Your basket is currently empty!
Author: David Bodapati
-
Lando Norris on pole as McLaren lock out front row: Aussie Grand Prix
Albert Park (Melbourne), 15 March 2025: Lando Norris stormed to pole position just under a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri as McLaren locked out the front row in qualifying for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. Defending world champion Max Verstappen qualified third for Red Bull.
At the start of Q1 Haas’ Oliver Bearman was one of the first on track. The Briton had missed FP3 due to a second crash of the weekend and was seeking to make up for lost time. However, soon after leaving the pit lane the rookie driver informed his team that he had a gearbox problem. He was forced back to the pit lane and took no part in the session.
Liam Lawson also endured a tough Saturday. The new Red Bull Racing recruit was forced to sit out FP3 due to a PU problem and on an unfamiliar track in a tricky car the Kiwi struggled. After two unproductive runs, a final crucial flyer began well but mistakes in Sector 2 and an off in the penultimate corner left him in P18 and out of the session. Also ruled out in Q1 were Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli who damaged the front bib on his W16 E and exited in P16, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, 19th placed Esteban Ocon in the other Haas and team-mate Bearman.
At the top of the Q1 timesheet, Norris took top spot, six hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes George Russell with Verstappen in third.
Verstappen led the field out in the middle session and the Dutchman posted a strong opening flying lap of 1:15.688. The Red Bull driver suffered several moments of oversteer on his lap, however, and that allowed the McLaren drivers to annex the top two places, with Oscar Piastri taking top spot a little over two tenths clear or Lando Norris. Behind Verstappen after the first flyers were Russell, Leclerc and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda.
In the second runs Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto had a nervous moment when he clattered over the kerbs in Turn 4 and almost lost control, while Lewis Hamilton did lose control, spinning his Ferrari in Turn 11.
The resulting yellow flags disadvantaged several drivers but top spot was again taken by Norris who posted a time of 1:15.415 to beat Piastri. Verstappen was again third with a lap of 1:15.565.
Knocked out at the end of Q2 were Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, who ended up as the best-placed rookie in P11, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll out in P12 and P13. Alpine’s Jack Doohan exited in P14 and Bortoleto qualified in 15th.
In the opening runs of Q3 Piastri pushed too hard in the penultimate corner and went wide into the dirt on his opening lap. Behind him, team-mate Norris went too hard into Turn 4 and bounced over the kerb that caught out Bortoleto and the Briton’s lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen flirted with the same boundary but managed to stay on the right said of the kerb and took provisional pole with a lap of 1:15.671.
The champion pushed to seal the opening pole of the season, but ultimately the McLarens were marginally quicker and Norris took top spot in qualifying with a lap of 1:15.096, with Piastri second. Verstappen’s final flyer of 1:15.481 handed him third ahead of Russell, the impressive Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1’15.096 – –
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1’15.180 0.084 0.112
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’15.481 0.385 0.513
4 George Russell Mercedes 1’15.546 0.450 0.599
5 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1’15.670 0.574 0.764
6 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1’15.737 0.641 0.854
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’15.755 0.659 0.878
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1’15.973 0.877 1.168
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1’15.980 0.884 1.177
10 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1’16.062 0.966 1.286
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1’16.175 1.079 1.437
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’16.453 1.357 1.807
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’16.483 1.387 1.847
14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1’16.863 1.767 2.353
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1’17.520 2.424 3.228
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1’16.525 1.429 1.903
17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1’16.579 1.483 1.975
18 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’17.094 1.998 2.661
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1’17.147 2.051 2.731
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari – – – -
Leclerc quickest in FP2 ahead of Piastri and Norris: Aussie GP
Melbourne, 14 March 2025: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, beating McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari, as defending champion Max Verstappen finished seventh.
Leclerc was at the top of the times early in the session, with his time of 1:16.794 on Medium tyres setting the initial benchmark, a little under half a second clear of team-mate Hamilton.
The field then began to make the move to Soft tyres for qualifying simulations and Leclerc was demoted by the quick-looking Racing Bull car of Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver set a time of 1:16.784 to claim top spot.
Verstappen then went out on the red-banded tyres but struggling with his RB21 the Dutchman abandoned the lap. Norris then moved ahead with a lap of 1:16.580, as Piastri’s first flier on Softs put him third.
Leclerc was out on the red rubber, however, and with a little under 30 minutes remaining, the Monegasque racer logged a time of 1:16.439 to take P1, which he would go on to hold for the remainder of the session.
Piastri made gains with a second run to take P2 with a lap of 1:16.563 that left him 0.124 behind Leclerc and 0.017s ahead of McLaren team-mate Norris. Tsunoda’s best time of 1:16.784 kept ahead of Hamilton who finished a little over four tenths of a second off his team-mate.
Verstappen also improved late on, but he couldn’t go quicker than stablemate Isack Hadjar. The French/Algerian rookie delivered a good lap of 1:17.019 to end the session 0.580 off Leclerc and a little over two tenths off team-mate Tsunoda.
Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth for Sauber, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and lead Mercedes driver George Russell.
Elsewhere, Oliver Bearman missed the entire session as his Haas crew repaired his car following a heavy crash in the opening session.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.439 32 248.574
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.563 0.124 30 248.172
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.580 0.141 30 248.117
4 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.784 0.345 29 247.457
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.859 0.420 31 247.216
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.019 0.580 30 246.702
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.063 0.624 22 246.561
8 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.161 0.722 24 246.248
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.279 0.840 28 245.872
10 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.282 0.843 30 245.863
11 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 30 245.799
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 28 245.799
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.330 0.891 27 245.710
14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:17.394 0.955 30 245.507
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:17.493 1.054 30 245.193
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:17.634 1.195 31 244.748
17 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.640 1.201 30 244.729
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.847 1.408 29 244.078
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:18.034 1.595 31 243.493 -
Strategic masterclass sees Marc Marquez double up in Buriram stand-off
Becoming the first rider to win on their Ducati factory debut since Casey Stoner in 2007, Marc Marquez departs Thailand with a perfect start to his title charge.
Buriram, 2 March 2025: The goosebumps of the season-opening Grand Prix are always special and the moment finally came to fruition as the PT Grand Prix of Thailand launched MotoGP in 2025. A tactical race with plenty of talking points, it was six-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) who bagged 25 points, but in a race where the results don’t tell the entire story…
AS IT HAPPENED: Marquez holeshots before relinquishing lead
Grabbing the holeshot and seizing the initiative in a repeat of the Sprint on Saturday, Marc Marquez lead them through the opening laps. Brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) was second whilst Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) occupied P3. Another good start from Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) saw him briefly inside the podium places on Lap 1 but he was soon shuffled back. Pedro Acosta’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) charge in the leading places soon came to an abrupt end with a fall at Turn 1 on Lap 4.The race looked to be taking a familiar tone to the Sprint but you can never guarantee anything in the most exciting sport on Earth. On Lap 7, coming out of Turn 3, leader Marquez seemingly slowed down with no apparent or visual reason. He slotted in behind his brother, who assumed the lead of the Grand Prix; whilst Marc may not have led every lap of the year, a Marquez has. Whether it was for tyre pressure concerns, tyre/fuel conservation or another factor, we now had a tense Grand Prix at the front between the rival siblings.
BATTLES ELSEWHERE: Miller in contention, Mir top ten goes begging
Further back, there was a good fight for sixth place with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Joan Mir (HRC Honda Castrol). However, for Mir, the 2020 World Champion’s optimism turned to despair as he fell on Lap 16 at Turn 12, tucking the front and unable to remount.Maintaining the status quo for the next handful of laps at the front, Marc remained glued to his brother; on Lap 18, Pecco was likewise just a second back but after a couple more laps, started slipping back but was in a safe third place ahead of the #21 of Franco Morbidelli. Having initially looked as if he didn’t have the pace to go with the leading brothers, the #63 closed back in.
DECISIVE MOVE: Marc attacks with 3 to go
It came too late to have a say though as on Lap 23 at Turn 12, Marc attacked Alex and retook the lead. All eyes were now on whether or not the #73 had anything left in the locker, but he didn’t. The six-time MotoGP Champion had it all under control. 93 Grand Prix weekends after he last led the World Championship, Marc Marquez doubled up at the Destination of Speed and took his first Grand Prix victory in the red of Ducati. A 112th podium, he matches ex-teammate at Honda Dani Pedrosa in the rostrum rankings.Bagnaia closed in on Alex as the race reached its climax but couldn’t have a say, with Alex holding on and joining his brother on the podium. Pecco’s third place means the top three from the Sprint emphasised their strength with a repeat showing in Sunday’s Grand Prix. Morbidelli clinched fourth place ahead of an impressive Ogura, who can be proud of a double top five on his debut weekend to welcome him up to MotoGP. Ogura’s result is the best by a rookie in a Grand Prix since 2013 – some kid called Marc Marquez back then. It’s also the first top five for a Japanese rider in a Grand Prix since 2021’s Styrian GP, with Takaaki Nakagami also in P5. Bezzecchi fought through for P6 ahead of a late-charging Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR), already bettering Honda’s best result from last year at the same Grand Prix.
BEST OF THE REST: Binder and Bastianini come through
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had a quiet race to P8, ahead of a resurgent Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) who turned his pre-season woes into Grand Prix gains in ninth; Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) came through to deny Miller the final place within the top ten, although Miller’s first Grand Prix with Yamaha saw him as the top representative for the Iwata manufacturer.With Miller taking P11, Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) was next up and saw off pressure from rookie Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), with the 2021 World Champion having a nightmare opening lap where he was as low as 18th and never really recovering. Home-hero Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) took 18th, just five seconds from points on his debut.
That’s a wrap on Buriram. For Marc Marquez it’s the first time he’s won the opener since 2014. For Ogura, it’s the best rookie GP result since… Marc Marquez in 2013.
-
Saturday perfection: Marc Marquez soars to stunning Sprint victory
Buriram, 1 March 2025: The six-time MotoGP Champion fends off Alex Marquez to earn a first gold medal of the season as Bagnaia holds off outstanding Ogura for P3.
The triple in Thailand is well and truly on for Marc Marquez as the new Ducati Lenovo Team recruit pockets a scintillating Tissot Sprint victory to secure a perfect Saturday to ignite his 2025 title charge. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) backed up his front row in qualifying with a P2 to earn his first Saturday silver medal, while Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) earned some valuable points after having to settle for P3 in the first Sprint of the campaign.
It was lights out for 2025 and Marc Marquez made the dream launch from pole position to pocket the holeshot. Pecco slotted into an early P2 but on the run into Turn 3, Alex Marquez stole P2 back. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) swooped around the outside at Turn 1 to clinch an early P4, with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) P5.
At the start of Lap 3, Marquez – of the Marc variety – was 0.6s clear of his younger brother Alex. Bagnaia was a further second off the tailpipes of the Gresini star, with Ogura keeping the two-time MotoGP Champion on his toes. And a lap later, it was still the case – Ogura was shadowing Pecco, with the latter losing touch on the top two in the early stages.
After a nightmare launch that saw him drop to the rear of the field, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) was making good progress. The Italian was P14, but Aprilia’s attention was on Ogura in P4, who was still shadowing Bagnaia.
Drama unfolded for Miller with seven laps left, the Aussie was on the floor at Turn 8 from P6, which promoted Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) to top Yamaha in P6. That was soon P7, as a small error at Turn 8 allowed Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) to carve through.
Back at the front, Marc Marquez was 1.1s clear of Alex Marquez heading into the closing five laps. Bagnaia was 1.2s in arrears of the #73 but now, the Italian was the fastest rider on track. Ogura was now 0.5s behind Bagnaia, with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) a lonely P5.
Three to go. Between the top three, it was pretty much as you were. Ogura’s podium hopes were seemingly slipping away as the Japanese star dropped to 0.8s off Bagnaia, but the rookie sensation had 1.8s to play with back to Morbidelli.
Two to go. Bagnaia’s efforts of trying to close down Alex Marquez for P2 had run out of steam and heading onto the final lap of the first Sprint of 2025, Marc Marquez was able to cruise home. The perfect Saturday was secured for the six-time MotoGP World Champion and for the first time since 2019, the #93 saw himself at the summit of the MotoGP World Championship.
In the end, it was a comfortable P2 for Alex Marquez as Bagnaia claimed P3 to open his points account for the year. Ride of the day goes to rookie Ogura. A magnificent P4 sees the reigning Moto2 World Champion finish less than a second behind Pecco, 1.3s ahead of Morbidelli and over six seconds ahead of last year’s rookie star Acosta. What a ride. It was P6 for the #37 of Acosta, P7 for Quartararo, P8 for Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and a hard earned P9 for Honda HRC Castrol’s Joan Mir as the 2020 World Champion and Japanese manufacturer see light at the end of the tunnel with their second Sprint points and first in the dry.
Pole position, Tissot Sprint win… can Marc Marquez notch up a perfect weekend in Thailand to really launch his factory Ducati career into life heading to Argentina? He’s going to take some stopping, but don’t discount Alex Marquez and Bagnaia – and maybe even a star rookie? – just yet.
Tune into the first Grand Prix of the season at 15:00 local time (UTC +7) from Buriram. You do not want to miss it! In India the main MotoGP race is at 1.30pm IST on Eurosport channel.
-
Russell quickest on day three, but Sainz takes ‘pole’: F1 test 2025
Sakhir, 28 February 2025: The curtain has come down on the only official test session prior to the start of the 2025 season. Three busy days saw all 20 race drivers on track, able to work on development of their new cars more or less uninterrupted. In total there were 25 hours of track time, with 3,896 laps completed, equivalent to 21,090,564 kilometres.
Quickest today was George Russell, the Englishman stopping the clocks in 1’29”545. Next up was Max Verstappen who, on the same C3 compound as the Mercedes driver was just 21 thousandths slower. Alex Albon was third on a set of C4s with which he lapped in 1’29”650. It’s worth noting that today’s top eight drivers represented eight different teams. Behind the top three came the McLaren of Oscar Piastri (1’29”940), Pierre Gasly in the Alpine (1’30”040), the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton (1’30”345), Yuki Tsunoda for Racing Bulls (1’30”497) and Esteban Ocon in the Haas (1’30”728).
Russell’s time today was not enough to give him the nominal pole position for the test, that honour going to Carlos Sainz with his time of 1’29”348 set yesterday in the Williams. He thus repeats his performance of last year when at the wheel of a Ferrari. Further confirmation of how closely matched were the top teams at this test, three different drivers from three different teams topped the time sheet each day, the only one not mentioned so far being Lando Norris on the first day.
“We’ve had three rather unusual testing days here in Bahrain,” commented Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola. “For years now, Formula 1 has chosen this circuit for the only pre-season test because the weather is usually very favourable, but that was not the case this week, especially the first two days. Low temperatures, considerably lower than at this time of year in previous years, and strong wind affected the teams’ work and made it even harder than usual to interpret the results, with no previous reference points on this track at such low temperatures.
“From our side, the most data came from the C3 and the C2 and, slightly less so from the C1: that was entirely to be expected, given that these are the compounds usually chosen for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Only a few laps were completed with the C4, while the C5 and C6 never appeared on track, to be expected as only Ferrari and Williams had opted to include these in their allocation. From what we could see, the C2 behaved as expected, confirming that it was further from the C1 than last year and therefore closer to the C3. The hardest compound struggled a bit in these temperatures, while the C3 proved to be the most versatile of the range.
We did not see any real performance runs, which would have allowed us to fully evaluate the performance difference between the compounds. As for degradation of the three hardest compounds, it’s clear that because of the low temperatures, it was minimal, even if it increased slightly today when it was a bit warmer, but not in any significant fashion. Now we head home with plenty of data to study as we prepare for the opening round of the season, the Australian Grand Prix. In Melbourne, we will bring the same compounds in terms of nomenclature, as last year, namely the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft, so we will have a first meaningful look at the softer compounds.”
With testing of the 2025 cars now complete, Pirelli stays at the Sakhir track for a further two days of testing on Sunday 2nd and Monday 3rd March. On the agenda, development of the 2026 tyres, working with Alpine and Williams. The French team will run its two test drivers, Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa, while the English squad is giving its race drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz more time on track.
-
Rehan Khan to race Champion of Future Academy karting series
Chennai, 20 February 2025: Rehan Khan, a 11-year-old Chennai school boy, is selected for the prestigious Champion of the Future Academy Programme and will be racing for a full season in Europe and other cities from February to November in 2025.
In its second year, the Champions of the Future Academy Programme offers six rounds during six weekends. The first two days during the Round 1 race week-end are set for the drivers to get acquainted with the material and officials. Later, another five double-header race weekends are scheduled for the season. Four of them will be in Europe and two at Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
With an aim to promote professional kart racing through the arrive-and-drive concept, the Academy programme hosted by RGMMC, travels to high-level circuits in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Qatar and Abu Dhabhi.
As a student at Don Bosco Egmore School, Rehan has already made a mark in Indian motorsports, excelling in his class in the 2024 season.
Rehan’s talent has earned him a place in the globally recognised Champion of the Future Academy Programme, where he will join 36 other karting prodigies from around the world. This opportunity will allow him to further develop his skills and compete in Europe. Rehan demonstrated unwavering consistency in his performances last year.
The Champion of the Future Academy Programme offers young drivers the training and exposure needed to compete at the highest level of motorsport.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all my sponsors for believing in me and supporting my journey. Your trust and encouragement have played a vital role in helping me achieve my dreams, and I promise to continue striving for success both on and off the track,” Rehan said.
As he embarks on this exciting new chapter of his career, Rehan is determined to build on his success in India and continue to raise the bar as he prepares to compete on the European circuit.
2025 Calendar
Round 1: March 27 Feb to 3 March: Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal
Round 2: April 9 to 13: Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero, Valencia, Spain
Round 3: July 2 to 6: Pista Azzurra, Jesolo, Italy
Round 4: Sept. 17 to 21: Pannonia Ring Karting, Ostffyasszonyfa, Hungary
Round 5: Nov. 22 to 26: Lusail Go Karting Circuit, Doha, Qatar
Round 6: Nov. 22 to 26: Al Forsan International Kart Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE
-
Karna-Musa finish 2nd in Thailand Rally Championship; Anushriya wins Ladies title
Bangkok, 9 February 2025: Reigning Indian National Rally champions, Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif added one more feather in their decorated cap, finished second in the Thailand Rally Championship which concluded its final round here on Sunday.
The top Indian duo was invited to drive for the Toyota TCD Asia team formerly known as TRD in their second car – as Driver / Co-driver pair in a Toyota CHR 4WD.
Thailand Rally championship attracts a little over 58 entries and is a 4-round championship bringing drivers from neighbouring countries like Indonesia , Malaysia , Singapore, Vietnam, China , Japan , India and Thai drivers.
Competing against fellow teammate in a Toyota CHR there were other teams and privateers alike running 4wd cars like the Mitsubishi EVO 9 , EVO 7, Subaru Impressa among other custom Honda Civic and Suzuki Swift Sport built from Europe vying for top honours.
Karna and Musa had consistent podium finishes and won the runners up title despite missing a round of the Thai Championship as it coincided with their Indian Rally Championship Round 3. In their first international outing together as a pair, they have managed to win the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC 2024) as well as finish a second in the Thailand Rally Championship.
Anushriya Gulati wins Ladies title at Thiland
Anushriya Gulati, along with co-driver Karan Aukta won the Ladies class and was presented the title by the King of Thailand. She won all the four rounds of the RAAT Rally of Thailand to bag the Ladies title comfortably.
-
MMSC presents awards to 2024 champions
Chennai, January 31: The racing scene in India is set for a major enhancement by way of bigger and more powerful vehicles in the near future, according to Vicky Chandhok, Vice-President, Madras Motor Sports Club.
Speaking during the MMSC Annual Awards ceremony to honour the 2024 National Racing Championship winners here on Friday, Chandhok said: “I cannot go into specifics, but the racing scene should witness infusion of bigger and more powerful machines sometime soon.
“Parallelly, MMSC is working towards making motorsports more affordable and to this end, our karting programme at the Mika International Karting Arena, is the first step in this direction.
“We also thank MRF Tyres, Honda and TVS for their active involvement in our National Championships.”
Chief guest Arun Mammen, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, MRF Ltd., outlined his company’s involvement in motorsports over six decades and a strong presence in various championships globally. He reiterated that MRF would continue to support motorsports in India across various disciplines.
The ceremony marked the conclusion of the 2024 National racing season as awards were presented to the winners at a gala function.
MMSC president Ajit Thomas welcomed the gathering while MMSC treasurer Manoj Dalal proposed a vote of thanks.
The 2024 National Racing Championship winners:
MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship
Pro-Stock 301-400cc: Rider Champion – Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing). Team – TVS Racing. Manufacturer champion – TVS.
Pro-Stock 165cc: Rider – Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing). Team – TVS Racing. Manufacturer – TVS.
Stock 301-400cc (Novice): Rider – Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate). Team – RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate. Manufacturer – Yamaha.
Novice (Stock 165cc): Rider – Abdul Basim RS (Chennai, Rockers Racing). Team – Rockers Racing. Manufacturer – Yamaha.
Girls (Stock 165cc): Rider – Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing. Team – One Racing. Manufacturer – Yamaha.
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (NSF 250 Open): Rider – Mohsin Paramban (Mallapuram).
TVS One-Make Championship Open (Apache RR 310): Rider – Senthil Kumar C (Coimbatore).
TVS OMC Women (Apache RTR 200): Rider – Saimah Ajaz Baig (Pune).
TVS OMC Rookie (Apache RTR 200): Rider – Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru).
TVS OMC Electric RTE: Rider – Sarthak Chavan (Pune).
MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship
MRF Formula 2000: Driver champion – Jaden Rahman Pariat (Shillong).
MRF Formula 1600: Driver – Abhay Mohan (Bengaluru).
Indian Touring Cars: Driver – Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1 Racing). Team – Team N1 Racing.
Indian Junior Touring Cars: Driver – Srinivas Teja (Chennai, Team Performance Racing). Team – Team Performance Racing.
Super Stock: Driver – Justin Singh (Gurugram, Redline Racing India). Team – Redline Racing India.
Formula LGB 1300: Driver – Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing). Team – DTS Racing.
MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios): Driver – Diana Pundole (Pune).
Polo Cup: Driver – Dhruv Chavan (Lonavla).
-
Ashad Pasha becomes 9-time National Champion in Autocross; Pallavi Yadav clinches maiden title
Chennai, January 12: Defending champion Ashad Pasha clocked the fastest time of the finals and also won a triple crown which made him a nine-time National champion in the Fmsci Indian National Autocross Championships. The 2024 editiion, organized by Madras Motor Sports Club concluded at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.
Pasha, the 31-year-old Chikkamagaluru driver, who is based in Muscat, added three more National titles to his kitty. Ashad Pasha clocked 4min 05.41sec in the premier INAC1 Open Class C finals and later clinched the Class B titles. However, his win in Class C though is awaiting ratification following a protest. He won three titles in 2023 and three in 2022.
In INAC3 stock classes, Amey Desai (Mapusa, Goa), and Kushal Chaudhari (Kolkata) won two titles each. While Desai bagged National titles in the Class A and Class C, Chadhari took Class B and Class E honours.
Pallavi Shamrao Yadav, 43, from Kolhapur, an oil and gas engineer on crude oil drilling rig sites, she bagged her maiden National title winning the Ladies class. Last year, she qualified from the West Zone at Goa but could not attend the finals. She is supported by Vamcy Merla of VM Sports Foundation, A & A Motorsports of wife-and-husband pair Aneeshnath and Amitha Aneesh, who won the Classic title in INRC2024, while the hardworking team at Sprint Motorsports, tuned her car and pushed her to the limits.
Raunak Jana won INAC2 Class E while Nameer Pasha clinched the Amateur Class title. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor of Hyderabad claimed the 4WD Open crown
Caption: Pallavi Yadav’s file photo
The results (Provisional – best laps):
INAC1 Open Class B: 1. Kiran Reddy (Bengaluru) (04mins, 17.28sec).
INAC1 Open Class C: 1. Ashad Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (04:05.41); 2. Amandeep Singh (Delhi) (04:19.83); 3. Ashish Gupta (Chennai) (05:01.35).
INAC2 Class B: 1. Ashad Pasha (04:08.93).
INAC2 Class C: 1. Ashad Pasha (04:07.932); 2. Sunny Sharma (Faridabad) (04.14.89); 3. Raunak Jana (Kolkata) (04:16.62). Result is provisional pending decision on a protest.
INAC2 Class E: 1. Raunak Jana (04:12.66); 2. Karan Chaudhary (Kolkata) (04:13.34); 3. Nameer Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (04:17.83).
INAC3 Stock Class A: 1. Amey Desai (Mapusa, Goa) (04:43.59); 2. Kartik Konchady (Mumbai) (04:43.63); 3. Karan Panikar (Navi Mumbai) (05:00.65).
INAC3 Stock Class B: 1. Kushal Chaudhari (New Panvel) (04:35.76).
INAC3 Stock Class C: 1. Amey Desai (04:32.18); 2. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (Hyderabad) (04:44.63); 3. Pallavi Shamrao Yadav (05:50.75).
INAC3 Stock Class E: 1. Kushal Chaudhari (04:28.56); 2. Areeb Rahman (Kolkata) (04:31.43); 3. Nilanjan Banerjee (Kolkata) (04:42.11).
Ladies Open: 1. Pallavi Shamrao Yadav (Kolhapur) (05:57.36).
4WD Open: 1. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (04:22.83); 2. Raunak Jana (04:31.32).
Amateur: 1. Nameer Pasha (04:30.95); 2. Ashish Gupta (05:48.66).
-
Ashad Pasha dominates INAC South Zone qualifier; Pallavi Yadav tops Ladies class
Chennai, 11 January 2025: Six time National Autocross champion, Ashad Pasha of Chikkamagaluru, a last-minute entrant, clocked the fastest time, besides winning a triple crown in the South Zone qualifier of the Fmsci Indian National Autocross Championship 2024, at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.+
The Muscat-based driver, won three titles in different classes in 2022 fmsci Nationals and added two more last year, for which the Awards are yet to be distributed by the federation.
The 31-year-old reigning National champion in three different INAC classes, Pasha flew in to support his brother, but with a car available, he took part, and he did it in style by clocking the fastest time of the day of two minutes, 28.615 seconds over the 2.4-Kms circuit which was a mix of dirt and tarmac. The event was conducted by the Madras Motor Sports Club.
Kolhapur’s Pallavi Yadav, topped the Ladies class as she clocked 03:30.081 as against second-placed Reshma Inchalkar (Goa) (03:44.312).
“I am from Chikkamagaluru but based in Muscat and flew in here to support my brother. But since a vehicle was available, I was persuaded to drive and so it was a last-minute decision to drive,” said Ashad who participated in three categories and topped them all.
The qualifiers from South Zone will participate in the final round of the Championship to be run at the same venue on Sunday. They will be joined by toppers from North and East Zone qualifiers.
Pallavi Yadav of Kolhapur in action. She drove all the way from Kolhapur to Chennai via Bengaluru for 16 hours and won the South Zone, in her class without any rest.
Provisional results:
INAC1 Class B: 1. Kiran Reddy (Bengaluru) (02:39.825).
INAC1 Class C: 1. Ashad Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (02:28.615); 2. Amandeep Singh (Delhi) (02:57.160); 3. Ashish Gupta (03:08.219).
INAC2 Class B: 1. Ashad Pasha (02:35.871); 2. Kartik Konchady (Mumbai) (02:50.345).
INAC2 Class C: 1. Arshad Pasha (02:29.400); 2. Areeb Rahman (Kolkata) (02:41.547); 3. Saneesh Sharma (02:43.353).
INAC2 Class E: 1. Nameer Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (02:36.185); 2. Areeb Rahman (02:37.118); 3. Saneesh Sharma (02:41.330).
INAC3 Stock Class A: 1. Amey Desai (Mapusa) (02:52.865); 2. Kartik Konchady (02:55.585); 3. Karan Panikar (Navi Mumbai) (02:56.968).
INAC3 Stock Class B: 1. Kushal Chaudhari (New Panvel) (02:51.735); 2. Althaf Hussain (Kolhapur) (03:14.388).
INAC3 Stock Class C: 1. Kartik Konchady (02:41.524); 2. Amey Desai (02:49.772); 3. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (Hyderabad) (03:01.017).
INAC3 Stock Class E: 1. Karan Chaudhary (Kolkata) (02:39.694); 2. Amey Desai (02:46.588); 3. Kushal Chaudhari (02:55.132).
Ladies Open: 1. Pallavi Yadav (Kolhapur) (03:30.081); 2. Reshma Inchalkar (Goa) (03:44.312).
4WD Open: 1. Raunak Jana (Kolkata) (02:44.311); 2. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (02:50.769).
Amateur: 1. Nameer Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (02min, 35.441sec); 2. Ashish Gupta (Chennai) (03:45.346).
