INDIA in F1

Category: Racing

  • Arjun Maini, Mahaveer Raghunathan to race in F2 during the British GP week-end

    Silverstone, 11 July 2019: Two Indian racers talented Arjun Maini and regular Mahaveer Raghunathan will feature in the F2 race, run as a support race during the British GP weekend and as the teams and drivers of the F2 paddock land at the former airfield of Silverstone for Round 7 of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, two weeks after the sensational action in Austria’s Styrian Alps.
    Arjun Maini, will be racing in the second and last of his two races in F2 championship this season while MP Motorsport’s Mahaveer Raghunathan returns to F2 this weekend having served a one-event suspension that saw him miss both races in Austria for amassing 12 penalty points for infringements during Virtual Safety Car periods.
    Carlin’s Louis Delétraz went fastest during practice for the first time this season, before Championship leader Nyck de Vries pulled off a masterclass in qualifying to take pole position early in the session. Nobuharu Matsushita chased the Dutchman down superbly in the last few laps to earn his first F2 Feature Race win, calling it the best drive of his entire career over the radio as he took the chequered flag. The ‘firsts’ continued in Sunday’s Sprint Race, as Sérgio Sette Câmara and his DAMS machine took victory for the first time in 2019. The Brazilian leapt to the front from third on the grid and put in a measured display to stay there until the end.
    De Vries (152) has pulled further ahead in the Drivers’ Championship, and now has a 37 point lead over Nicholas Latifi (115). Sérgio Sette Câmara (107) has climbed to third, just eight points behind his teammate. DAMS lead the way in the Teams’ Championship with 222 points, though second-placed UNI-Virtuosi Racing (182) have closed the gap to 40 points. ART (158) are 22 points further behind in third.
    Round 7 of the season takes place at Silverstone Circuit, famed for its high speeds, fast corners and long straights. Race strategy will be crucial as teams and drivers look to get the best possible performance from Pirelli’s hard and soft compound tyres. A number of British drivers will hope to enjoy victory on home soil, but the rest of the grid will have designs of their own in what should be another incredible weekend of F2 action.
    Warm Up // Jordan King – MP Motorsport
    “I’ve always been quite successful at Silverstone. My first ever car race was there in Formula Palmer Audi and I got pole and finished second which started off a good love affair as they say! I suppose the highlight at this level is winning there in back in 2016. I probably had the best part of 50 people there – friends, family and partners. It felt good to be there with lots of people who had come on the journey with me and who had supported me.
    “I enjoy Silverstone. It is a real pleasure to drive. It’s an old-school circuit and there is something special about driving there – with it being your home Grand Prix it’s like a double win. From what you see as a driver, the fans look amazing, there’s plenty of colour in the crowd and you like to think that all the union flags in the grandstand are for you.
    “It’s really fast and it’s physically one of the hardest tracks of the year on your neck, shoulders and arms. It’s tricky with all the high-speed corners and tyre degradation is normally quite high. That makes for another interesting aspect to the racing angle.
    “Although it’s high-speed and it’s hard to follow through the corners you can still overtake. The two main overtaking spots are into Brooklands and Stowe but battles go on for more than a couple of corners.
    “I used to be a lot more stressed about the smaller details but now I’m just driving for the moment, to help the team, push the guys forward. I’m still setting goals and trying to achieve things but I’m not going into qualifying thinking ‘I have to be top five’ because it’s unnecessary pressure. I’m just going out and driving the best that I can.”
    Mario Isola, Pirelli Head of F1 and Car Racing
    “Silverstone is known as the ‘home of British motorsport’ so it’s a very significant race for many teams and drivers in the F2 championship. The biggest question mark will be the new asphalt, which nobody has had a chance to drive on yet, while the weather in England at this time of year is also often variable. We expect quite a big performance gap between the two nominated compounds in Formula 2, which should hopefully lead to some interesting strategies. The soft will need careful management on this demanding circuit but will offer a considerable performance advantage.”
    Season Stats
    37 The points gap between Championship leader Nyck de Vries (152) at the top of the standings and Nicholas Latifi (115) in second place.
    4 The number of times a DAMS driver has picked up bonus points for the fastest lap this season. Sérgio Sette Câmara and Nicholas Latifi have both done it twice.
    357 The number of racing laps completed so far this season.
    95 The number of laps De Vries has led so far this season in his ART Grand Prix machine.
    Noteworthy
    The F2 race lap record at Silverstone is 1:42.512, set by Nobuharu Matsushita with ART Grand Prix in 2017
    Matsushita’s Feature Race win in Austria is not only his first ever Feature Race victory but also Carlin’s first win since Lando Norris won the opening race of the season in Bahrain last year
    That victory means all three British teams (UNI-Virtuosi Racing, BWT Arden and Carlin) have won at least one race this season going into their home event
    The British round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship is also the home event of Callum Ilott of Sauber Junior Team by Charouz, Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken and MP Motorsport’s Jordan King
    Dorian Boccolacci, who competed in the first five rounds of the 2019 F2 Championship with Campos Racing, also returns to the F2 paddock with Trident this weekend. The French driver has previously raced for the Italian outfit in GP3.
    Seven different drivers have won races this season: Aitken, Matsushita, Nyck de Vries, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Nicholas Latifi, Luca Ghiotto and Anthoine Hubert
    If De Vries wins this weekend he will match Artem Markelov for the record highest number of wins in the modern era of FIA Formula 2. A win in both races would see the Dutchman surpass the Russian
    De Vries has stood on the podium six times in the last five events, including three wins, the longest current podium streak in the championship. Sette Câmara is next best with three podiums from three events
    Mick Schumacher battled brilliantly during the Sprint Race in Austria. Starting 18th on the grid he finished fourth and might have grabbed his first F2 podium had it not been for good defending from De Vries in third
    Data (GMT+1)
    Friday
    Free Practice: 11.55 – 12.40
    Qualifying: 15.55 – 16.25
    Press conference: 18.00
    Saturday
    Feature race: 15.45 (29 laps)
    Press conference: 17.05
    Sunday
    Sprint race: 10.00 (21 laps)
    Press conference: 11.05
  • Double for Sethu, Ravikumar, Abhimanyu; Easy win for Ryhana Bee: MMSC Bike Nationals

    Double for Sethu, Ravikumar, Abhimanyu; Easy win for Ryhana Bee: MMSC Bike Nationals

    Deepak Ravikumar (centre), who scored a double in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category, flanked by KY Ahamed 2nd (left) and Amarnath Menon 3rd, at MMRT on Sunday. Photos by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 7 July 2019: Bitter rivals on the track, TVS Racing and Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing shared the honours on the concluding day of the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here today.

    Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) and Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) completed a double apiece in contrasting styles. Ravikumar was in a league of his own with an authoritative win by the proverbial country mile in the premium Pro-Stock 301-400cc race, his second of the weekend, while behind him, Amarnath Menon (Team Alisha Abdullah) denied TVS Racing another 1-2 by pipping KY Ahamed.

    Sethu repeated his yesterday’s Race 1 win over TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar for a double in the Pro-Stock 165cc class. After exchanging leads with Jagan through the race, Sethu made a heart-stopping pass on the last corner of the last lap to pull off a superb win while Ahamed scrambled to third spot.

    Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) survived a close fight with Mathan Kumar (Erula Racing) to win the Pro-Stock 200-300cc race with Abhishek Vasudev, also from Bengaluru, a distant third.

    Also achieving a double was Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class, sparing nearly three seconds to Venkatesan I (Motomania) while Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing) completed the podium.


    Ryhana Bee, winner of the Girls race

    Meanwhile, defending champion in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category, Ann Jennifer suffered a rare defeat as she finished third behind her Sparks Racing team-mate Ryhana Bee and Alisha Abdullah (Team Alisha Abdullah) in the five-lap race. It was Bee’s maiden win in the championship as she made capital of a favourable situation that had pole-sitter Jennifer fumbling at the start and then getting caught up in traffic. While Bee disappeared in the distance, Jennifer could not pass Alisha and decided to hold position with an eye on the championship points.

    In the hot mid-afternoon sun, Chennai youngsters Varoon Sadasivam, Kavin Samaar Quintal and Geoffrey Emmanuel finished in that order on the FIM Moto3-spec NSF 250R bikes in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup One-Make Championship after favourites, Md Mikail (Chennai), winner of Race-1 yesterday, and Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag, Karnataka) retired early in the eight-lap race. Mikail crashed at the start, while Habib too went off in the third lap.

    The results (Provisional):

    National Championship:

    Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (15mins, 31.358secs); 2. Amarnath Menon (Team Alisha Abdullah) (15:45.432); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (15:45.558).

    Pro-Stock 200-300cc (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:22.798); 2. Mathan Kumar (Erula Racing) (16:22.876); 3. Abhishek V (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:55.918).

    Pro-Stock 165cc (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:07.033);  2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (16:07.152); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (16:09.355).

    Novice – Stock 165cc (Race 2, 6 laps): 1.Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:10.877); 2. Venkatesan I (Team Motomania) (13:13.508); 3. Mohan Babu P (Team Rockers Racing) (13:15.079).

    Girls (Stock 165cc, 5 laps): 1. A Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) (11:11.579); 2. Alisha Abdullah (Team Alisha Abdullah Racing) (11:20.990); 3. Ann Jennifer AS (Sparks Racing) (11:21.078).

    One-Make Championship:

    Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – Honda NSF 250R (Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Varoon Sadasivam (Chennai) (14:53.899); 2. Kavin Samaar Quintal (Chennai) (15:03.271); 3. Geoffrey Emmanuel (Chennai) (15:32.943).

    Honda CBR 150 (Race 2, 6 laps): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:28.925); 2. Lalrinzuala Tlau (Aizwal) (13:29.167); 3. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:30.521).

    TVS Open (Apache RTR 310, Race 2, 8 laps): 1. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (16:01.298); 2. Karthik Mateti (Hyderabad) (16:16.321); 3. Soorya PM (Chennai) (16:18.106).

    Novice (Apache RTR 200, Race 2, 6 laps): 1. Venkatesan (Chennai) (13:13.644); 2. Manoj Y (Chennai) (13:14.210); 3. Lakshmipathy Balaji (Vellore) (13:15.231).

  • MMRT witnesses historic debut of Moto3 spec bike in Indian Motorsport

    MMRT witnesses historic debut of Moto3 spec bike in Indian Motorsport

    Honda NSF250R, a magic presence on Indian race tracks, a moto3 spec bike, a milestone in Indian Motorsports. Photo by David Bodapati

    The 2019 season augurs well for Indian Motorsports! After a pleasant week-end at the Kari Motor Speedweay in Coimbatore last fortnight where a new generation of cars breathed a whiff of fresh air into the rusty Indian racing scene, with Volkswagen showing the way for future, the week-end at the Madras Motor Race Track of Madras Motor Sports Club in Irungattukottai witnessed another historic milestore with a Moto3 Spec bike making its debut on the Indian soil. Eight young riders took part on these sleek machines in the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup. They are Sarthak Shrikant Chava, the 12-year old baby of the team from Pune, Kavin Samaar Quintal, Geoffrey, Mohammed Mikhail, S Varoon, Mohsin, Charan T, and Kritik Habib. All these riders have been selected from the 2018 Honda India Talent Hunt.

    A new sleek and sophiscated Racing Machine of the new era, a very light machine at 84-kg, compact, high output and high performance, the NSF 250R made its thundering presence and the presence of eight disciplined teenage boys riding with passion provided the kick for the motorsport connoisseur.

    Introduced in Moto3 in 2o12, the bike is powered by a single cylinder 4-stroke engine with 249cc displacement and it is specifically designed for racing purpose. It is not meant to be ridden on the public roads. The NSF250R is a picture model of perfect integration of high-power and rider-friendly beast with a beauty. This light-weight, well-balanced machine offers solid-power and superb performance.

    Honda won the Moto3 constructor’s Championship in 2015 with the NSF250R. The race bike is powered by a 249.3cc single cylinder liquid-cooled engine capable of churning out a maximum power of 47.6 HP at 13,000 rpm and 28 Nm of torque at 10,500 rpm. The engine comes mated to a 6-speed gearbox.

    It is Honda ingenuity, supporting your racing pleasure, for the joy of evolution. Finally, India enters a new era with the all-new NSF250R making its presence in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship 2019.

    The credit should undoubtedly go to two men, who with passion and committment for motorsport are making a difference in the Indian Motorsports scene. Three cheers to the dedicated duo of Prabhu Nagaraj of Honda Racing Corporation, India and Sirish Vissa of Volkswagen Motorsport India.

    May their tribe increase!

  • Deepak Ravikumar leads 1-2 for TVS Racing in Pro-Stock 301-400cc class; Rajiv Sethu tops 165cc

    Deepak Ravikumar leads 1-2 for TVS Racing in Pro-Stock 301-400cc class; Rajiv Sethu tops 165cc

    The 14-year old Md Mikail, winner of the inaugural Honda NSF 250 race at MMRT on Saturday. Photo by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 6 July 2019: Deepak Ravikumar led a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing in the premium Pro-Stock 301-400cc class, while Rajiv Sethu, fresh from an international outing in Japan, scored a thrilling win in the Pro-Stock 165cc category to bring some cheer for Honda in the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here today.

    Starting from pole position, Ravikumar held off team-mate KY Ahamed for a commanding win, while Sethu, who missed the first round in Coimbatore last month, fought tooth and nail to beat favourite and pole-sitter Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing), sealing the win in the last lap.

    Mathan Kumar (Erula Racing) also chalked up a last-gasp win over Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) in the Pro-Stock 200-300cc class that was run on a combined grid with the 301-400cc category while Bengaluru’s Abhimanyu Gautam, starting from third on the 39-rider grid, topped the Stock 165cc (Novice) race which went down to the wire.

    Earlier, 14-year old from Chennai, Md Mikail underlined his potential by comfortably winning the inaugural race in the newly-introduced Honda NSF 250R category of the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup One-Make championship. Varun Sadasivam, also from Chennai, came in second ahead of another 14-year old local schoolboy Kavin Samaar Quintal.

    Ravikumar, starting from pole, gradually increased his lead over Ahamed and had plenty to spare at the finish. Amarnath Menon, who too sat out the first round last month, finished third in his debut race for Team Alisha Abdullah.

    The win was some consolation for Ravikumar who lost a third place battle in the Pro-Stock 165cc race to Bengaluru’s Yashas RL (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) behind Sethu and Jagan after some of the front-runners lost track position due to issues with their bikes.

    Reflecting on his win, Sethu said: “I had problems with the grip levels, and I thought I might go off. But I used my experience to stay behind Jagan and eventually passed him on the penultimate lap at the Bridge Complex left-hander. It was a tough race and I had to fight all the way to win.”

    Jagan, a seven-times National champion in the erstwhile Super Sport 165cc class, said: “I did my very best today and was on the limit, but just couldn’t hold back Rajiv. The bike was fine and there were no issues. Today, this was the best I could do.”

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

    National Championship:

    Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race 1): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (11mins, 41.479secs); 2. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11:47.446); 3. Amarnath Menon (Team Alisha Abdullah) (11:48.814).

    Pro-Stock 200-300cc (Race 1): 1. Mathan Kumar (Erula Racing) (12:11.742); 2. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:11.774); 3. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:34.687).

    Pro-Stock 165cc (Race 1): 1. Rajiv Sethi (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (11:59.724); 2. K Jagan (TVS Racing) (11:59.820); 3. Yashas RL (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:11.089).

    Novice – Stock 165cc (Race 1): 1. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:08.136); 2. Venkatesan I (Team Motomania) (13:08.647); 3. Lokesh V (Team Speedup Racing) (13:09.568).

    One-Make Championship:

    Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup – Honda NSF 250R (Race 1): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (11:14.583); 2. Varoon Sadasivam (Chennai) (11:16.963); 3. Kavin Samaar Quintal (Chennai) (11:18.128). Honda CBR 150 (Race 1): 1. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:18.183); 2. Lalrinzuala Tlau (Aizwal) (13:18.604); 3. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:18.754).

    TVS Open (Apache RTR 310, Race 1): 1. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (11:58.964); 2. Sivanesan Sethu (Chennai) (12:10.737); 3. Arun Muthukrishnan (Chennai) (12:13.757). Novice (Apache RTR 200, Race 1): 1. Venkatesan (Chennai) (13:16.007); 2. Manoj Y (Chennai) (13:16.163); 3. Annish Samson (Bengaluru) (13:24.783). Girls (Apache RTR 200) (5 laps): 1. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (11:27.421); 2. Lakiya Lee (Chennai) (12:02.771); 3. Sayali Pawar (Mumbai) (12:10.872).

  • Historic day at MMRT as Moto3-spec Honda NSF 250R bikes up the ante

    Historic day at MMRT as Moto3-spec Honda NSF 250R bikes up the ante

    Md Mikail, the fastest rider on the track, who qualified for pole position in the Moto3-spec Honda NSF 250R class in Chennai on Friday. Photo by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 5 July 2019: Madras Motor Race Track  saw another historic day in the Indian Motorsport as FIM Moto3-spec bikes made their debut in India. The second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2019 was off to a roaring start at the MMRT here on Friday with the FIM Moto3-spec Honda NSF 250R bikes, participating in the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup, raising the standard bar in a stunning fashion during the qualifying sessions.

    The top-five qualifiers in the NSF 250R were quicker than TVS Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar who took the pole position in the premium Pro-Stock 301-400cc class, with a best lap of one minute, 54.298secs. As against this, Chennai lad Md Mikail, only 14 years old, topped the NSF 250R qualifying clocking 01:48.889, with fifth placed Kavin Samaar Quintal posting a best of 01:53.111.

    Also grabbing pole positions in their respective categories were Mathan Kumar of Erula Racing in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc (01:59.786), Bengaluru’s Samuel Martin (02:11.964) in the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup CBR 150 and Venkatesan from Chennai (02:10.859) in the TVS RTR 200 (Novice). Venkatesan (02:09.660) also took pole position in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class while Ann Jennifer of Sparks Racing topped in the Girls (02:12.289) category.

    Undoubtedly, the Honda NSF 250R bikes came under considerable scrutiny in their debut outing in India, and they exceeded expectations with all their eight riders, in the age-group of 12 to 18 years, putting in impressive performances.

    Not the least was Sarthak Shrikant Chavan, the 12-year old schoolboy from Pune who qualified eighth in the NSF 250R class, with a flying lap of 02:01.753. It was his maiden outing in track racing after having won a junior motocross event recently.

    While the timings from Free Practice dropped noticeably in the qualifying sessions, Mikail, who raced in Thailand recently along with Karthik Vasant Habib from Gadag, Karnataka, improved by nearly three seconds to take the pole position. Habib qualified second in 01:51.091, ahead of Chennai boys Varoon Sadasivam (01:52.435) and Geoffrey Emmanuel (01:52.801).

  • Honda to debut Moto3-spec NSF 250R in the MRF MMSC fmsci Bike Nationals

    Honda to debut Moto3-spec NSF 250R in the MRF MMSC fmsci Bike Nationals

    Action in the Bike Nationals at MMRT. File photo by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 4 July 2019: Expectations and excitement are on a high as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2019 commence here at the MMRT on Friday with focus on one of country’s leading two-wheeler manufacturer Honda, who are set to introduce the FIM Moto3-spec NSF 250R.

    While the NSF 250R besides the CBR 150, which is part of the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup, a one-make championship organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club is bound to create a buzz, the attention will be as much on the National Championship races, including the two premium Pro-Stock categories, the 301-400cc and the 165cc. Also in the mix are the two Novice classes, Girls and Stock 165cc, that have been as competitive as the other categories.

    Completing the card this weekend will be TVS Racing’s One-Make Championship in two categories, the Open (TVS Apache RTR 310), and Novice and Girls (TVS Apache RTR 200). Races in all these categories witnessed extremely close competition in the first round at Coimbatore last month and likely to be no different this weekend.

    As in the first round at Coimbatore last month, the number of entries has exceeded 150 with some 15 teams, a record for the National Championship in itself, supporting the riders. Both the Pro-Stock categories will be run on slick tyres provided by the title sponsors MRF Tyres.

    In a bid to fast-track their programme to identify and nurture talent that could break into the international arena, Honda have put an age-cap of 19 for the CBR 150 category while the NSF 250R bikes would be ridden by hand-picked riders who have undergone extensive training.

    TVS have also been on pace in their talent quest, especially in the Girls category where the riders, following a pan-India selection process, have been shortlisted from 33 entrants to 16 who make up the race grid.

    The weekend card has a total of 16 races spread over Saturday and Sunday with qualifying sessions scheduled for Friday.

  • Matsushita claims first F2 Feature Race win; Arjun Maini 15th

    Red Bull Ring, 29 June 2019: Nobuharu Matsushita claimed his first ever Feature Race win in FIA Formula 2, surging past Championship leader Nyck De Vries during a tantalizing final few laps at the Red Bull Ring. The Carlin driver hailed the victory as the best of his career over team radio, as he earned last season’s dominant force their maiden win of the campaign.
    On his return to F2, Indian racing talent Arjun Maini of Campos Racing finished 15th.
    The Japanese driver finished ahead of UNI-Virtuosi ace Luca Ghiotto, who followed him past De Vries. The Dutchman lost a further place to Sérgio Sette Câmara, but ended up on the podium when the DAMS’ driver was dropped to fifth after a five second time penalty was added.
    The race began in calmer circumstances with De Vries making a smooth start off the line to retain first place ahead of Anthoine Hubert. Guanyu Zhou quickly made an attempt on the Frenchman’s position, but ran out of track and swerved wide allowing Matsushita through to third.
    The Japanese racer was up to second a lap later with a successful assault on Hubert, but he then switched his attention to building a gap between himself and those behind him, ahead of his pit stop when he would switch the prime tyre.
    Tensions threatened to boil over further back when Sette Câmara’s attempts to pass teammate Nicholas Latifi ended with the Canadian getting thumped from behind and swung full circle. When he recovered, he had been dropped to P19 and the Brazilian was handed a five second time penalty for causing the collision.
    Those on the option tyres went for Soft rubber on lap 7, leaving Sean Gelael in first, with front five De Vries, Matsushita, Ghiotto, Zhou and Hubert amongst the drivers making the change. Zhou suffered a gearbox glitch upon his return and dropped down to 15th before he was able to get back up to speed.
    Seventeen seconds separated De Vries and the PREMA man out in front and the Dutchman’s charge began with an overtake on Ryan Tveter. Matsushita followed him through a lap later. Gelael was told to push harder over team radio, but by then the ART and Carlin men had already made their way past Patricio O’Ward and Tatiana Calderon for fourth and fifth, and were fast honing in.
    With Gelael unable to form a gap out in front, Nikita Mazepin took a stab at the race lead and passed the Indonesian. The PREMA man was then overtaken by De Vries, who had also just passed Arjun Maini. Gelael pitted and a slow stop saw him fall further down the grid.
    De Vries was joined by Matsushita and Ghiotto in the chase for first and was closing in on his teammate at the front of the field. The Russian still required a pit stop, but the Championship leader refused to wait and retook his place at the top of the pile. However, De Vries’ tyres had already taken a battering as the race headed into its final five laps.
    Sensing this, the duo behind him pounced at Turn 1 and the Championship leader was dragged back to third in dramatic circumstances, after both Matsushita and Ghiotto made their moves on him stick in one clean sweep.
    Having suffered earlier in the race, Zhou showed no slowdown in pace from the earlier issues, charging back through the pack to P6 thanks to a gritty recovery. Latifi also managed to dice his way through the field and re-enter to the points’ paying positions, but narrowly missed out on reverse grid pole as he finished in ninth behind the impressive Jordan King – who had started the race as far back as 15th.
    There was one final course of action when Sette Câmara endeavoured to make the most of his race, with the knowledge of an incoming five-second penalty. The Brazilian set the fastest lap with just one tour of the circuit to go and managed to slide past former race leader De Vries, who was still struggling with tyre degradation. De Vries reclaimed the position upon the chequered flag as Sette Câmara’s penalty saw him drop to fifth.
    Matsushita crossed the line in first, ahead of Ghiotto, who achieved his best finish since Barcelona. De Vries ran home in third, ahead of Hubert, with Sette Câmara in fifth, followed by Zhou, Louis Delétraz, King, Latifi and Jack Aitken.
    De Vries stretched his lead at the top of the standings to 140 points, 29 ahead of Latifi in second place. Sette Câmara climbs to third on 92 points ahead of Aitken on 86 and Ghiotto on 85. DAMS’ retain their position at the top of the Teams’ Championship on 203 points, 34 ahead of UNI-Virtuosi. ART Grand Prix are third with 146, ahead of Campos Racing on 116 and Carlin on 97.
    King will attempt to claim the top honours in tomorrow’s Sprint Race when he starts on reverse grid pole ahead of Louis Delétraz at 11am local time.
    2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Feature Race Classification
    DRIVER
    TEAM
    1
    Nobuharu Matsushita
    Carlin
    2
    Luca Ghiotto
    UNI-Virtuosi Racing
    3
    Nyck De Vries
    ART Grand Prix
    4
    Anthoine Hubert
    BWT Arden
    5
    Sergio Sette Camara
    DAMS
    6
    Guanyu Zhou
    UNI-Virtuosi Racing
    7
    Louis Deletraz
    Carlin
    8
    Jordan King
    MP Motorsport
    9
    Nicholas Latifi
    DAMS
    10
    Jack Aitken
    Campos Racing
    11
    Juan Manuel Correa
    Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
    12
    Nikita Mazepin
    ART Grand Prix
    13
    Giuliano Alesi
    Trident
    14
    Callum Ilott
    Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
    15
    Arjun Maini
    Campos Racing
    16
    Ryan Tveter
    Trident
    17
    Sean Gelael
    PREMA Racing
    18
    Tatiana Calderon
    BWT Arden
    19
    Mick Schumacher
    PREMA Racing
    20
    Patricio O’Ward
    MP Motorsport
    OVERALL FASTEST LAP
    Sergio Sette Camara (DAMS) – 1:18.209 on Lap 34
    FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
    Sergio Sette Camara (DAMS)
  • Double for Karthik Tharani as VW Ventos dominate; Sohil Shah, Jeet Jhabak too win a brace

    Double for Karthik Tharani as VW Ventos dominate; Sohil Shah, Jeet Jhabak too win a brace

    Sohil Shah (24), who won two races in action in the Formula LGB 1300 races on Sunday. Photos by Anand Philar

    Coimbatore, 23 June 2019: Piloting the turbo-charged VW Vento, Karthik Tharani authored a dream script for Volkswagen Motorsport’s sensational weekend with a grand double in the premium ITC category while Bengaluru school boy and defending champion Sohail Shah notched up a brace in the LGB 1300 class as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Sunday.

    Also scoring a double were Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabak in the VW Ameo Class and Bengaluru schoolboy Sohil Shah (M Sport) in the Formula LGB 1300 category as he took the top honours in Race 1 and 3 while Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) won Race 2. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) won a close Super Stock race that went down to the wire.

    For the factory-supported VW Motorsport team, making their debut in the Indian Touring Cars category, it was a highly-successful weekend as they won all the three races. Incidentally, races in all categories, except VW Ameo Class, today were run on wet tyres in view of forecast of rains which, however, stayed away.

    The two ITC races highlighted the Sunday’s proceedings with extremely close contests and incidents in Race 3 bringing out the Safety Car. Having finished second behind team-mate, Kolhapur’s Dhruv Shivaji Mohite in the first of the ITC triple-header yesterday, Chennai-based Tharani led a 1-2-3 finish for VW Motorsport in Race 2 and followed it up with a thrilling win in Race 3 in the afternoon, ahead of Mohite and Arjun Balu (Race Concepts).

    In both the races today, Mohite finished second while team-mate Ishaan Dodhiwala took the third spot in Race 2, but spun off in the next outing that led to a Safety Car period, and where Balu came in a creditable third, his second of the weekend.

    While the podium finishers hogged the limelight, it was 77-year old D Vidyaprakash who stole the hearts with stirring drives that saw him finish fourth in both the races today. His defending the third spot in Race-2 until late in the last lap against Dodhiwala, 29, before letting the youngster pass, earned him high praise for clean racing. “I just can’t believe that someone at his age can drive like that. I couldn’t pass him until the last lap when he didn’t stop me from overtaking after I put the nose on the inside line,” gushed Dodhiwala after his third place finish.

    The Championship moves to the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, where Round 3 will be held from July 19 to 21.

    The results (Provisional, all 10 laps unless mentioned):

    Indian Touring Cars (Race 2): 1. Karthik Tharani (VW Motorsports) (11mins, 55.229secs); 2. Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (VW Motorsports) (11:55.572); 3. Ishaan Dodhiwala (VW Motorsports) (12:06.826). Race 3: 1. Karthik Tharani (VW Motorsports) (15:31.576); 2. Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (VW Motorsports) (15:31.717); 3. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15:32.087).

    Volkswagen Ameo Class (Race 2): Overall – 1. Avik Anwar (Bangladesh) (11:58.554); 2. Aiman Sadat (Bangladesh) (11:58.841); 3. Anmol Singh Sahil (Delhi) (11:59.304). Pro: 1. Anwar; 2. Sahil; 3. Siddharth Mehdiratta (Lucknow) (12:00.233). Junior: 1. Sadat; 2. Viraj Jairaj Jhala (Nashik) (12:05.775); 3. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (12:24.817). Race 3 (Overall and Pro): 1. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) (11:58.422); 2. Anmol Singh Sahil (Delhi) (12:00.219); 3. Pratik Sonawane (Pune) (12:02.872). Junior: 1. Aiman Sadat (Bangladesh) (12:09.235); 2. Kaushik Mohan Raja (12:10.360); Viraj Jairaj Jhala (Nashik) (12:18.809).

    Super Stock (Race 2): 1. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (13:05.322); 2. R Rajashekar (Race Concepts) (13:05.926); 3. Prateek Benya (Race Concepts) (13:06.209).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race 1): 1. Sohil Shah (M Sport) (10:43.682); 2. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motor Sports) (10:50.180); 3. Kunal Maini (M Sport) (10:56.683). Race 2: 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) (14:16.398); 2. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motor Sports) (14:16.661); 3. Sohil Shah (M Sport) (14:16.770). Race 3: 1. Sohil Shah (M Sport) (11:56.907); 2. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motor Sports) (11:59.205); 3. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motor Sports) (12:07.927).

  • Dhruv Mohite leads 1-2 for VW Motorsport in ITC race; Bengaluru racers sweep Super Stock podium

    Coimbatore, June 22: Kolhapur’s Dhruv Shivaji Mohite led a 1-2 grandstand finish for Volkswagen Motorsport as he scored a commanding win in the premium Indian Touring Cars class in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2019 at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Saturday.

    The day’s schedule was cut short due to heavy showers that led to the cancellation of Formula LGB 1300 races, just after Bengaluru-based Race Concepts team made a clean sweep in the Super Stock race with Rithvik Thomas, Prateek Benya and R Rajashekar finishing in that order. Incidentally, the three podium finishers are all from Bengaluru.

    Mohite, 21, who has graduated from Karting and winner of the Ameo Cup last year, marked his debut in the ITC category in the Volkswagen Vento with a comfortable start-to-finish win ahead of team-mate Karthik Tharani while veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) completed podium.

    While Mohite, starting from pole position, was quick off the blocks at the start of the 15-lap race, Balu, from second position, dropped two positions as he missed a gear when the lights went out. But the Coimbatore racer gathered himself to move into third after a couple of laps, easing past Dodhiwala. Thereafter, Mohite, Tharani and Balu were content to nurse their track positions to finish in that order.

    “This is my first season in the ITC and I am happy to win my debut race. I had a good start and after opening up a good lead, I held my position as I had a team-mate (Tharani) behind me rather than a competitor,” said Mohite.

    For Balu, who is expected to be a top contender for the championship, it was a disappointing outing. “I missed a gear at the start and in the latter half of the race, I didn’t have brakes and I had to use the handbrake. With a lot to make up and a good lead over Ishaan, it was pointless to push. My car is still a work in progress and we have to work on a bit to make it more competitive,” said Balu.

    Earlier, Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh chalked up a fluent lights-to-flag victory after starting from pole position, in the Volkswagen Ameo Class race, holding off Anmol Singh Sahil (Delhi) and Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai). The race was run in tricky conditions. A wet and slippery track following a drizzle besides strong winds, were not ideal for racing on slick tyres, but Jhabakh handled the situation with aplomb while behind him, Sahil, having started fourth on the grid, fought his way to second spot, pipping Bandyopadhyay.

    Bangladesh’s Aiman Sadat topped the Junior category ahead of Nashik’s Viraj Jairaj Jhala and Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni.

    The results (Provisional – all 15 laps unless mentioned):

    Indian Touring Cars (Race 1): 1. Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (VW Motorsport) (17mins, 20.105secs); 2. Karthik Tharani (VW Motorsport) (17:27.062); 3. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (17:44.280).

    Volkswagen Ameo Class (Race 1): 1. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) (17:48.937); 2. Anmol Singh Sahil (Delhi) (17:52.579); 3. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) (17:55.182). Junior: 1. Aiman Sadat (Bangladesh) (18:14.077); 2. Viraj Jairaj Jhala (Nashik) (18:15.882); 3. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (18:04.139, 14 laps).

    Super Stock (Race 1): 1. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (22:21.408); 2. Prateek Benya (Race Concepts) (22:23.462); 3. R Rajashekar (Race Concepts) (22:24.390).

  • We have the pace to go for the win tomorrow, says Jehan Daruvala

    We have the pace to go for the win tomorrow, says Jehan Daruvala

    Jehan Daruvala (left) at the post-qualifying press conference on Friday. An FIA image

    FIA Formula 3 post qualyfying press conference transcript:

    FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to today’s FIA Formula 3 press conference following Qualifying here at Paul Ricard. Joining us today we have our top three drivers from that session. On pole position Jake Hughes of HWA RACELAB, in second place Jehan Daruvala of PREMA Racing and in third place Robert Shwartzman of PREMA Racing. Jake if we can start with you, HWA’s first pole position at this level and it was a really mighty final lap for you to grab pole position. Could you talk us through that lap?

    Jake Hughes: For sure the last lap was really good, without a mistake and as close to the limit as I felt like I could get away with. To be honest though I think we had a good car the whole session. The first lap on the last set was just a compromise because of a lot of traffic in the last corner. Sector 1 especially was just cold tyres. I think I found myself mid-pack after the first lap on the last set. We remained confident, the car was good for the whole session as I said, and I didn’t know I was on pole when I crossed the line. I knew after the first lap that the fastest lap was a .6, so I saw .5 on the dash and thought maybe I had a chance but it wasn’t until I was in Sector 3 that I found out. I’m really happy, and it’s only HWA’s second race in FIA F3 so to get their pole I’m really proud of them and so a big thank you.

    FIA Formula 3: And it’s a really positive way to bounce back from quite a difficult weekend in Barcelona at the start of the season. You must be delighted?

    Jake: Yeah we didn’t score any points. It was a big shame that we had the problem that we did in Qualifying in Barcelona. I think we were fighting for the top five there as well. Obviously we don’t expect to be on pole at every race but fighting for it at least, and it seemed like we could do that even through testing. I’m happy to confirm that let’s say.

    FIA Formula 3: Congratulations. Jehan moving on to you now. You led the majority of the session and had quite a big margin at one point. You didn’t manage to improve on the final lap but you must still be pretty pleased with P2 on the grid?

    Jehan Daruvala: Yeah. To be honest I’m pretty pleased with how the session went in general. Every lap I did I kept improving my driving, and the car was good the whole session. I’m pretty happy with my lap, Jake just did a better job. P2 is still a good place to start tomorrow. Like I said, the car’s strong. We have three cars in the top five clearly we have the pace to go for the win tomorrow.

    FIA Formula 3: It must be really good momentum for yourself as well, following on from the Sunday victory in Spain, to carry this on through to Paul Ricard, so you must be pleased?

    Jehan: I’m pleased. Also we had a decent qualifying session in Barcelona. In Race 1 I had a bad start but that got resolved in Race 2. My main goal tomorrow is to be good off the line and I think we have a good enough car to win the race.

    FIA Formula 3: Thank you. Robert, moving on to you now. Pole position in Spain, P3 here, did you feel that pole was within your reach today? You were always kind of in the mix at the front.

    Robert Shwartzman: Yeah we were quite close. There were a few things that we should have improved, especially me and my driving, but still we were always there. I’m quite happy with P3. It’s a position where we can fight for the win tomorrow. The main job should be tomorrow and we need to push. Big congratulations to Jake because he did a really good job, and also to Jehan. Tomorrow I hope is going to be fair and nice fighting for the win.

    FIA Formula 3: Picking up on what Jehan said about the team performance to start the season, how much of a boost is it for you to see so many PREMA cars so far up the order?

    Robert: It’s really, really good. For PREMA it’s the first year in this championship with this car. We are really competitive. The car feels really good and the team is working really well, so big thanks to them. I worked with them last year and I really enjoyed it, and I’m enjoying working with them even more this year. Everything is going like we’ve planned so we just need to improve a few things, but that’s it.

    FIA Formula 3: Well done. Jake back to you. What are your feelings going into tomorrow’s race and that run down to a quite complex first set of corners? How do you think you’re going to approach that?

    Jake: Well, have a good start obviously [laughs]. I was pretty confident with our starts through testing and in Barcelona, so hopefully that repeats itself. We have good tyres for the race tomorrow. We saved a set in practice so that should help – well, it’s not a disadvantage obviously though it’s not a certainty. The PREMA guys especially had a very good weekend in Barcelona with tyre life, so I’m not expecting an easy race for sure. Hopefully we lead into Turn 1 and, as Robert says, we have a clean fight from there.