INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Spa represents a good opportunity to continue our run of points finishes: Mallya

    Vijay Mallya on Spa
    Vijay Mallya sets his sights on a strong showing in Spa as the Formula One season resumes.
     
    Vijay, the team’s strong season continued with more points last time out in Germany. What can we expect this weekend in Spa?
    VJM: “More of the same, I hope. We are performing well and delivering results, and Spa represents a good opportunity to continue our run of points finishes. The updates we introduced at Silverstone have made a difference and there is still more performance to be extracted from our chassis. I think all teams have now switched their focus to 2017 so the pecking order should not change dramatically. Some tracks will suit us more than others, but Spa is certainly a track where the VJM09 can be strong.”
    The team is now within 15 points of fourth place in the championship. How do you see the battle unfolding…
    VJM: “There’s still a long way to go, but at least we are in the fight. I regard our podium in Monaco as the turning point of our season – both in terms of the result and our public perception. Then, our strong showing in Baku just reinforced the great job we are doing as a team. It’s a fierce battle in the midfield, but we are performing well. Since Monaco we have scored 67 points compared to the 31 of our nearest rival. If we continue scoring at this rate, it will be interesting to see where we can end the season.”
     
    Nico on Spa
    Nico Hulkenberg wants to continue his run of strong results with more points in Spa.
     
    Nico: “It’s nice to get back to action after a month without racing. Holidays are fun – you spend time with your friends, take your mind off work and recharge your batteries – but nothing beats the thrill of a Formula One car. So it’s great to be back, and I can’t think of a better place to return to racing than Belgium.
     
    “When I was little, I would go and watch the race in Spa rather than in Germany as it was much closer to where I lived. My dad took me there twice and I remember looking at the drivers and wishing to be in one of those cars.
     
    “Spa is one of the best tracks out there. It may sound like a cliché, but it really is great fun to drive it – it’s up there with Suzuka. It’s got great flow, lots of challenging and ballsy corners, high speeds and changes of elevation. It’s just a great place. Everyone talks about Eau Rouge, but my favourite corner in Spa is Pouhon – the very quick downhill double-left hander. Eau Rouge and Raidillon are legendary, but they’re not the challenge they used to be.
     
    “For all the excitement on track, Belgium is one of the quietest weekends off it. There’s not much around the circuit and most of the evenings you just stay in the hotel and have a quiet dinner with your physio or a few friends. It’s the opposite of some of the “lifestyle” events like Barcelona, Budapest or Montreal – but it’s a nice change to have some more relaxed events. Hopefully we will be able to pick up where we left off in Germany and continue showing our points-scoring form.”
     
    Sergio on Spa
    Sergio Perez looks forward to getting back to action in Spa this weekend.
     
    Sergio: “The summer break was a great opportunity to relax, especially as this season is quite long and the races don’t leave us too much time to recover. It was nice to spend some time in Mexico, with my family, my dogs and my friends: it’s always great to go home and I can’t wait to be back there later in the year when we come racing in Mexico City.
     
    “Spa is one of the most historical tracks; one of those kids dream about, with legendary corners like Eau Rouge. You never get a boring race there. There are many fast corners and you pay a price for all mistakes because it’s an old-school track with not much run-off. It’s one of the circuits where the driver can make a difference and bravery is rewarded. I have got some great memories from Spa: I won there in GP2 and I had a battle for the lead against Hamilton on the first lap last year.
     
    “The key to being fast around Spa is having a good rhythm and enough downforce to be quick in the corners without losing too much on the straights. You want to be able to attack and defend in sector one, but not have too little wing to be struggling in the twisty parts of sector two. It’s a fine balance you need to strike and it can make or break your weekend.
     
    “Eau Rouge is not as difficult as it used to be: you still need to be very precise about where you put your car, but you can easily take the corner flat-out. A key corner to gain or lose time is turn one: you can easily lose two tenths on that one alone if you make a mistake, and getting the exit right is crucial to carry as much speed as possible down the hill, up Raidillon and onto the Kemmel straight.
     
    “We have been really strong in the last few races before the break and hopefully we can keep this form in the second part of the season. Being in the battle for fourth place in the championship gives us a lot of motivation and we approach every weekend knowing we can be strong. I am enjoying my driving and working with the team, and I think we have everything in place to be competitive this weekend.”
    eom/SFI press release

  • Nayan, Yash, Arjun win Round 4: JK Tyre National karting

    Kolhapur, 21 August 2016: On a rain-hit Sunday, championship favourite Ricky Donison suffered a double blow that saw him surrender his leadership position after the fourth and penultimate round of the 13th JK Tyre FMSCI National Rotax Max Championship here at the Mohite Racing Academy.

    Donison of BPC Racing, who had won all three earlier rounds, couldn’t come to terms with the wet and slippery conditions on the track and lost his edge in the Senior Max category. He zipped into the parcferme area in the scrutiny bay as he felt that he had a problem with his kart.

    He came back a few minutes later to rejoin the race but by then the race organisers had removed his transponder, deeming him DNF (did not finish) on technical grounds. It meant that he had to be content with 38 points in the final that saw him slip to the second position with 324 overall points.

    Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad jumped into the lead in the battle for the championship by finishing third in the pre-final and fourth in the final on an action-packed Sunday. He has a nominal 4-point lead now with 328 points in his bag, going into the final round next month.

    The round itself was won by Mumbai’s Nayan Chatterjee (Meco Racing) in an exciting race.  Starting from the sixth place, he drove aggressively to come into contention in the opening lap itself. By the fifth, he was in the lead and didn’t give any other driver the opportunity to catch him.

    For a brief while, Kolhapur fans had something to cheer as Dhruv Mohite grabbed the lead. But he couldn’t handle the heat generated by Nayan and the rest and slowly fell behind and eventually pulled out in the 12th lap. But the crowds still had reason to celebrate as another local boy Chittesh Mandody surprised all by coming from behind to finish second. Akash Gowda of Meco finished a commendable third, having started from the pit lane.

    Interestingly, the Junior Max and Micro Max categories too saw the current leaders, Manav Sharma and Shahan Ali, suffer defeats but that didn’t affect their positions on the championship table.

    In Junior Max, Manav of Peregrine Racing only managed to finish sixth after struggling with technical problems with his kart all through the weekend. But that was enough to keep him ahead of the pack with 334 points.

    Yash Aradhya of Meco won the round to climb one place up to second position with 328 points.

    Chirag Ghorpade of BPC had a great weekend, winning the two heats on Saturday and the pre-final in the morning. But he fell behind in the race that mattered and finished second. He is now in the fourth place in the championship race with 317 points.

    In Micro Max, Shahan Ali looked unbeatable till the rains came down. The 12-year-old from Agra preferred not to take any undue risk and couldn’t do anything as Arjun Nair (Meco Racing) sneaked past him in the opening lap itself.

    Shahan waited for Arjun to make a mistake but that didn’t happen; he made a late charge, even clocking the quickest timing in the last and 15th lap but Arjun held on to his nerve and warded him off. Bangalore’s Arjun is now just 28 points behind the leader in the championship race.

    Results

    MICRO MAX Final (15 laps)

    1. Arjun Nair, Bangalore (16:23.165); 2. Shahan Ali Mohsin, Agra (16:27.692); 3. Yeasash More, Bangalore (16:28.345)

    Pre-final (12 laps)

    1. Shahan Ali Mohsin 11:55.795); 2. Kunal Vinod, Bangalore (12:02.361); 3. Arjun Nair (12:02.361)

    JUNIOR MAX Final (18 laps)

    1. Yash Aradhya, Bangalore (18:52.000); 2. Chirag Ghorpade, Bangalore (19:09.584); 3. Paul Francis, Bangalore (19:14.258)

    Pre final (15 laps)

    1. Chirag Ghorpade, Bangalore (13:20.373); 2. Yash Aradhya, Bangalore (13:22.885); 3. Jonathan Kuriakose, Mumbai (13:23.918)

    SENIOR MAX (15 laps) Final

    1. Nayan Chatterjee, Mumbai (20:34.842); 2. Chittesh Mandody, Kolhapur (20:40,493); Akash Gowda, 20:45.403)

    Pre-final

    1. Ricky Donison, Bangalore (13:20.373); 2. Dhruv Mohite, Kolhapur (13:22.885); 3. Jonathan Kuriakose, Mumbai (13:23.918)
  • Vikash Anand wins title with a double, earns ticket to Indy shootout

    Vikash Anand wins title with a double, earns ticket to Indy shootout

    Vikash Anand in action on Sunday. Image by Srinivasa Krishnan
    Vikash Anand in action on Sunday. Image by Srinivasa Krishnan

    Chennai, 21 August 2016: Twenty-two year old Chennai lad Vikash Anand won a double to clinch the title in the MRF Formula 1600 category and a ticket for the Mazda Road to Indy shootout as the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT track in Sriperumbudur, near here on Sunday.

    Going into this weekend’s triple-header, Vikash Anand and Karthik Tharani were locked on 138 points. Anand began his campaign with a second place finish behind Tharani on Saturday, but won both the starts today to seal the championship.

    Championship winners (Left to Right) - Keith Desouza (IJTC), Arjun Narendran (ITC), Vikash Anand (MRF F1600) and Raghul Rangasamy (Super Stock, F1300). Image by Srinivasa Krishnan
    Championship winners (Left to Right) – Keith Desouza (IJTC), Arjun Narendran (ITC), Vikash Anand (MRF F1600) and Raghul Rangasamy (Super Stock, F1300). Image by Srinivasa Krishnan

    “I worked hard to win this championship and I really can’t explain how I am feeling right now. Indy is a great opportunity to go abroad and explore new opportunities and learn. I will give my best to be competitive,’’ said Vikash Anand who returned to racing this season after an 18-month break and notched six wins for a tally of 206 points, 10 ahead of Tharani.

    Also achieving a double was Raghul Rangasamy who won both the races in the F1300 Rookie Championship and annexed the title. He later went on to claim the championship in the Super Stock class after Race 2 winner Veeresh Prasad was given a 20-second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags which demoted him to fourth place. The result saw Raghul and Veeresh tying on 142 points. Raghul was declared champion on the basis of three wins to Veeresh’s two on the countback which was employed to break the tie.

    Goa’s Keith Desouza (UNIMEK Racing) topped the Indian Junior Touring Cars class with a crucial win today which helped him finish on 199 points while his nearest rival Ananth Pithawala (Team N1) from Mumbai ended up on 191.

     

    Coimbatore’s Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing), who had already clinched the championship in the premium Indian Touring Cars class, ended the season with a double for a tally of 240 points, well clear of Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) who finished on 135.

    Ishaan Dodhiwala from Delhi won Sunday’s both races in the Volkswagen Vento Cup to consolidate his position at the top of the leaderboard.

    The results (Provisional):

    MRF F1600 (Race 2, 10 laps): 1. Vikash Anand (Chennai) (16mins, 54.111secs); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (Chennai) (16:58.677); 3. Karthik Tharani (Chennai) (17:02.390). Race 3 (10 laps): 1. Vikash Anand (16:55.247); 2. Karthik Tharani (16:56.108); Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (17:03.391). Championship: 1. Vikash Anand 206 points; 2. Karthik Tharani Singh 196; 3. Raghul Rangasamy 171.

    Indian Touring Cars (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) (15:14.881); 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Racing) (15:26.777); 3. Siva Ramakrishnan (Red Rooster Racing) (15:34.819).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 2, 10 laps): 1.Keith Desouza (Unimek Racing) (23:54.238); 2.Ananth Pithawalla (Team N1) (23:55.704); 3.Charen Chandran (Red Rooster Performance) (23:57.784). Championship: 1.Keith Desouza 199; 2.Ananth Pithawala 191; 3.R Sri Hariram 113.

    Super Stock (Race 2, 10 laps):  1.Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (24:04.104); 2.Deepak Ravi Kumar (Pvt) (24:06357); 3.Dean Mascarenhas (Race Concepts) (24:08161). Championship: 1.Raghul Rangasamy 142 (3 wins); 2.Veeresh Prasad 142 (2 wins); 3.Dean Mascarenhas 117.

    F1300 Rookie Championship (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Wallace Sports) (15:38.816); 2. Tejasram CS (Wallace Sports) (15:43.047); 3. Alex Bora (Wallace Sports) (15:43.896). Championship: 1. Raghul Rangasamy 205; Tejasram CS 179; Alex Bora 135.

    Volkswagen Vento Cup (Race 2, 9 laps): 1. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Hyderabad) (20:13.197); 2. Dhruv Bhel (Delhi) (20:15.171); 3. Niranjan B Todkari (Pune) (20:17.447).  Race 3: 1. Dodhiwala (Hyderabad) (19:44.856); 2.Karminder Pal Singh (New Delhi) (19:46.918); 3. Todkari (19.50.640).

    Caption: Championship winners (Left to Right) – Keith Desouza (IJTC), Arjun Narendran (ITC), Vikash Anand (MRF F1600) and Raghul Rangasamy (Super Stock, F1300)

    About Madras Motor Sports Club

    The Madras Motor Sports Club has been the pioneer in developing and promoting motorsport in India since 1953, and we look to further improve in the years to come. It is the club’s endeavor to provide more opportunities for competitors and to this end, it has chalked out a progressive program for 2016. From the days of Sholavaram , MMSC built its own racetrack which was inaugurated in 1979 and secured its FIA Grade-2 international certification in 2015, making it the only club which owns such a facility. The club has organised the Porsche Super Cup, Formula Campos, Formula Asia, Asian touring car championships, Formula 3, Tata Prima Truck racing championship, the Asian 2-wheeler racing championships besides a host of other motorsport events over the years. The club also has active participation for its events from vehicle manufacturers who also use the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) extensively for testing their products.

    ends/AP Media comm. release

  • PG Abhilash, Srikanth Gowda declared winners of MRF Rally of Coimbatore

    FMSCI Press Release – Protest Upheld

    Chennai, 18 August 2016:

    PG Abhilash and Srikanth Gowda of Team R3A PGA Motorsports were declared winners of the MRF Rally of Coimbatore after the Stewards upheld the protest lodged by him (Abhilash), said a Press Release from the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India today. They were also declared the winner of the IRC category, it added.

    The next round MRF Rally of Maharashtra is scheduled between 27-28 August 2016 at Nashik which is a tarmac rally. Closing date of entries is on Monday, 22nd August 2016.

    You can read the FMSCI Press Release here.

  • Donison, Manav and Shahan start firm favourites

    Kohlapur, 18 August 2016: High octane racing will return to Kolhapur after a year’s gap, with the fourth and penultimate round of the 13th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship scheduled to take place at the state of the art Mohite Racing Academy over the August 20-21 weekend.

    The round promises an exciting fare with all eyes set on Ricky Donison of BPC Racing who has been in supreme form throughout the season. Bengaluru’s Donision with a tally of 252 points is leading the charts, and will aim for an encore, that not only will maintain his 100% record this season but also consolidate his position at the top. However, it will not be an easy run out there for Donison, as he will be up against a strong challenge from Chennai’S Vishnu Prasad of Meco Racing (247 points) and local lad Dhruv Mohite of Mohite Racing (243). Both the drivers will be go out all guns blazing and aim to narrow the gap at the top. Dhruv will perhaps fancy his chances a little more as he will literally be racing in his backyard, being a Kolhapur racer and also the owner of the Mohite Racing Academy track.

    JK Motorsport’s president Sanjay Sharma believes that this round may well be the most critical one for the championship. “All the racers know that a big prize awaits them if they win the national championship. They will be rubbing shoulders with 360 of the finest racers from 50 nations,” he said.

    In the Junior Max (for kids between 13 and 16) and Micro Max categories (for kids between 7 and 12), Manav Sharma and Shahan Ali are in much more comfortable positions, with 9-point and 16-point leads. Manav of BPC is ahead with 257 points, having won the first round and taking the fourth and second positions in subsequent rounds. But Meco’s triumvirate of Nirmal Umashankar (248 points), Yash Aradhya (240) and Paul Francis (231) will surely come up with a joint strategy to unseat him from the leader’s position.

    Twelve-year-old Shahan, who suffered some bad luck in the Rotax Euro finals over the last weekend and finished 29th, has reason to believe that life will be much easier back home: he might even believe that the Micro Max championship is almost in his pocket. He has been virtually untouchable in the earlier three races and is sitting pretty on 262 points. Ruhaan Alva (246) of Perigrine, Arun Nair (241) of Meco and Arjun R (239) of Birel Art can only hope to fight for the second and third positions.

    The action will begin at the Mohite Academy on Saturday with practice rounds in the morning. The four races in each of the categories will take place over the weekend, the first two eachon Saturday and the last two each on Sunday, with drivers from across the country ready to burn rubber.

    Championships standings after Round Three:

    Senior Max

    PositionNameTeamCityPoints
    1Ricky DonisonBPC RacingBengaluru252
    2Vishnu PrasadMeco RacingChennai247
    3Dhruv MohiteDhruv MohiteKohlapur243

    Junior Max

    PositionNameTeamCityPoints
    1Manav SharmaBPC RacingFaridabad257
    2N.UmashankarMeco RacingChennai248
    3Yash AradhyaMeco RacingBengaluru240

    Micro Max

    PositionNameTeamCityPoints
    1Shahan AliMeco RacingAgra262
    2Ruhaan AlvaPeregrine RacingBengaluru246
    3Arjun NairMeco RacingChennai241

  • Abhilash-Srikanth protest upheld; declared Coimbatore rally winners

    Coimbatore, 18 August 2016: PG Abhilash and co-driver Srikanth Gowda won the MRF Rally of Coimbatore in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 as the stewards upheld their protest and elevated them to the winner status on August 18 in the Indian Rally Championship (IRC) class.

    The Coimbatore rally, which opened the season, was held on July 23 and 24. Though the Provisional results were announced, the final results were withheld following the protest.

    Earlier, JCT Rallying’s Samir Thapar (co-driver Gurinder Singh Mann) came first and also were the fastest overall in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X before they were demoted by the stewards. Thus, Abhilash PG and co-driver Srikanth Gowda) in the Evo VIII finished overall first and in the IRC class. Mohammed Khasim, along with co-driver Sanath G, was third in the Mitsubishi Cedia.

    Earlier on July 24, Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik led a 1-2 finish for the Mahindra Adventure team as they won the first round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship INRC class here on Sunday, July 24.

    Ghosh and Naik, who scored their third win in this event. Finishing second behind them were team-mates Sunny Sidhu and co-driver PV Srinivas Murthy while young Dean Mascarenhas from Mangaluru along with Shanmugha SN came third in the INRC Overall class.

    Mascarenhas also topped the time charts in the INRC 2000 class after nursing his Volkswagen Polo to the finish ahead of Bopaiah KM (Karumbaiah G) and Team Yokohama India’s Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai).

    The FMSCI Cup class honours went to KJ Jacob (co-driver Manoj Mohanan) with Tarun Reddy (co-driver Lalit Kishore) finishing second while Veeresh Prasad (co-driver Suraj M) completed the podium.

    One of the biggest disappointments of the one-day Rally was the retirement of favourite Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team Mahindra Adventure in the day’s very first Special Stage due to a mechanical problem as the brand new knuckle that was fixed on Thursday, sheared off. Gill was permitted to rejoin the Rally, but could not score any points.

    Speaking on his victory, Ghosh said: “We had a few problems with our car throughout the day, but happy that we managed to bring the car back safely. In the third and last loop, I had gearbox problem and ran both the Stages in third gear, not wanting to take any chances.”

    Final classification: (after the protest was upheld on Aug 18):

    INRC Overall: 1. Abhilash PG / Srikanth Gowda (Pvt) (Evo VIII, 1hr, 1min, 42.3sec); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 1 (1:3:15.1 secs); 3. Sunny Sidhu / PV Srinivas Murthy (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500)  (01:03:59.3); 4. Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmugha SN (Pvt) 3 (VW Polo, 01:04:23.3).

    INRC 2000: 1. Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmugha SN (Pvt) (VW Polo, 01:04:23.3); 2. Bopaiah KM / Karumbaiah G (Pvt) (VW Polo, 01:04.47.5); 3. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (Team Yokohama-India) (VW Polo, 01:05:03).

    FMSCI Cup: 1. KJ Jacob / Manoj Mohanan (Pvt) (Honda City, 01:08:41.1); 2. Tarun Reddy / Lalit Kishore (Pvt) (Honda City, 01:11.44.7); 3. Veeresh Prasad / Suraj M (Pvt) (Honda City, 01:13.13.5).

    IRC: 1. Abhilash PG / Srikanth Gowda (Pvt) (Evo VIII, 01:01.42.3); 2. Samir Thapar / Gurinder Singh Mann (JCT Rallying) (Evo X, 01:01.03.6); 3. Mohammed Khasim / Sanath G (Pvt) (01:09.32.9).

    Note: Result changed after the protest by Abhilash was upheld.

  • Double podium for Jehan Daruvala at Assen

    Double podium for Jehan Daruvala at Assen

    Assen (Netherlands), 8 Aug 2016: Indian Racing Star – Jehan Daruvala, of the Sahara Force India Academy bounced back in Round 5 of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Series with a double podium. Jehan had a disastrous round 4 in Belgium where he was hit by another racer and subsequently fell from the Championship lead. Two strong finishes here in Assen, saw him claim 3rd place in both races.

    Earlier in the weekend, Jehan was fastest in the first practice session of the weekend out of 25 racers in the field. In practice session 2, he was third fastest behind Belgian Max Defourny and Lando Norris of Great Britain.

    Qualifying for Race 1 was extremely close, with Lando Norris earning pole position with a lap time of 1:34.684. Jehan was a mere two hundredths of a second behind while Max Deformed was another miniscule nine thousandths of a second behind Jehan. Qualifying for Race 2 saw Lando and Jehan lock out the first row, in the same order as Qualifying 1, while Dorian Boccolacci claimed third on the grid.

    Jehan did not have the best of starts as the lights went out for Race 1. The Indian lost a position due to a bit of wheel spin and fell to third. Jehan then tried to reclaim his position back at turn 3, but he was not able to make the move stick, allowing Defourny to pass him. Soon, Portuguese racer – Henrique Chaves  lunged down Jehan’s inside and the two racers made contact. Jehan fortunately managed to continue without losing a place. The positions remained the same for another 7 laps as Jehan closed the gap in front. He then a made a good move on Defourny to claim back third, which he held till the chequered flag. Lando Norris won the race ahead of Boccolacci.

    Race 2 saw Jehan start second once again. This time he had a good start and maintained his position behind Lando and the two racers looked comfortable at the top. Jehan however, suddenly seemed to lose slightly over half a second a lap. Max Defourny immediately caught and passed Jehan and a few laps later even managed to pass Jehan’s team mate Lando, who also had a sudden drop in pace.

    Jehan’s drop in pace meant that very soon, Boccolacci and Fenestraz were all over his rear trying to get a way past. Jehan had no option but to be defensive and he managed well to keep the two French racers behind him for the rest of the race. Defourny won comfortably ahead of Lando while Jehan completed his second podium of the weekend in front of a 100,000 strong crowd at the Dutch circuit.

    “I am happy with my pace in qualifying. We need to work a bit on our race pace. Over the last few weekends, we have been struggling with the tyres going off during the race, but I am confident we will find a solution for this” said Jehan after bagging his second consecutive podium.

    Jehan will be racing in 3 weeks in the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro Cup series.

    eom/Rayo Racing release

  • Another podium for Tarun Reddy at British F3

    Another podium for Tarun Reddy at British F3

    Snetterton, 8 August 2016: Young Indian racing driver Tarun Reddy took his third successive podium in a race weekend when he finished 2nd at the penultimate round of the BRDC British F3 championship in Snetterton. Reddy came in 2nd in race 2 behind Force India development driver Nikita Mazepin. Reddy had finished 7th in race 1 and 9th in race 3.

    Reddy had a tough start to the seasoTarun Reddy, Nikita Mazepin, Scottn but has come back strongly over the last three rounds, finishing on the podium in both Silverstone and Spa. He qualified on only 10th place on Friday after topping testing times on Thursday. In race 1 Reddy had a slow start but managed to stay in 10th place. He got past Eugene Denyssen and Huovinen to move into 8th place with three laps to go. On the final lap he made a daring move on Mazepin and passed him to finish 7th and earn himself a front row start for the reverse grid race 2.

    In race 2 Mazepin led the field into turn 1, with fellow front-row starter Reddy closely following behind in second. The Indian managed to get his nose ahead at Riches, but Mazepin fought back to regain the lead, establishing a nine-tenths buffer by the end of the opening lap. While the gap between the pair remained steady over the early stint, Mazepin started to extend his advantage at the halfway mark, eventually taking beating Reddy to the chequered flag by 1.976s.

    Race 3 saw Reddy finishing 9th in an uneventful race. The top two drivers were in a league of their own with the rest of the cars following each other across the finish line, with overtaking at a premium at the circuit.

    Reddy, who drives for Fortec Motorsports, was happy to be on the podium again as he got more comfortable with the car. He commented, “Another good weekend for me and the team. We have had good pace all weekend but not enough to match the front runners. Snetterton is a circuit where overtaking is tough so qualifying position is crucial. I am extremely happy to be on the podium again and it is a true reflection of the improvement we have made over the last few races. I wish the season was longer as we are just getting comfortable with the car. I will give it my all in the final round at Donington.”

    The final round of the championship will take place in Donington Park on September 10-11.

    eom/Adrenna Comm. release

  • First point for Sarath Kumar in ARRC

    Sentul (Indonesia), 8 August 2016: India’s Sarath Kumar, recovering fast from a knee injury, scored his first point in the Asia Road Racing Championship when he finished 15th in the first of the two SuperSport 600cc races here over the weekend.

    Having qualified 20th for the first race on Saturday, Chennai-based Sarath Kumar, supported by Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK, gained places in the wake of retirements of riders ahead of him and finished 15th which won him his first point in the ARRC this season.

    In the second race, Sarath, riding for T-Pro Yuzy NTS Honda Racing team, finished 17th to complete a satisfying weekend after missing the first round in Malaysia, skipping both races in Thailand and taking just one start in Japan, as he improved his lap times with each outing here.

    Summing up the weekend, Sarath said: “I am very happy with the progress and this is the first time I was able to the ride the bike to its fullest potential. I am still having problems with my knee which bothers me towards the end of the races, after about 10 laps. However, it is a good sign that the recovery is happening.

    “I have managed to get closer to the experienced guys with about five seconds off pace in my first full race weekend. I think I will be in good shape for the India round in October. We have already planned a few training methods to improve my confidence and performance on the bike as from this point, it is about learning the nuances and tricks of riding a bigger bike which not the same as riding a 250cc.

    “The team T-Pro Yuzy NTS Honda Racing with WOW helped me a lot especially my team owner Yusuke Teshima who just returned from the Suzuka 8-Hour race and also my teammate Tomoyoshi Toyama who gave a lot of inputs.

    “Now I am lot more excited and preparing for my home race in Buddh International Circuit on the 1-2 October. Once again, a long break and I will be working hard on my recovery and more practice to get to good pace at the BIC.”

    eom/AP Media comm. release

  • Sarath Kumar set for Sentul races

    Sarath Kumar set for Sentul races

    SENTUL (Indonesia), 4 August 2016Sarath Kumar AP media comm file pic 4aug2016: After a near month-long season break, India’s Sarath Kumar, supported by Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK, will get back into action in the fourth round of the Asia Road Racing Championship here this weekend, astride a Honda CBR600WR for Team T. Pro Yuzy Honda NTS Racing.

    Having missed the season-opener in Malaysia due to a knee injury that he suffered during pre-season training, Sarath Kumar entered for the second round in Buriram, Thailand, but could not take a start as the knee acted up. The third round in Suzuka, Japan, saw Sarath finally make his debut run in the championship, but skipped the second race of the double-header on medical advice due to severe pain in the injured knee.

    The break between the rounds has helped Sarath to work on his fitness and also undergo physiotherapy sessions to prepare for the Sentul round where he will be facing strong competition.

    Looking ahead to this weekend’s double header, Sarath said: “It’s been a long break away from racing, although we have been busy with Indian National Championship.

    “I have been working hard to get back into shape for the ARRC Super Sport 600 races in Sentul. The recovery process of my knee is even more painful than expected. However, with the help of my team and physiotherapy sessions with Quantum Leap’s Ramji Srinivasan, the knee has shown great improvement.

    “Although I was not able to ride frequently as advised, I feel much better compared to Thailand and Japan rounds and I am going into this weekend with great confidence. I hope to improve my performance this round.

    “The main target for me is to participate and complete both the races which I couldn’t do in Suzuka because of the wet conditions and my knee problem.”

    “The SS600 is a tough grid in ARRC. The learning process come from every race and I am doing it with an open mind and with the help of my team.

    “Finally, I cannot thank enough my sponsors WOW Digit, Honda Racing and Ten10 Racing for their unconditional support through my tough times of recovery.”

    eom/AP Media Comm release