Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) and Hattim Shabir (Chennai). Thrissur’s TS Diljith took the honours in the Super Stock class with an easy win. The 30-car combined grid dished out its fair quota of jostling and shunting initially and then bitter fights for track positions up and down the field.
Veteran Vidyaprakash Damodaran from Coimbatore (Performance Racing), who turned 80 last month, topped the ITC 1625 category for his second win of the season.
The results (Provisional, Race-1, all 8 laps unless mentioned):
Formula 2000: 1. Arjun Chheda (Pune) (13mins, 04.999secs); 2. Ethan Joy (Bengaluru) (13:08.542); 3. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (13:10.475).
Formula 1600: 1. Arjun S Nair (Bengaluru) (14:14.925); 2. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) (14:16.029); 3. Gyan S (Chennai) (14:39.089).
Indian Touring Cars (ITC): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Buzzing Hornet) (15:08.020); 2. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (15:30.364); 3. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (15:38.908). ITC 1625cc: 1. Vidyaprakash Damodaran (Coimbatore, Team Performance Racing) (16:18.968); 2. Mohammed Fahad Kutty (Mumbai, Team Game Over) (16:30.557); 3. Suprej Venkat (Coimbatore, pvt.) (17:08.623).
Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, Team Performance Racing) (15:55.948); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (16:06.104); 3. Hattim Shabir (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (16:06.533).
Super Stock: 1. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (16:43.574); 2. Aman Nagdev (Noida, Strada Motorsports) (16:55.154); 3. Kesara Godage (Chennai, Red Line Racing India) (17:05.321).
Formula LGB 1300 (Open): 1. Vinith Kumar (Tirupur, DTS Racing) (15:07.523); 2. Balaprasath (Coimbatore, DTS Racing) (15:19.238); 3. Joel Joseph (Ernakulam) (DTS Racing) (15:21.312). Junior: 1. Vinith Kumar (Tirupur, DTS Racing) (15:07.523); 2. Joel Joseph (Ernakulam) (DTS Racing) (15:21.312); 3. Lokithlingeash Ravi (Pollachi, DTS Racing) (15:22.320).
Volkswagen Polo Cup: 1. Aman Nagdev (Noida) (15:49.689); 2. Ojas Surve (Navi Mumbai) (15:50.994); 3. Aditya Patnaik (Navi Mumbai) (15:53.930).
MRF Saloons: 1. Mohammed Arfath (Chennai) (17:27.192); 2. Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) (17:27.384); 3. Akshay Muralidharan (Coimbatore) (17:36.694).
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