INDIA in F1

Tag: Chirag Ghorpade

  • Chirag Ghorpade tops F2000 race; Double for Arjun, Raghul

    Chirag Ghorpade tops F2000 race; Double for Arjun, Raghul

    Chennai, 8 Jan 2023: Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghropade held his nerve to win his second race of the season in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category on the concluding day of the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

    Also in the limelight were Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) and Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) who completed a double each this weekend in the Indian Touring Cars and the Formula LGB category, respectively.

    The day’s schedule came to an abrupt end with two remaining races cancelled following the demise of Chennai racer KE Kumar in a hospital where he was attended to for the injuries he suffered in a crash during the saloon cars race.

    Ghorpade, 17, did well to survive close attention from Salem’s Sai Sanjay, before crossing the finish line while Mohammed Ryan from Chennai completed the podium.

    “It (the win) was a long time coming. I struggled a bit at the start as we had new tyres fitted in. Once the tyres heated up, I managed to open up a good lead, but had to defend my position at certain times,” said Ghorpade.

    In contrast, Balu, starting P5 on the reverse grid, showed amazing pace as he jumped into the lead by Turn-4 in the very opening lap of the scheduled 12-lap race which was reduced to nine after it was red-flagged following the incident involving Kumar and then re-started. Thereafter, Balu again went into cruise mode to destroy the field.

    Chennai’s Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) topped in the Indian Junior Touring Cars category while another local racer, Narendran S (Redline Racing) won in the Super Stock class.

    Rangasamy, who earlier in the day had won the Formula LGB 1300 race after starting form P11 on the reverse grid, continued his winning-ways by topping the next outing to complete a fine double.

    The third round of the championship is slated for January 20-22 at the same venue followed by the fourth and concluding round on January 27-29.

    The results (Provisional):

    MRF F2000 (Race-3, 10 laps): 1. Chirag Ghorpade (Bengaluru) (15mins, 48.752secs); 2. Sai Sanjay T (Salem) (15:49.462); 3. Mohamed Ryan (Chennai) 15:51.211).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-2, 9 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (17:30.324); 2. Ananth Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (17:43.103); 3. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (17:44.389).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 9 laps): 1. Raja Rajan (Chennai, Performance Racing) (17:55.058); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) (18:02.406); 3. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (18:06.320).

    Super Stock (Race-2, 9 laps): 1. Narendran (Chennai, Redline Racing) (19:18.726); 2. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:23.585); 3. Fahad Kutty (Mumbai, Redline Racing) (19:26.875).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram, MSport) (18:57.069); 2. Diljith Shaji (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (18:57.511); 3. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (18:58.585). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (15:14.465); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (15:14.620); 3. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (15:17.331).

    MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios, Race-3, 8 laps): 1. Justin Singh (Gurugram) (16:44.314); 2. Angad Mathroo (Chandigarh) (16:44.325); 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (Coimbatore) (16:54.057).

  • Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000 Race

    Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000 Race

    Chennai, October 9: Bengaluru teenager Chirag Ghorpade and Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) put in near-flawless performances for commanding wins in their respective categories before heavy rains led to abandonment of the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

    The day’s other winner was Mumbai youngster Zahan Commissariat who claimed the honours in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) race which was red-flagged after five laps due to heavy rains.

    Chirag, 17, led from the front after starting from pole position on the reverse grid of the MRF F2000 category race and barely had to look in the rearview mirrors as he opened up a big gap in the very first lap.

    Such was his pace that was not apparent in yesterday’s Race-1 where he finished eighth, that he made an untroubled progress through the 12 laps that was briefly interrupted by a Safety Car period. Chirag made a well-timed getaway on restart and eventually spared four seconds to second-placed Rishon Rajeev (Bengaluru) with Chennai’s Dillon Thomas Zachariah finishing third.

    Later, it was an Arjun Balu show in the saloon cars race that was run on a combined 27-car grid comprising all three categories – the premier Indian Touring Cars, Indian Junior Touring Cars and Super Stock.

    Balu, starting from pole, briefly slipped to second behind 2017 champion Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports), also from Coimbatore, after missing a gear-shift at the start. However, he swiftly moved to the front and increased the gap gradually for a comfortable win despite alternator failure and the car running only on battery power.

    Narendran finished second ahead of Rayo Racing’s Jeet Jhabakh from Hyderabad who was in the brand new Volkswagen Virtus which made its debut in the championship this weekend.

    Behind the front-runners, Chennai’s Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), racing in the championship for the first time since 1999, topped the IJTC category, followed by team-mate Diana Pundole (Pune). However, both were disqualified following post-race scrutiny for a “technical infringement”. Chennai’s Anand Prasad (Performance Racing), thus, moved from third to first, ahead of team-mate K Srinivas Teja and Charen Chandran (Arka Motorsports).

    Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing), also from Chennai, won in the Super Stock class, followed by DB Motorsports pair of Jason Deepak Saldanha (Mangaluru) and Jarshan Anand (Chennai).

    Provisional results:

    MRF F2000 (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Chirag Ghorpade (Bengaluru) (21:09.735); 2. Rishon Rajeev (Bengaluru) (21:13.319); 3. Dillon Thomas Zachariah (Chennai) (21:15.235).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (15:14.085); 2. Arjun Narendran (Coimbatore, Arka Motorsports) (15:22.908); 3. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad, Rayo Racing) (15:39.557).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (16:05.841); 2. K Srinivasa Teja (Chennai, Performance Racing) (16:18.879); 3. Charen Chandran (Coimbatore, Arka Motorsports) (16:30.685).

    Super Stock (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) (15:19.989); 2. Jason Deepak Saldanha (Mangaluru, DB Motorsports) (15;22.778); 3. Jarshan Anand (Chennai, DB Motorsports) (15:58.631).

    MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios – Race 2, 5 laps): 1. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai, Redline Racing) (10:44.711); 2. Angad Matharoo (Chandigarh, Redline Racing) (10:46.640); 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (Coimbatore, Redline Racing) (10:50.412). Special awards for lady drivers (all Redline Racing): Race-1: Diana Pundole (Pune) and Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamgalur). Race-2: Shravanthika Lakshmi (Coimbatore) and Tarushi Vikram.

  • Maiden victory for Chirag Ghorpade in MRF F1600; Rishon day’s fastest driver

    Maiden victory for Chirag Ghorpade in MRF F1600; Rishon day’s fastest driver

    Chennai, 11 Dec. 2021: Sixteen-year-old 11th grade student of Bengaluru Chirag Ghorpade, drove a brilliant race to win his maiden race in the coveted MRF F1600 class in the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship at the MMRT, here on Saturday.

    Ghorpade held off another 7-year old, Agra’s Shahan Ali Mohsin, for his maiden win in this category while Rishon Rajiv, 6, also from Bengaluru, finished third in the eight-lap race. Rishon became the fastest Driver of the day clocking 1:39.964. Ghorpade did a 39.8 on Thursday but was content in being consistent today and focused on his race victory. The trio was in a league of its own in a field that had quite a few experienced drivers.

    “It was a tough race initially when Shahan caught up with me, but I realized that he was unable to narrow the gap any further and I managed to dictate the pace,” said Ghorpade who had earlier qualified for pole position.

    Chirag Ghorpade after his maiden win in the MRF F1600 category (Dec 11) Photo: Anand Philar

    Meanwhile, Coimbatore veteran, defending champion Arjun Balu (Race Concepts), at 47, and in his 29th racing season, was in imperious form when easily winning the premier Indian Touring Cars race from pole position, while two Rayo Racing drivers from Hyderabad, Anindith Reddy and Jeet Jhabakh finished a distant second and third, respectively.

    “Honestly, I was quite surprised by the pace of the car (Honda City) and by the end of the first lap, I was comfortably ahead. Thereafter, I decided to back off a bit and scaled down on my aggression. Yes, I am quite pleased with the performance,” Balu said.

    Performance Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar from Chennai and Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) topped in the Super Stock and Indian Junior Touring Cars category, respectively.

    Pole-sitter Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) from Vellore emerged a facile winner in the Formula LGB 1300 race that was marred by a red flag stoppage following a series of crashes, reducing it to just five laps.

    Mumbai’s Fahad Kutty (Red Line Racing) and Coimbatore’s A Balaprasath (Quest Motorsport) shared the top honours in the two MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) races. In the second race, a Delhi-born Punjabi from Gurgoan won his maiden podium taking a second place in his debut week-end in real motorsports as the sim-racer is racing for the first time at MMSC.

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

    The top three in MRF Saloon Cars race-2 – A Balaprasath (centre, winner), Justin Singht (left, second) and Fahad Kutty (third) at MMRT on 11 Dec 2021. Photo by Anand Philar

    MRF F1600 (Race-1): 1. Chirag Ghorpade (Bengaluru) (13mins, 32.919secs); 2. Shahan Ali Mohsin (Agra) (13:34.252); 3. Rishon Rajiv (Bengaluru) (13:35.164).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts, Coimbatore) (15:19.312); 2. Anindith Reddy (Rayo Racing, Hyderabad) (15:46.386); 3. Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing, Hyderabad) (15:54.693).

    Super Stock (Race-1): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing, Chennai) (16:09.974); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts, Bengaluru) (16:12.079); 3. RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing, Chennai) (16:17.578).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts, Bengaluru) (16:04.162); 2. Charen Chandran (Pvt, Coimbatore) (16:25.674); 3. Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala (Performance Racing, Chennai) (15:30.132, 7 laps)

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1, 5 laps): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing, Nellore) (11:14.406); 2. Arya Singh (DTS Racing, Kolkata) (11:15.966); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsport, Chennai) (11:20.775).

    MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios – Race 1): 1. Fahad Kutty (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (17:08.849); Jamie Shaw (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (17:09.332); 3. Chandresh Tolia (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (17:11.833);

    Race 2: 1. A Balaprasath (Quest Motorsport, Coimbatore) (21:17.190); 2. Justin Singh (Quest Motorsport, Haryana) (21:17.925); 3. Fahad Kutty (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (21:20.784).