INDIA in F1

Category: Non-F1

  • MRF MMSC Motorcycle Racing 3rd round begins

    Chennai, 1 Sept 2016: The heat is on as the competition intensifies with nearly 200 entries in fray, including several international riders, and 22 races scheduled for the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship which gets underway at the MMRT track in Sriperumbudur, near here on Friday

    The weekend fare includes races in the three main classes of the National Championship – the Super Sport Indian (165cc and 300-400cc), Pro-Stock 165 and Stock 165 – besides the MMSC One Make Championships for the three major manufacturers Honda (CBR 150 and 250), TVS (Apache RTR 200) and Suzuki Gixxer Cup.

    The programme also showcases two support races in the Superbike (600-1000cc) category and two Ladies races by Honda and Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy.

    Much of the focus this weekend will be on the top-end Super Sport Indian class that has a combined grid of 300-400cc and up to 165cc bikes piloted by established riders, some of them like TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar, Sarath Kumar of Honda Ten10 Racing and veteran Rajini Krishnan (Team RACR), with international experience.

    Jagan heads the 165cc leaderboard with an 18-point lead over RACR’s Deepak Ravikumar. Behind the pair of front-runners, five riders are bunched tightly within 14 points of each other. TVS Racing’s Harry Sylvester leads this chasing pack ahead of Sarath Kumar, team-mate Kannan Subramaniam, Rajini Krishnan and young gun KY Ahmed (TVS Racing).

    Another international rider Hari Krishnan of Honda Ten10 Racing heads the Pro-Stock category, having won all four races over the previous two rounds. Behind him are RACR’s Dinesh Kumar and Honda Ten10’s Rajiv Sethu, who like Hari Krishnan is a regular on the Asian circuit, with just one point separating them.

    Coimbatore’s Antony Peter (RMC Racing) and Anish Shetty from Hubballi (United Tech Torque Racing) are within nine points of each other at the top of the Stock 165cc class which attracts first-timers and young, aspiring racers.

    The three MMSC One Make Championships have proved to be very popular going by the huge number of entries and have produced keen competition in the previous rounds. It will be no less fierce this weekend with more than a handful of riders in contention for the championship titles.

    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.

  • Gaurav Gill, Musa Sherif conquer Nashik Rally

    Nashik, 28 August 2016: Team Mahindra Adventure’s Gaurav Gill and long-time co-driver Musa Sherif won the Rally of Maharashtra for the sixth time, winning the Round 2 of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) which concluded at Nashik on Sunday. Gaurav and Musa clocked 52min 8sec for the win.

    Gill was fastest in four of the six stages and took a commanding lead of 1min 4sec over Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajgopal. Kolkata driver Amittrajit Ghosh along with navigator Ashwin Naik, who were the winners of the first round at Coimbatore, could only finish third here timing 53min 59sec, almost two minutes adrift of the toppers. Ghosh’s said, he had punctures in SS 1,3 and 4.

    In the Indian Rally Championship class (IRC), Abhilash PG and co-driver Srikanth Gowda took the overall win clocking 55min 20sec. Suraj Kute and navigator Shamim Khan came second in 1min 7sec while Amol Satoskar and co-driver Dinesh S were third clocking 1min 13sec.

    Dr Bikku Babu won the INRC 2000 class, with Milen George calling the pace notes as the Kerala duo clocked 54min 33sec. Bangalore pair, Karna Kadur (co-driver Nikhil Pai) finished just a second behind to take the second place.

    Switching to a new format under RRPM promoters, the Rally of Maharashtra this year was held in a one-day format with three Special Stages run in two loops. The Special Stage distance was only 70km and along with liaision the entire rally covered almost 400km. SS1 which doubled up as SS4 in the second run, is the new physical stage this year. It took the competitors through a narrow tarmac road with hardly any run-off area and it tested the drivers concentration. According to Musa, it was a very technical stage that helped bring in all the aspects of a rally stage. The consistent drizzle made the roads quite slippery making it more challenging for the drivers.

    The next round of the INRC will be held in Gurgaon on September 17 and 18.

    Provisional Unaudited Classification:

    Overall and INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (52min, 08sec); 2. Arujun Rao Aroor/ Satish Rajagopal (53:12); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (53:59).

    IRC: 1. PG Abhilash/ Srikanth Gowda (55:20); 2. Suraj Kute/ Shamim Khan (1:00:07); 3. Amol Satoskar/ Dinesh S (1:00:13); 4. Mohammed Kasim/ G Sanath (1:00:25).

    INRC 2000: 1. Dr Bikku Babu/ Milen George (54:33); 2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai (54:34); 3. Younas Ilyas/ Suraj Prasad (54:55).

    FMSCI Cup:  1. KJ Jacob/ Manoj Mohanan (57:21); 2. Yashas Nayaka M/ Uday Kumar D (59:06); 3. Michu Ganapathi/ Venu Ramesh Kumar (1:00:37).

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Deepak Chinnappa beats the `champ’ to clinch a fine victory

    Deepak Chinnappa beats the `champ’ to clinch a fine victory

    Chennai, 17 July 2016: Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts ENEOS) denied title favourite Arjun Narendran from Coimbatore (Red Rooster Racing) a clean sweep in the Indian Touring Cars class by winning the third outing in the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship, at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near hear on Sunday. However, Arjun clinched the Championship title with a round to spare as he amassed points with a difference of over 50, the maximum that can be gained in the next round. It has to be remembered that Arjun gained from the last race in Coimbatore where potential contender was dashed off the field. The veteran was let off with a paltry Rs.10,000 penalty.

    Deepak Paul Chinnappa (centre), winner of the Indian Touring Cars race flanked by Arjun Narendran (left) who finished and second and third placed Ashish Ramaswamy (July 17)
    Deepak Paul Chinnappa (centre), winner of the Indian Touring Cars race flanked by Arjun Narendran (left) who finished and second and third placed Ashish Ramaswamy (July 17)

    Equally impressive performances came from Chennai competitor Vikash Anand who scored a double in the MRF F1600 class as also Raghul Rangasamy who won both the races in the F1300 Rookie Championship while Mumbai’s Ananth Pithawalla (Team N1) won the Indian Junior Touring Cars race and private entrant Deepak Ravikumar took the honours in the Super Stock category.

    Starting second, Chinnappa eased past pole-sitter Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Racing) when the lights went off and built up a commanding lead. Meanwhile, Narendran, who had won both the previous races, did well to move to third after starting last on the grid and then went past Ramaswamy to slot in behind Chinnappa, but could not gain another place. Ramaswamy finished third.

    “I had a good start and managed to build a big lead. I was concerned about preserving the tyres which were wearing out fast, and over the last few laps, I had to brake at least 150 metres earlier than normal, but the early lead helped me to maintain my track position to win,” said the 29-year old Chinnappa who thus chalked up his second win in eight starts this season.

    For Vikash Anand, it was an up-and-down day. After having won the first race on Saturday, Anand struggled in the second and finished a distant sixth after a couple of off-track excursions while Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy took the honours. However, Anand managed to gather himself and win the third race for a double.

    The Indian Junior Touring Cars race saw a straight battle between the two championship contenders Ananth Pithawalla from Mumbai (Team N1) and Keith Desouza (UNIMEK Racing) with the former coming through while Deepak Ravikumar, a private entrant, topped in the Super Stock category that was run concurrently with the IJTC grid.

    Raghul Rangasamy expectedly won the F1300 Rookie Championship race to complete a double despite going off the track when leading midway through the eight-lapper.

    Meanwhile, Ishaan Dodhiwala and Niranjan Todkari emerged winners in the two Volkswagen Vento Cup races in contrasting styles. Dodhiwala came up with a fine move to get past front-runner and guest driver from China Li Li Huiwei on the last lap while Todkari enjoyed a lights-to-flag win.

    The results (Provisional):

    MRF F1600 (Race 2 – 10 laps): 1.Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (18mins, 47.123secs); 2.Raghul Rangasamy (Chennai) (18:56.753); 3.Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (19: 07.235). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Vikash Anand (Chennai) (15:34.366); 2. Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (15:38.277); 3. Raghul Rangasamy (Chennai) (15:41.771).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-3, 8 laps): 1. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts ENEOS) (16:29.580); 2. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (16:30.919); 3. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) (16:41.682).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 8 laps): 1.Ananth Pithawalla (Team N1) (17:48.538); 2.Keith DeSouza (UNIMEK Racing) (17:51.754); 3.R Srihariram (Red Rooster Performance) (18:37.810).

    Super Stock (Race-2, 10 laps): 1.Deepak Ravikumar (Pvt) (18:26,830); 2.Dean Mascarenhas (Race Concepts) (18:32.320); 3.Chandresh Tolia (Team Game Over) (18:37.404).

    F1300 Rookie Championship (Race 2 – 8 laps): 1.Raghul Rangasamy (WSRF) (16:23.799); 2.Arya Singh (Momentum Motorsports) (16:28.025); 3.C Tejas Ram (WSRF) (16:30.914).

    Volkswagen Vento Cup (Race-2, 10 laps): 1.Ishaan Dodhiwala (Hyderabad) (21:39.143); 2.Li Huiwei (China) (21:41.809); 3.Sirish Chandran (Pune) (21:52.109). Race-3 (8 laps): 1.Niranjan Todkari (Pune) (17:05.060); 2.Ketith DeSouza (Goa) (17:05.816); 3.Ishaan Dodhwala (Hyderabad) (17:14.866).

    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 Comm press release

  • Resurfaced MMRT ready to host Round 4

    Chennai, July 14: After a four-month break, the resurfaced Madras Motor Race Trust track in Sriperumbudur near here, now in its 26th year, will play host to the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship that includes the showpiece MRF Formula 1600 besides the touring cars and the Volkswagen Vento Cup, beginning Friday.

    The 3.7 Kms long track, which has a FIA Grade 2 certification to run all races outside of Formula 1, has been resurfaced with Polymer Bitumen as part of the multi-crore upgrade of the facility, including laying of a second short-loop of 1.9 Kms to complement the existing 2.1 Kms loop besides expansion of Race Control tower, building of garages to accommodate 120 cars and 600 two-wheelers in Phase 2 starting in September, and spectator seating in the infield providing 90 per cent view of the track.

    Chairman of the Meet and a member of the MMRT board of trustees Vicky Chandhok said: “The MMRT track is among the busiest of its kind in the World. Last year, it was booked for nearly 300 days. As such, we decided to upgrade and expand the facility. Now, with two fully operational tracks for rent, we can accept more bookings for testing and corporate events besides of course regular racing.

    “Since the surface is fresh, it could be a bit slippery with no rubber on the track, but I expect the timings to be at least 1.5 seconds quicker as it settles down. For this weekend, we have kept required personnel and equipment on stand-by to carry out running repairs if necessary.

    “Over the next four months, the renovation works will continue and completed in time for the start of the 2017 season in January. Our total budgeted outlay is about Rs 12 Crores as of now.”

    The weekend will see three races each in the MRF F1600 whose championship winner will get a ticket to race in the Road to Indy shootout in the United States later this year, the VW Vento Cup and the premier Indian Touring Cars class while the Indian Junior Touring Cars, the Super Stock and the F1300 Rookie Championship are all double-headers.

    Local challenger Karthik Tharani heads the MRF F1600 class with 106 points following his four consecutive wins in six outings, followed by Raghul Rangasamy (84), Vikash Anand (78), who marked his return to competitive racing after an 18-month break with a double in the previous round in March, Sandeep Kumar (68), Anindith Reddy (63) and Goutham Parekh (63).

    Coimbatore star Arjun Narendran of Red Rooster Performance team is comfortably placed in the ITC class with 118 points, having won four races from five starts. Trailing Narendran is Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) on 67, just ahead of veterans B Vijay Kumar (Prime Racing) from Coimbatore (56) and Sivaramakrishnan (53) of Chennai.

    Just four points separate leader Keith Desouza (116) of UNIMEK Racing from Goa and Mumbai’s Ananth Pithawalla (112) of Team N1 in the IJTC class. This pair has won all the six races so far between them with Pithawalla triumphing in four.

    In the Super Stock class, Veeresh Prasad (79), Alisha Abdullah (78), Raghul Rangasamy (77), Dean Mascarenhas (66) and Adith KC (63) are the front-runners while WSRF team-mates CJ Tejas Ram (116) and Rangasamy (105) head the F1300 Rookie Championship field.

    The Volkswagen Vento Cup has six drivers tied for the top three spots with Ishan Dodhiwala and Karminder Pal Singh (108 points each) leading, ahead of Keith Desouza and Aditya Pawar, both on 74, and Aditya Pawar and Jeet Jhabakh together on 62.

    eom/AP Media com press release

  • Another podium for Armaan: Super Trofeo Asia Series

    Another podium for Armaan: Super Trofeo Asia Series

    SUZUKA, 12 June 2006: India’s ace racer Armaan Ebrahim and Sri Lankan team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa bagged a third place podium spot before a blown engine forced retirement in the next race of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series double header here over the weekend.

    Armaan, supported by JK Tyre and driving for Dilango Racing team, qualified second for the first race on Saturday and looked set to maintain position. However, the team lost one spot after the mandatory pit-stop when Armaan handed over the car to Malagamuwa to complete the remainder of the race.

    On Sunday, in the second race for which the team had qualified ninth, Malagamuwa started and made four places to move into fifth when the engine blew leading to retirement, 20 minutes into the race.

    Armaan, who is among five Asians included in the Young Drivers Program of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, and Malagamuwa had finished second in both races of the first round in Shanghai, China, last month.

    Commenting on the weekend, Chennai-based Armaan, said: “Obviously, we are very disappointed with what happened in the second race, but at least we managed to pick up some points from our podium finish in the first.

    “On Saturday, I qualified second for the first race and Dilantha ninth for the second race. I was running second in the first race at the change-over and we finished third eventually.

    “In the second race, Dilantha did well to move to fifth after starting ninth on the grid, but the engine blew and that was the end of it for us here.

    “We now head to Buriram, Thailand, for the next round in July (23-24) and hopefully, have a better run there.”

    ==================

    eom/AP Media Comm release

    Armaan takes podium. An image by AP media comm.
    Armaan takes podium. An image by AP media comm.

  • TVS Racing to support Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women

    Chennai, 3 June 2016: TVS Racing, undisputed leader in two-wheeler racing, announced an exclusive collaboration with the new Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women– India’s first training school for women racers. TVS Racing will support the academy with the racing bikes and technical expertise. The academy has shortlisted 18 women riders who will race exclusively for TVS Racing Team in the first year.

    The first batch of 18 students at the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women has been selected from 80 entries after clearing rigorous tests. These riders are now being trained to improve physical fitness and hone their racing skills. The academy is based in Chennai and the racers will be trained on a hired racing track according to their training requirements.

    Alisha Abdullah, founder of the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women said, “We are proud to be associated with TVS Racing as it is India’s most professional two-wheeler racing team with the best motorbikes and trainers. This association will help the academy develop the best talent among women racers as they get exclusive access to best in class machines, racers and technology. I also hope our racing academy attracts and encourages more women racers to get into motorsports in India.”

    Arvind Pangaonkar, Head – TVS Racing Team said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women and believe this initiative will help create opportunities for women racers in India. TVS Racing is strongly committed to promote two- wheeler racing in India and generate interest and improve support for the sport in India. We make continuous efforts to take the sport to as many sections of the society as possible and create the ultimate machine and promote the riders for these machines.”

    TVS Racing was established in 1987 with the objective of improving the performance of its bikes. Over the years it has provided valuable data, design inputs, development of reliable motorcycle models, excellent vehicle dynamics & handling etc. The true evidence of it is seen in products like the new TVS Apache RTR 200 4V. TVS Racing has helped enhance the performance and handling capabilities of the TVS Apache series of motorcycles basis the experience on the track.

    Since the past 33 years TVS Racing has been actively participating on and off- road racing events such as road racing, Super-cross and Motocross, Dirt Tracks, Rally etc. TVS Racing is the only factory team in India to have any woman rider as a part of their team. In early 2015, TVS Racing became the first Indian factory team to take part in the Dakar rally, which is the longest and toughest rally in the world. TVS Racing won eight championships across all forms of two-wheeler motorsport events Supercross, Rallies and Road racing last year.