INDIA in F1

Category: Non-F1

  • Patodia, Rangasamy take pole: MRF Racing Nationals

    Chennai, 18 Aug 2017: Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) set a hot pace to grab overall pole position in the saloon cars category at the MMRT track here on Friday as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship commenced with qualifying and practice sessions.

    Rangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram near here, topped in the Esteem class, while Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) was the quickest in the Super Stock Category and Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1 Racing) from Mumbai topped the Indian Junior Touring Cars.

    Aanjan Patodia of Momentum Sports grabbed the pole position in the Formula LGB 1300 category, in both Open and Rookie classes while Mumbai’s Saurav Bhandopadhyay was the fastest in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup qualifying session.

    Earlier, Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy (58.149secs) warmed up nicely by being the quickest during practice session in the marquee MRF FF1600 category ahead of Kolkata schoolboy Arya Singh (58.643), ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session.

    In the premier Indian Touring Cars class practice session, Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) from Bengaluru clocked a best lap of 01:06.121, upstaging championship leader Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) who did 01:06.501, ahead of defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance, 01:06.866). The qualifying round will be run on Saturday.

    The start of the day’s proceedings were delayed due to water puddles in some sections of the track following heavy overnight rains, forcing the organizers, with the consent of the competitors, to use the “short loop” (2.1Kms) instead of the regular full configuration.

    The results (Qualifying – provisional):

    Formula LGB 1300 (Open): 1. Aanjan Patodia (Momentum Sports) (01min, 04.675secs); 2. Yash Aradhya (Momentum Sports) (01:04.870); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Wallace Sports) (01:05.448). Rookie: 1. Patodia; 2. Aradhya; 3. Bala Prasath (DTS Racing) (01:05.238).

    Saloon cars – Esteem: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (01:09.472); 2. Narendran (RAD Racing) (01:09.789); 3. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (01:10.013). Super Stock: 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (01:10.475); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Quickshift Racing) (01:11.174); 3. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (01:11.736).  Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (01:12.418); 2. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (01:13.917); 3. Prabhu AS (Red Rooster Performance) (01:14.586).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup: 1. Saurav Bhandopadhyay (Mumbai) (01:06.377); 2. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (01:06.457); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (01:06.680).

    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.

    eom/AP Media Communications press release

  • Mathana takes maiden win; Jagan crashes in the last lap, recovers

    Chennai, 6 Aug 2017: Mathana Kumar of Honda Ten10 Racing finally emerged from the shadows of his peers while chalking up his maiden win of the season in the premier Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT track here on Sunday.

    Mathana, 25-year old from Trichy, with three second-place finishes in five outings this season, came good in Race-2 and the 25 points he garnered took him 91 points, just 14 behind team-mate Rajiv Sethu even as defending champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) squandered a double by crashing on the last lap.

    Aravind Balakrishnan, also of Honda Ten10 Racing, dominated the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) class by completing a fine double which took him to the top of the leaderboard while Gusto Racing’s Amarnath Menon from Kozhikode scored his fifth win in six outings in the Super Sport Indian (300-400cc) class.

    Anup Kumar M of RACR team took the honours in the highly-competitive Novice (Stock up to 165cc) race in a near-photo finish ahead of Sparks Racing duo of Satyanarayana Raju (Sparks Racing) and Sri Rahil Pillarishetty.

    The Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) race was one of fluctuating fortunes. Jagan, winner of the first race on Saturday, initially led a tightly-packed bunch of five riders that also included Sethu, Mathana, and TVS Racing mates KY Ahamed and Sylvester.

    Jagan looked good for another win until a problem with his bike saw him drop down the grid and later crashed on the last lap, but picked himself up to finish fifth. By then, Mathana had moved to the front with Sylvester in hot pursuit. Sethu survived a contact with Ahamed who fell and retired, to come in third.

    “I am very happy to score my first win of this season. I have had issues with the bike, but I was determined to win today. I kept myself in the front-running bunch and then passed Jagan, Rajiv and Ahamed, and then led all the way to the finish,” said Mathana.

    The Super Sport Indian 300-400cc race was as dramatic with front-runner Dinesh Kumar (Team Alisha Abdullah) went into a water puddle at Turn-1 and crashed. It allowed Menon to move ahead along with Anthony Peter. The pair traded positions once before Menon took a decisive lead on the last lap and win a close race.

    “I had a bad start, but I managed to stay with Dinesh until he crashed at Turn-1. Thereafter, it was a close fight with Anthony Peter who overtook me once, but I regained my track position. It was very tight when we crossed the finish line. It is a huge relief for me after having crashed during practice, qualifying and the first race yesterday. So, I was keen to bring the bike home safely and glad that I did it,” said Menon.

    The results (Provisional):

    Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) Race 2, 9 laps: 1: Mathana Kumar (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (18:06.287); 2. Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) (18:06.744); 3. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (18:15.142).

    Super Sport Indian (300-400cc) 9 laps: 1. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) (17:51.839); 2, Antony Peter (Kingdom Motorsports) (17:51.945); 3. Deepak Ravi Kumar (Moto-Rev) (17:52.117).

    Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) Race 2, 9 laps: 1. Aravind Balakrishnan (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (18:56.859); 2. Aravind Ganesh (pvt.) (19:04.364); 3. Naresh Babu (RACR) (19:08.598).

    Stock (up to 165cc) Novice  – Final (6 laps): 1: Anup Kumar M (RACR) (13:15.938); 2. Satyanarayana Raju (Sparks Racing) (13:15.940); 3. Sri Rahil Pillarishetty (Sparks Racing) (13:16.195).

    One-Make Championship – Honda CBR250 (Open) Race 1, 6 laps: 1: Harikrishnan Rajagopal (Honda Ten 10Racing) (12: 27.667); 2. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten 10Racing) (12: 27.808); 3. Abhishek Vasudev (pvt.) (12:28.253). Race 2 (9 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (18:37.642); 2. Harikrishnan Rajagopal (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (18:37.738); 3. Amit Richard Topno (Pro Lap Racing) (18:38.064).

    CBR 150 (Novice) Race 2, 6 laps: 1. Satyanarayana Raju (Hyderabad) (13:27.240); 2. Vysakh Sobhan (Kerala) (13:27.560); 3. Amala Jerald A (Chennai) (13:28.413).

    TVS Apache RTR200 (Open) Race 2, 6 laps: 1: Sivanesan S (Chennai) (13:13.935); 2. Kannan Karnan (Chennai) (13:14.000); 3. Yuvaraj S (Chennai) (13:14.020). Novice (Race 2, 6 laps): 1. Anup Kumar M (Chennai) (13:19.447); 2. Romario J (Chennai) (13:23.279); 3. Shankar Guru A (Chennai) (13:24.762).

    eom/AP Media Communications release

  • Jagan back in contention in upto 165cc Super Sport Indian class

    Chennai, 5 Aug 2017: Defending champion Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing put in a command performance to score a crucial win in the third round of the MRF MMSC Fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT track, here on Saturday and moved up two spots to third on the leaderboard.

    A very relieved Jagan Kumar (62 points) though had to fight hard for only his second win of the season that put him behind the front-running Honda Ten10 riders leader Rajiv Sethu (90) who barely nursed his bike to third-place finish and Mathana Kumar (66) in the championship stakes after a race that was cut to a four-lap sprint following a red-flag stoppage due to an oil spill on the start-finish straight and was re-started.

    Jagan, starting from pole position, slipped to third due to a poor start as Sethu and Mathana Kumar passed him on the very first lap. However, the red flag stoppage provided Jagan a second chance while Sethu’s bike bled speed and Mathana retired due to an electrical problem. It set Jagan free and he was followed home by team-mate Harry Sylvester and Sethu.

    “I am very relieved that I won today, though I was not happy with my pace. In Friday’s practice, I did 1:57 (one minute, 57 seconds) lap and today, I was two second off that lap pace. I had some issues with the bike, but I think I will not tinker with it for tomorrow’s second race,” said Jagan.

    Also scoring an impressive win was Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay (Apex Racing) in the Girls (Stock up to 165cc) category to further consolidate her position at the top of the leaderboard with 65 points.

    The race witnessed a bit of elbowing among riders at the front before Aishwarya overcame a poor start to clinch a dominating win to move to 65 points, ahead of Indore’s Kalyani Potekar (51) who was docked 10 seconds penalty for causing collision that took out Alisha Abdullah on the start straight and was placed third behind local girl Shruthi Nagarajan (Honda Ten10 Racing).

    Aravind Balakrishnan, courtesy a fine victory in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) category, caught up with leader and his Honda Ten10 Racing team-mate Mithun Kumar who finished a distant fifth. Both are on 83 points with the second race of the round to be run on Sunday.

    In the Super Sport Indian 300-400cc class, Kozhikode’s Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) saw his four-win streak ending in a cloud of dust as he crashed on the last lap during hot chase of Chennai’s Dinesh Kumar of the newly-formed Team Alisha Abdullah. Despite the non-finish, Menon is still comfortably placed at the top with 100 points, well clear of other contenders Deepak Ravikumar (51, Moto-Rev) and Vivek Pillai (75, Rockers Racing) who finished second and third respectively.

    The results (Provisional):

    Super Sport Indian  (Up to 165cc) 4 laps: 1. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (08mins, 06.210secs); 2.Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) (08:06.370); 3. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:12.951).

    Super Sport Indian (300-400cc) 6 laps: 1. Dinesh Kumar D (Team Alisha Abdullah) (11:48.208); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Moto-Rev) (11:55.445); 3. Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) (12:08.044).

    Pro-Stock (Up to 165cc) 4 laps: 1. Aravind Balakrishnan (Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:30.837); 2. Naresh Babu (RACR) (08:32.463); 3. Aravind Ganesh (Chennai) (08:39.352).

    Girls – Stock up to 165cc (5 laps): 1. Aishwarya Pissay (Apex Racing Academy) (11:18.287); 2. Shruthi Nagarajan (Rockers Racing) (11:29.306); 3. Kalyani Potekar (Team Speed Up Racing) (11:37.258).

    One-Make Championship – Honda CBR 150 (Novice) 5 laps: 1. Satyanarayana Raju (Hyderabad) (11:08.098); 2. Balaji G (Chennai) (11:22.842); 3. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) (11:23.098).

    TVS Apache RTR200 (Open) 6 laps: 1. Kannan Karnan (Chennai) (13:16.480); 2. Sivanesan S (Chennai) (13:16.578); 3. Yuvaraj S (Chennai) (13:17.312). Novice (6 laps): 1. Romario J (Chennai) (13:23.636); 2. Anup Kumar M (Chennai) (13:23.803); 3. Shankar Guru J (Chennai) (13:30.885).

    Support races (Girls) – Honda (5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee A (Chennai) (11:26.214); 2. Kalyani Potekar (Indore) (11:41.677); 3. Shruthi Nagarajan (Chennai) (11:41.767).

    TVS (3 laps): 1. Aishwarya Pissay (Bengaluru) (06:52.318); 2. Ann Jennifer (Chennai) (07:02.739); 3. Priyamvada Saradhi (Bengaluru) (07:15.431).

    eom/AP Media Communications release

  • Jagan, Aishwarya on pole: MRF, MMSC, FMSCI Motorcycle Nationals

    Jagan, Aishwarya on pole: MRF, MMSC, FMSCI Motorcycle Nationals

    Aishwarya Pissay takes pole position in Girls (up to165cc) category on Friday. 4Aug2017 AP Media image

    Chennai, 4 Aug 2017: Defending champion Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing, who has not had the best of starts this season, warmed up nicely for the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship by roaring to pole position in the premier Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class at the MMRT track, here on Friday.

    Jagan Kumar, currently lying fifth on the leaderboard, clocked an impressive one minute, 59.356 seconds, just ahead of championship leader Rajiv Sethu of Honda Ten10 Racing (01:59.912) while Harry Sylvester, also from TVS Racing, was the third fastest (02:00.242) before retiring with a mechanical problem.

    In the Girls (Stock, up to 165cc) class, Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay of Apex Racing, who is looking to consolidate her position at the top, grabbed pole position, clocking 02:13.561, well clear of Alisha Abdullah (Team Alisha Abdullah) whose best was a 02:16.025 with fellow-Chennaiite Shruthi Nagarajan (Rocker Racing) in third spot at 02:16.516.

    Honda Ten10 Racing team riders dominated the qualifying session in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) category as Aravind Balakrishnan (02:04.556) and championship leader Mithun Kumar (02:04.955) occupied the top two spots on the grid ahead of S Sivanesan (Team Alisha Abdullah).

    Dinesh Kumar (Team Alisha Abdullah) was the quickest in the Super Sport Indian 300-400cc category pipping leader Amarnath Menon to pole position while Deepak Ravikumar (Moto-Rev) was third.

    After two heats in the Stock Up to 165cc (Novice) category, Hari Prasath (Chennai), Syed Nawas (Vandavasi) and Satyanarayana Raju (Hyderabad, Sparks Racing) topped the time sheets ahead of the points-scoring final race to be run on Sunday.

    Pole positions in the One-Make Championship – Honda CBR 250 (Open): Kishoare VS (Apex Racing); Honda CBR 150 (Novice): Satyanarayana Raju (Hyderabad). TVS Apache RTR (Open): Yashas RL (Bengaluru). Novice: Anup Kumar M (Chennai).

    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 2017. 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.

    eom/AP Media Communications release

  • Bikers raring to go ahead of Round 3: MRF MMSC FMSCI bike Nationals

    Bikers raring to go ahead of Round 3: MRF MMSC FMSCI bike Nationals

    Chennai, 3 August 2017: The battle lines will be drawn afresh this weekend when the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2017 commences on Friday at the MMRT track in Sriperumbudur, near here with hectic jostling for leaderboard positions in all the categories.

    File photo of bikers in action at the FMSCI national. Image by Anand Philar

    As many as 19 races are scheduled to be run over three days after Thursday’s practice sessions besides the second round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Drag Racing Championship which will be held on Saturday (practice) and Sunday evening (final runs).

    The spotlight will be yet again on the intense rivalry between Honda Ten10 Racing and TVS Racing riders in the showpiece Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class while the path-breaking National championship for girls (Stock, up to 165cc), an MMSC initiative and introduced this season, has thrown up its share of exciting competition with Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay (40 points) of Apex Racing heading the leaderboard from Team Speed Up Racing riders Kalyani Potekar (36) from Madhya Pradesh and Chennai’s Ryhana Bee (35).

    Likewise, the Stock (up to 165cc) class for Novice riders has proved to be a resounding success with 50-plus entries requiring two preliminary heats to decide the grid for the point-scoring final race.

    In the other two categories of National championship, 21-year old Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) from Kozhikode has dominated the Super Sport Indian 300-400cc class winning all four races so far while Mithun Kumar of Honda Ten10 Racing is comfortably perched at the top in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) following three wins in four outings.

    Country’s top two-wheeler manufacturers Honda and TVS have also weighed in with their highly competitive One-Make Championship in the Open and Novice categories besides support races exclusively for girls who are thus guaranteed plenty of track time over the weekend.

    In the two rounds of the National Championship thus far, 18-year old Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) from Chennai has caused a big buzz with his dominating performances marked by three wins which put him ahead in the Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class with 75 points, just ahead of team-mate Mathana Kumar (66), and will be looking to consolidate his position.

    Defending champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) has not had the best of starts this season with just one win and 37 points to show for his efforts to be placed fifth behind team-mates KY Ahamed (45) and Harry Sylvester (39).

    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 2017. 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.

    eom/AP Media Communications release

  • Gill-Musa bag Rally of Coimbatore to begin the season with a win

    Coimbatore, 31 July 2017: Team Mahindra Adventure’s Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif began with a bang, winning the MRF Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the MRF-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) at the windmill farms of Kethanur, near here, on Sunday. Gill clocked 1hour 36.0 seconds to finish the 70-km Special Stage distance of five stages.

    The King of Indian motorsports, along with co-driver Musa Sherif, took a comfortable lead from the very first special Stage and slowly improved it to chalk out a convincing win. The double Asia Pacific Rally Champion made amends to his run at the Southern Indian city last year which was troubled by mechanical problems, but today he made up for the loss with a good win to take a lead in the Championship race.

    Reigning champions Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil V Pai followed Gill and Musa in second place with a difference of 1min 45sec and last year’s winner Amittrajit Ghosh and navigator Ashwin Naik could only finish third. The Kolkota driver looked rusted and the seven-month gap from driving showed on his performance. “The long gap took its toll and it is difficult coming back from such a break,” he said. On the contrary, his Mahindra Adventure teammate Gill was happy with the show. `I have not got into the SUV for almost a year but I am happy with the result,” he quipped.

    Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Shruptha Padival won the INRC 3 category with Dr Bikku Babu and Milen George in second and KM Bopaiah, along with co-driver Karumbaiah G finishing third.

    Vikram Rao Aroor and Somayya AG had a bad crash while Arjun Rao Aroor along with Satish Rajagopal had a DNF making it five teams who failed to finish.

    “Perhaps for the firs time, the official rally release did not have the timings,” said a veteran motorsports journalist.

    Results: INRC 2017 Round 1 – Coimbatore

    INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure); 2. Karna Kadur & Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure).

    INRC 2: 1. Karna Kadur & Nikhil Pai (Red Rooster Performance); 2. Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Bhatt (Red Rooster Performance); 3. Younus Ilyas & Harish Kumar.

    INRC 3: 1. Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival; 2. Dr Biku Babu & Milen George; 3. KM Bopaiah & Karumbaiah G.

  • Arjun Maini finishes 9th: GP3

    Hungaroring, 29 July 2017: Giuliano Alesi has backed up his Silverstone Race 2 victory with a lights to flag win in this morning’s GP3 Series Race 2 at the Hungaroring, taking the lead at turn 1 and controlling the pace all the way to the flag to lead Trident’s first 1-2-3-4 ahead of Ryan Tveter, Kevin Jörg and Dorian Bocolacci. The only Indian driver Arjun Maini finished 9th.

    The race got underway with gloriously sunny conditions, and when the lights went out polesitter Tveter made a good getaway and pushed across the track to cover teammate Jörg: unfortunately the American ran too deep at turn 1 to cover the Swiss driver, handing the inside line to Alesi who shot through and into the lead ahead of the pair and Boccolacci as they headed down to turn 2.
    Further back Nirei Fukuzumi spun at turn 3 and Leonardo Pulcini ran deep at turn 4, forcing both men to return to the pits, but up ahead Alessio Lorandi was determined to ruin the Trident party and overtook Boccolacci at the final turn before tearing off after the leading trio. But the pace at the front was to prove too much for him: the Italian ran wide over the huge kerbs at turn 11 on lap 7 before stopping with a puncture a few corners later.
    Nevertheless the pressure remained on Boccolacci from behind as a train of drivers formed in his mirrors, only briefly delayed by a VSC to remove Bruno Baptista’s halted car from turn 6 two laps later, with George Russell capitalising on a strong race to date and a sharp restart to mug Raoul Hyman for P9. The train started to lose carriages when yesterday’s winner Jack Aitken pushed through at turn 4 before jumping the kerbs and coming back, only to also retire with a puncture on the next lap.
    Another VSC period slowed the race on lap 14, the result of yet another puncture, this time for Julien Falchero, with Russell taking the opportunity to pit for fresh rubber. But with the laps running down Alesi controlled his pace to lead Tveter to the flag but just 0.6 seconds, with Jörg 2 seconds back for his first podium and Boccolacci a similar margin behind to round out the all Trident top 4. Anthoine Hubert was unable to spoil the party and finished in P5, just ahead of Niko Kari, with Hyman making up for yesterday’s disappointments with a strong race to 7th, just ahead of Campos teammate Marcos Siebert.
    Despite the lack of points today Russell (92 points) maintained his lead in the drivers’ championship ahead of ART teammates Aitken (83), Hubert (78) and Fukuzumi (72), with Alesi’s win allowing him to sneak past Lorandi by 66 points to 63, while in the teams’ championship ART remains aloof from their rivals, leading Trident by 311 points to 152, with Jenzer in third on 99 points as they head into the summer break ahead of the next round at Spa-Francorchamps.
    Provisional Race 2 Classification
    Driver
    Team
     
     
    1.
    Giuliano Alesi
    Trident
     
     
    2.
    Ryan Tveter
    Trident
     
     
    3.
    Kevin Jörg
    Trident
     
     
    4.
    Dorian Boccolacci
    Trident
     
     
    5.
    Anthoine Hubert
    ART Grand Prix
     
     
    6.
    Niko Kari
    Arden International
     
     
    7.
    Raoul Hyman
    Campos Racing
     
     
    8.
    Marcos Siebert
    Campos Racing
     
     
    9.
    Arjun Maini
    Jenzer Motorsport
     
     
    10.
    Leonardo Pulcini
    Arden International
     
     
    11.
    Matthieu Vaxivière
    DAMS
     
     
    12.
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
     
     
    13.
    Tatiana Calderon
    DAMS
     
     
     
     
    Not Classified
     
     
    Julien Falchero
    Campos Racing
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix
    Bruno Baptista
    DAMS
    Alessio Lorandi
    Jenzer Motorsport
    Steijn Schothorst
    Arden International
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    ART Grand Prix
    Fastest Lap
    George Russell
     1:33.715 on lap 16
  • Arjun Narendran ends Deepak’s win-streak: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    Arjun Narendran ends Deepak’s win-streak: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    • Sandeep Kumar, winner of MRF FF1600 Race-2 on Sunday (23July 2017). An AP Media Comm. image

      Anindith, Sandeep share honours in MRF FF1600

    • Maiden win for Bengaluru schoolboy Yash Aradhya

    Chennai, 23 July 2017: Anindith Reddy from Hyderabad and Coimbatore’s Arjun Narendran provided a thrilling finale to the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near here, even as 14-year old schoolboy from Bengaluru Yash Aradhya chalked up his maiden win.

    Reddy finished the weekend on a high by chalking up his second win in the MRF FF1600 triple-header with Chennai’s Sandeep Kumar denying the Hyderabad racer a hat-trick, while Coimbatore-based Narendran (Red Rooster Performance), the defending champion in the premier Indian Touring Cars class, scored his first victory this season, to end the four-in-a-row win-streak of Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts).

    Earlier, Yash (Momentum Motorsports), a ninth standard student of Bishop Cotton’s school, drove a well-judged race to claim top honours in both Formula LGB 1300 and the Rookie categories which also produced its share of tight finishes.

    Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite, starting third on the grid, drove a near-flawless race for his first win in the MRF MMSC Volkswagen Ameo Cup race ahead of Karminder Singh (Delhi) and South African guest driver Devin Robertson.

    Both the MRF FF1600 races today dished out exciting fare. Sandeep Kumar shrugged off a bad start owing to wheelspin and recovered well to take a jump on the front-runners Chetan Korada and winner of lung-opener on Saturday Reddy, in the very first lap before nursing the lead to the finish.

    In the next race, the third of the weekend in this class, it was Reddy’s turn to fight his way through the pack and survive a spin after coming into contact with race leader Korada who thus dropped out of contention while Sandeep Kumar came in second with Kolkata schoolboy Arya Singh finishing third.

    “It was a good weekend overall, but it wasn’t clear-cut as the results would suggest. I am happy to come away with two wins and a podium,” said Anindith who has four wins in seven outings which put him firmly in front in the championship the winner of which earns a chance to compete in the Road To Indy shootout in the United States later this year.

    Likewise, both the ITC races, especially the duel between Narendran and Chinnappa were as close as they could get with little separating the two. In the day’s first race, Chinnappa, starting third on the reverse grid, had the measure of Narendran for his fourth win in a row. However, in the next race, pole-sitter Narendran enjoyed his best outing of the weekend to pip Chinnappa by a mere half-a-car length in a thrilling finish.

    “Yes, I am absolutely relieved to score my first win in nearly a year. My last win was in August of 2016 and hopefully, this victory will turn my luck over the next couple of rounds. I had a tough time staying ahead of Deepak. We were quicker than each other in different sections of the track, but in the end, I am happy that scored my first win of this season,” said Narendran who is currently studying in England.

    The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF FF1600 – Race 2: 1. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (13mins, 47.962secs); 2. Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (13:48.564); 3. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (13:55.975). Race 3: 1. Anindith Reddy (14:00.875); 2. Sandeep Kumar (14:02.022); 3. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (14:05.415).

    Indian Touring Cars – Race 2: 1. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (15:37.529); 2. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (15:38.209); V Nikanthram (Red Rooster Performance) (16:14.611). Race 3: 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (15:34.638); 2. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (15:34.769); 3. B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) (16:07.988).

    Formula LGB 1300 – Race 2: 1. Yash Aradhya (Bengaluru, Momentum) (15:17.864); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata, DTS Racing) (15:18.316); 3. Rupesh Sivakumar (Salem, DTS Racing) (15:31.142). Rookie: 1. Yash Aradhya; 2. Arya Singh; 3. Bala Prasath A (Coimbatore, DTS) (15:46.420).

    MRF MMSC Volkswagen Ameo Cup – Race 2: 1. Dhruv Mohite (Kolhapur) (15:53.219); 2. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (15:59.667); 3. Devin Robertson (Johannesburg, South Africa) (16:01.045).

    eom/AP Media Comm. press release

  • Rana-Ashwin win cars class; Natraj claims bikes event: Dakshin Dare

    Rana-Ashwin win cars class; Natraj claims bikes event: Dakshin Dare

    Pune, 23 July 2017: Defending champion Suresh Rana of Manali and co-driver Ashwin Naik of Mangaluru won another Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare title, as Rana added another feather to his 10 Raid de Himalaya titles, at the cross-country event which concluded here on Saturday.

    Samrat Yadav and SN Nizami came second followed by Sandeep Sharma and Karan Arya.

    TVS Racing dominated the two-wheeler section, with R Natraj heading the TVS campaign followed by Abdul Waheed Tanveer in second. Sanjay Kumar came third.

    Kolkata’s Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta pair won the Endurance Cars TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) event followed by Karthick Maruthi and Sankar S Anand from Erode.

    TVS’ star rider and Desert Storm winner, Natraj won the Group A and also the overall category astride an RTR 450FX, beating teammate Abdul Waheed Tanveer in Group A.

    Rajendra RE came out triumphant in the Group B upto 260cc class on his TVS Apache RTR 200 and Aishwarya Pissay too was in the same category bike winning the women’s section, also on an RTR 200. Scooter specialist and two-time Gulf Monsoon Challenge winner Syed Asif Ali claimed the scooter’s category on a TVS SXR150.

    Final Results:
    Extreme category: 1. Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik 10 hours 11 minutes 26 seconds; 2. Samrat Yadav and SN Nizami 10:14:52; 3. Sandeep Sharma and Karan Arya 10:24:17.
    Ultimate Bikes: 1. R Natraj 6:12:38; 2. Abdul Waheed Tanveer 6:15:37; 3. Sanjay Kumar 6:26:53.
    Endurance Cars (TSD): 1. Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta 12 minutes 20 seconds (penalty); 2. Karthick Maruthi and Sankar S Anand 12:45; 3. Raghu Nandan and Prakash M 12:49.

  • Deepak Paul Chinnappa tops Indian Touring Cars race: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    Deepak Paul Chinnappa tops Indian Touring Cars race: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    Deepak Paul Chinnappa (No.39), winner of Indian Touring Cars race at Chennai on Saturday. An AP Media Comm. image

    Chennai, 22 July 2017: Anindith Reddy from Hyderabad kept his wits about him after a bad start to post a fine win the MRF FF1600 race as did Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) who scripted his third consecutive victory in the premier Indian Touring Cars class in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near here on Saturday.

    While Reddy made the best of the opportunities that came his way to move from third to first, Chinnappa, after easing past pole-sitter and defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance), maintained a consistent pace for a well-deserved win.

    Also tasting victories on the day were AS Prabhu (Red Rooster Performance) in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class, team-mate Sudanand Rajan (Esteem Cup) and Deepak Ravi Kumar of Quickshift Racing in the Super Stock category after original winner Varun Anekar was docked 30-second penalty for “dangerous driving”.

    Rookies dominated the Formula LGB 1300 class race with Kolkata schoolboy Arya Singh (DTS Racing) finishing ahead of Momentum Motorsport team-mates Pune’s Aanjan Patodia and Yash Aradhya from Bengaluru. Arya, only 16, had won the Student Cup on Friday.

    South African guest driver, Devin Robertson drove a near-flawless race to win the MRF MMSC Volkswagen Ameo Cup race comfortably ahead of Delhi’s Karminder Singh and A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai). Robertson enjoyed an untroubled outing leaving the rest to battle for minor positions.

    Reddy, after slipping to third at the start of the eight-lap race, managed to fight his way back into the lead after front-runner Raghul Ramaswamy was docked a drive-through penalty for jump start and Chetan Korada ran wide. Reddy then hung on to the slender lead to win from Chennai lads Korada and Sandeep Kumar.

    “It was a tough race. I had a bad getaway and lost two places behind Raghul and Chetan. However, in the very lap itself, Chetan made a mistake going into the back “D” and it allowed me to move up one spot. In the next lap, Raghul went in for a drive-through penalty for jump start and I broke clear.

    “Thereafter, I concentrated on keeping my track position and only once Chetan came close which was when I set my fastest lap. I am happy that it all came together today and it should be fun in the next race on Sunday with the reverse grid start,” said Anindith after chalking up his third win in five outings in the championship whose winner at the end of the season earns a right to participate in the Road To Indy shootout in the United States.

    Chinnappa had a great start and eased into the lead by Turn-1 and then drove extremely well to keep Narendran at bay. The duo was separated by mere inches most of the eight laps while pulling away from the field. Chinnappa, while clocking the fastest lap (01:54.228) of the race defended his line very capably to prevent Narendran from passing him.

    Behind the front-runners, Ashish Ramaswamy fought and beat his team-mate Nikanth Ram to third place.

    “I had a good start and passed Arjun going into Turn-1. Thereafter, it was a pretty close race. We both had some advantages in some of the sections. I had some issues with the car with handling and understeer, , but I am happy that I was able to defend my track position,” said Deepak Paul.

    Arjun Narendran conceded that he lost to a quicker driver. “At the start, I had wheel-spin and he passed me. I stayed with him through the eight laps, but was not able to find a way past him. I too had some issues with the understeer.”

    The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF FF1600 (Race-1): 1. Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (13mins, 51.925secs); 2. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (13:52.904); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (13:53.497).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (15:42.078); 2. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (15:42.599); 3. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) (16:05.018).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 7 laps): 1. Prabhu AS (Red Rooster Performance) (15:57.245); 2. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (16:04.112); 3. Arjun M Zaveri (Team Game Over) (16:44.437).

    Super Stock (Race-2, 7 laps): 1. Deepak Ravi Kumar (Quickshift Racing) (15:34.021); Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (15:53.594); 3. Swajit Achrekar (Team N1) (15:55.816).

    Esteem Cup (Race-2, 7 laps): 1. Sudanand Rajan (Red Rooster Performance) (15:13.237); 2. Charan Chandran (Red Rooster Performance) (15:14.695); 3. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (15:15.014).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1): 1. Arya Singh (Kolkata,  DTS Racing) (18:56.746); 2. Aanjan Patodia (Pune, Momentum) (18:57.218); 3.Yash Aradhya (Bengaluru, Momentum) (18:57.516).  Rookie Cup: 1. Arya Singh; 2. Aanjan Patodia; 3. Yash Aradhya.

    MRF MMSC Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race-1): 1. Devin Robertson (South Africa) (15:39.262); 2. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (15:50.095); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (15:56.471).

    eom/AP Media Comm press release