INDIA in F1

Tag: Diana Pundole

  • Diana Pundole breaks gender barrier, creates history in Indian Motorsports

    Diana Pundole breaks gender barrier, creates history in Indian Motorsports

    Bengaluru: Diana Pundole, a 28-year-old from Pune, has made history as the first Indian woman to win a national racing championship in the MRF Saloon category. Her remarkable victory at the 2024 Indian National Car Racing Championship, held at the Madras International Circuit, marks a significant achievement in a male-dominated sport. Pundole’s journey has been anything but conventional—balancing her roles as a mother of two and a teacher while pursuing her passion for motorsport.

    Diana’s entry into racing started early when she took up karting as a hobby. Despite having no formal training, she built her skills through sheer determination. However, it wasn’t until she participated in a nationwide talent hunt organized by JK Tyre Motorsport that her career truly took off. Winning the event gave her a fully sponsored racing season, where she debuted in a Formula car. From there, her racing career blossomed, with milestones like setting lap records and eventually progressing to the saloon category.

    Her 2024 victory is particularly notable for breaking longstanding stereotypes in motorsports. As she noted in interviews, racing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, and she has faced her share of criticism and taunts. Yet, her perseverance paid off, and today, she is celebrated for her groundbreaking achievements.

    This victory is not just a personal triumph but a significant step for women in Indian motorsports, inspiring young girls to follow their dreams despite societal challenges​.

    Note: This article is part of Indian ‘Women in Motorpsots’ series which profiles the best performances of women riders and drivers of the 2024 season.

  • Diana Pundole creates history, becomes first woman to win a National title

    Diana Pundole creates history, becomes first woman to win a National title

    Chennai, 18 August 2024: As expected, teenagers Jaden Rahman Pariat (Shillong) and Bengaluru’s Abhay Mohan emerged champions in the premier MRF single-seater categories while Diana Pundole from Pune broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first female driver to win a championship title as the curtains came down on an action-packed fourth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2024 – Powered by STORM-X at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

    Others to win the championship in their respective categories were: Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, N1 Racing) in Indian Touring Cars, Srinivas Teja (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Indian Junior Touring Cars, Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) in Formula LGB 1300 and Diana Pundole, the mother of two from Pune, who also became the first female to annex the title in the MRF Saloons category. Incidentally, she celebrated her 28th birthday on Friday last. “But I didn’t touch my phone because I wanted to focus on this weekend’s races. I can’t describe the feelings now, but I’m very happy, of course,” she said.

    Jaden Pariat, left, and Abhay Mohan

    Businessman from Lonavla Dhruv Chavan survived massive battles through six races over the weekend to win the championship in the Polo Cup.

    Today, Jaden could not add to his eight wins, as he finished second behind Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni in both MRF Formula 2000 races today. However, the 17-year-old Jaden accrued sufficient points to annex his maiden championship with Surineni in second spot on the leaderboard. “I have proved to myself that I have it in me to win a championship. After my win yesterday, I just wanted to bring the car home without trying anything risky, but it’s great to win my first-ever championship. It is also good for Chetan (Surineni) to win both races today,” said Jaden.  

    Similarly, 16-year-old Abhay Mohan marked his debut season by clinching his maiden championship in the MRF Formula 1600 category though he was denied an all-win record by Mumbai’s Zahan Commissariat. With 11 wins from 12 starts, Abhay emerged champion by a massive margin. “It is still to sink in. I mean, winning a championship in my debut season is great, but I can’t find words to express my happiness. It was a good run overall and I thank my JA Motorsports, my family and friends for their support,” said Abhay.

    Nellore’s 26-year-old Viswas Vijayaraj claimed the title in the Formula LGB 1300 category despite retiring early in the last two races, one of which was won by Mira Erda who, starting from pole, held off stiff competition to score her first-ever win in single-seater since her debut in 2014. “I have waited for 10 years for this moment. I have been racing in a single-seater class since 2014, but apart from a few podiums, I have never won a race. So, I am absolutely delighted by today’s win which I am told is the first by a female driver in FLGB 1300,” said an ecstatic 23-year-old Mira who is also making a career as a driver-coach.

    The day’s post-lunch session was extended due to a couple of crashes and spins leading to Red Flag stoppages with title contenders involved in wheel-to-wheel battles.

    Provisional results:

    MRF F2000 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (15min, 59.892sec); 2. Jaden Rahman Pariat (Shillong) (16:03.671); 3. Akhil Agarwal (Mumbai) (16:26.390). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Chetan Surineni (16:17.445); 2. Jaden Rahman Pariat (16:18.863); 3. Tarun Muthaiah (Bengaluru) (16:31.961). Champion driver: Jaden Rahman Pariat (Shillong).

    MRF F1600 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) (17:31.861); 2. Abha Mohan (Bengaluru) (17:32.137); 3. Saishiva Sankaran (Pune) (17:35.536). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Abhay Mohan (16:45.609); 2. Saishiva Sankaran (16:49.407); 3. Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (16:57.507). Champion driver: Abhay Mohan (Bengaluru).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (19:15.391); 2. Anant Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (19:35.441); 3. Jeevanantham Subramaniam (Coimbatore, Pvt.) (20:04.964). Race-3 (6 laps): 1. Biren Pithawalla (11:34.635); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (11:34.970); 3. Anant Pithawalla (11:38.379). Champion driver: Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Srinivas Teja (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:42.384); 2. Hatim Shabbir (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (19:43.443); 3. Yug Italiya (Mumbai, Team N1) (20:05.723). Race-3 (6 laps): 1. Srinivas Teja (11:50.328); 2. Hatim Shabir (11:50.786); 3. Nikung Vagh (Surat, Team N1) (12:00.937). Champion driver: Srinivas Teja (Chennai, Performance Racing).

    Super Stock (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Justin Singh (Gurugram, Redline Racing) (21:07.530); 2. Anirudha Aravind (Chennai, Redline Racing India) (21:09.109); Angad Matharoo (Chandigarh, Buzzing Hornet Motorsports) (21:11.496). Race-3 (6 laps): 1. Justin Singh (12:35.884); 2. Anirudha Aravind (12:40.607); 3. Manan Patel (Mumbai, Redline Racing India) (12:40.825). Champion Driver: Withheld pending investigation.

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Mira Erda (Vadodara, DTS Racing) (19:53.382); 2. Dilijith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (19:54.804); 3.  Dhruv Goswami (Bengaluru, MSport) (19:57.549). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Diljith TS (15:08.241); 2. Balaprasath (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (15:11.699); 3. Neev Datta (New Delhi, MSport) (15:17.425). Champion driver: Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing).

    MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Anirudha Aravind (Chennai) (21:03.555); 2. Diana Pundole (Pune) (21:03.824); 3. Muskaan Jubbal (Delhi) (21:04.229). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Diana Pundole (16:42.428); 2. Anirudha Aravind (16:46.799); 3. Muskaan Jubbal (16:49.432). All Redline Racing. Champion driver: Diana Pundole (Pune, Redline Racing).

    Polo Cup (Race-4, 8 laps): 1. Romir Arya (Mumbai) (15:33.374); 2. Dhruv Chavan (Lonavala) (15:42.731); 3. Munjal Savia (Mumbai) (15:43.284). Race-5 (10 laps): 1. Aditya Patnaik (Mumbai) (19:30.762); 2. Munjal Savla (Mumbai) (19:40.753); 3. Romir Arya (Mumbai) (19:41.461). Polo Cup (Race-6, 8 laps): 1. Ojas Surve (Mumbai) (15:34.195); 2. Dhruv Chavan (15:39.358); 3. Aditya Patnaik (15:40.331). Champion driver: Dhruv Chavan (Lonavla).

  • Diana Pundole creates history beating a strong field of male drivers: National Racing

    Diana Pundole creates history beating a strong field of male drivers: National Racing

    Chennai, 15 October 2023: Lady driver Diana Pundole from Pune created history in the annals of motor racing at the Madras International Circuit to become the first lady driver to win back to back races in the National Chamionships. “I have never seen a lady winning two races in one round, at least at the track here in a National Championship,” said Vicky Chandhok, former fmsci president and chairman of the meet.

    Competing on equal footing with male drivers, Diana Pundole won two races in the MRF Saloon Car category and became the first female driver to score a double in a single round in MMSC National four-wheeler racing championship.

    Aditya, Chetan score a double each

    Bengaluru’s Aditya Swaminathan and Chetan Surineni notched a double each in the MRF Formula 2000 and F1600 categories, respectively, as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 concluded at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

    Aditya Swaminathan take pole on Saturday. Photo by Anand Philar

    Meanwhile, Chandigarh’s Angad Matharoo provisionally clinched the championship in the MRF Saloon Car (Toyota Etios) category with five wins from nine starts, besides two podium finishes this weekend, while Coimbatore’s Jai Prashanth Venkat was placed second followed by Mumbai’s Zahan Commissariat.

    Also scoring a double over the weekend were: Diana Pundole from Pune, Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Indian Junior Touring Cars and Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) in Formula LGB 1300.

    Aditya Swaminathan, starting from pole, took the honours in Race-1 in the MRF F2000 category without much ado but had to fight hard for the win in the next after starting from P5 on the reverse grid. Championship leader Sandeep Kumar from Chennai salvaged his weekend by winning Race-3, edging out Kolkata’s Arya Singh in a close finish.

    Chetan Surineni won Race-1 and 3 in the MRF F1600 holding off Viswas Vijayaraj in both outings while Mumbai’s Veer Sheth topped Race-2.

    One of the big stories of the day was scripted by Biren Pithawalla (Team N1 Racing), a 42-year-old businessman from Mumbai, piloting a Honda Jazz. He put in a solid performance to win the premier Indian Touring Cars race, his second of the season after a stirring duel.

    Starting from P2 on the reverse grid, Biren overtook pole-sitter and his cousin Anant Pithawalla on Lap 2. With Anant holding off the pursuing cars, Biren made rapid ground to draw clear of the pack. Behind the pair, championship leader Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), after surviving a contact with defending champion and team-mate Arjun Balu who then retired, caught up with Biren who gave a fine exhibition of defensive driving to take the chequered flag. Meiyappan finished second to stay on top of the leaderboard while Ritesh Rai (Arka Motorsports) came in third.

    “A very special win today, because I won on the track. I had “won” the first race in the previous round, but that was because of penalties to the guys who finished in front of me. So, this is very special and a culmination of nearly 12 years of hard work that my cousin Ananth Pithawalla and I had put in,” said Biren.

    Likewise, 28-year-old Diana Pundole, a mother of two, won Race-1 from lights to flag after opening a sizable lead in the early part of the 10-lapper to notch her maiden win in this category. In the next outing, she started from P5 on the reverse grid, but battled her way to the front and went on to achieve a double. Zahan Commissariat topped Race-3 following a time penalty to P1 finisher Matharoo.

    In the Formula LGB 1300 category, Diljith was virtually gifted the win in Race-1 as pole-sitter Viswas Vijayaraj, leading by the proverbial mile, went off the track at Turn-1, damaging the nose cone besides losing brakes. Yet, the Nellore youngster re-joined the race and managed to survive the final two laps to come in second behind Diljith who later easily won Race-2 for a double.  

    Provisional results (8 laps, unless mentioned):

    MRF Formula 2000 (Race-1): 1. Aditya Swaminathan (Chennai) (16min, 02.814sec); 2. Rohaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (16:03.313); 3. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (16:08.561). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Aditya Swaminathan (Chennai) (16:13.886); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (16:14.640); 3. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (16:15.805). Race-3: 1. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (13:08.364); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (13:08.781); 3. Rohaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (13:09.123).

    MRF F1600 (Race-1): 1. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (16:38.263); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) (16:39.456); 3. Aman Nagdev (Noida) (14:59.154 + 1 lap). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Veer Sheth (Mumbai) (17:23.085); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) (17:28.014); 3. Aman Nagdev (Noida) (17:28.489). Race-3: 1. Chetan Surineni (14:03.496); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (14:04.198); 3. Veer Sheth (14:04.474).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (19:11.946); 2. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts) (19:12.401); 3. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Arka Motorsports) (19:16.193).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:35.754); 2. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:36.864); 3. Srinivas Teja (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:44.038).

    Super Stock (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (20:56.057); 2. Manan Patel (Mumbai, Redline Racing) (19:11.463+1 lap); 3. Yokeshwaran K (Coimbatore, Momentum Motorsports) (19:38.091 + 1 lap).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1): 1. Dilijith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (14:57.612); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (15:03.336); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Ahura Racing) (15:05.403). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Diljith (18:50.965); 2. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (19:00.080); 3. Raghul Rangasamy (Mahabalipuram, MSPORT) (19:00.681).

    MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) Race-1: 1. Diana Pundole (Pune, Redline Racing) (16:31.113); 2. Angad Matharoo (Chandigarh, Redline Racing) (16:34.881); 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (Coimbatore, Redline Racing) (16:35.729). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Diana Pundole (20:49.229); 2. Angad Matharoo (20:50.273); 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (20:54.606). Race-3: 1. Zahan Commissariat (16:49.499); 2. Jai Prashanth Venkat (16:51.898) 3. Kalim Iqbal (Colombo) (16:52.247).

  • Sohil wins but Sai Sanjay on course for title; Diana back on podium in Saloon cars’ race

    Sohil wins but Sai Sanjay on course for title; Diana back on podium in Saloon cars’ race

    Chennai, Sat, 28 Jan, 2023: For the second-day running, Bengaluru’s Sohil Shah became the fastest driver of the day as he roared to a big win, his second of the season, in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category in the fourth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit here on Saturday.

    Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) who hardly played a false note while orchestrating a massive victory, his fourth of the season, in the top-end Indian Touring Cars category.

    Nellore’s Viswas Vijayraj (DTS Racing) also notched a fluent lights-to-flag win in the Formula LGB 1300 race to move within eight points of championship leader Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) from Mamallapuram who took the second spot ahead of Kolkata’s Arya Singh (Momentum Motorsports).

    The win notwithstanding Sohil, 21, will not be fighting for the title as he missed the first two rounds of the championship. Sohil is the only driver to dip under the one minute, 32-sec mark in the compact field driving the F2000 machine, the fastest formula car in India. The Indian Racing League driver missed five races from the first two rounds.Salem’s Sai Sanjay finished second behind Shah. Divy Nandan, a late starter from Gurugram, who made his racing debut in the karting Nationals a couple of seasons ago under the tutelage of Narain Karthikeyan, has worked hard not only to shed a huge amount of weight to become fighting fit but improved his racing skills admirably to take a podium again, finishing third. Earlier, Divy also got himself a birthday gift with a maiden win on Jan 7 in Round 2, two days after he turned 20. Sai Sanjay’s 34-point lead means, a fifth-place in both the remaining races is enough for the Salem lad, even if second-placed Mohamed Ryan wins the last two races. With his parents watching the race, Sai did a commendable job once again with a cool head, knowing that Shah’s win will not deter his chances. Chennai’s Ryan finished fourth in today’s race.

    Later, Balu was in a league of his own as he built up a commanding lead of about six car lengths by the third corner itself and halfway into the first of the 10 laps extended his lead, after starting from pole position to make up for a disappointing third round a week back, where he scored a second (18) and zero points from the two races that saw his 39-point lead dwarf to 8 points. Behind him, Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports), also from Coimbatore, came in second, but remained 14 points adrift of Balu in the championship standings with two races to go on the final day on Sunday. In third was Rayo Racing’s Sandeep Kumar, the lawyer from Chennai, the reigning Polo Cup champion. However, the ITC race is under review after post-race scrutiny,but the 10-time National champion came out unscathed from the Stewards meeting to retain full points.

    Chennai racers dominated the Indian Junior Touring Cars category with Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts) finishing ahead of Performance Racing pair of Akkineni Anand Prasad and Deepak Ravikumar. Consequently, Anand Prasad extended his championship lead to 22 points ahead of team-mate Raja Rajan.

    Another Chennai driver, Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing) came through untroubled in the Super Stock category with Narendran S (Redline Racing) and Diljith TS (DTS Racing) following home in that order. Rai, thus, opened up a commanding 38-point lead over Narendran on the leaderboard.

    Ritesh Rai and Avik Anwar from Dhaka, Bangladesh recorded their maiden win each in the Volkswagen Polo Cup double-header today. After winning the first race, Ritesh sat out the second that was won by Anwar, who has raced in the UAE and Malaysia, and is in his second season here. The win took Anwar (79 points) to third place in the championship behind Pratik Sonawane (89) and Raaj Bakhru (83) with two more races to be run on Sunday.

    Later, Gurugram’s Justin Singh scored his fifth win of the season in the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) category that gave him a 23-point advantage with just one more race to be run on Sunday and a maximum of 25 points on offer. But the highlight of the race is the return of “Racing Queen”, after a disappointing third round. The lady driver from Pune, who has been giving a tough fight to all the men, and to Justin at the top, all through the season, finished a creditable second. The lady cut her teeth in karting and later earned a free drive in the JK Nationals in an open-wheel formula car, before a stint in the polo cup in 2021. Starting on P2, she maintained a close distance with the leader and even pelted a best lap (02:02.021) mid-way through to reduce the gap from 0.7 ,to 0.5 seconds, (about a car’s length in actual distance) but decided to play safe to salvage a podium and deservedly took second, beating a handful of male drivers to promote FIA “Women in Motorsports” concept at the domestic level. Among other ladies, Sravanthika Lakshmi, another graduate from karting did well, and both the ladies were given Special prizes for finishing first the second among women.

    Sunday will be the last day of the National Championship with all the title-fight for all the five National classes going to the wire. The champions will be decided in Indian Touring Cars class, Indian Junior touring Cars, Super Stock and the Formula classes MRF Formula 2000 and Formula LGB 1300. Apart from these, two one-make, non-championship classes for the VW Polo Cup and MRF Saloon class.

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

    MRF F2000 (Race-1): 1. Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) (12min, 31.381sec); 2. Sai Sanjay T (Salem) (12:36.091); 3. Divy Nandan (Gurugram) (12:39.156).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-1, 10 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (18:53.861); 2. Arjun Narendran (Coimbatore, Arka Motorsports) (18:57.871); 3. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai, Rayo Racing) (19:13.150).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1, 10 laps): 1. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts) (19:37.194); 2. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:38.495); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:44.652).

    Super Stock (Race-1, 9 laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:00.108); 2. Narendran (Chennai, Redline Racing) (19:09.762); 3. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (19:10.429).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1): 1. Viswas Vijayraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (15:06.216); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram, MSport) (15:13.825); 3. Arya Singh (Kolkata, Momentum Motorsports) (15:13.984).

    Volkswagen Polo Cup (Race-1): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai) (15:49.646); 2. Pratik Sonawane (Mumbai) (15:52.970); 3. Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (15: 53.869). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Avik Anwar (Dhaka, Bangladesh) (19:51.961); 2. Prashanth Tharani Singh (Chennai) (19:54.052); 3. Munjal Savla (Mumbai) (19:55.725).

    MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios – Race-1): 1. Justin Singh (Gurugram) (16:29.741); 2. Diana Pundole (Pune) (16:30.531); 3. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) (16:36.259).

  • Sai, Justin, Diljith claim victories; Diana beats the boys for a podium

    Sai, Justin, Diljith claim victories; Diana beats the boys for a podium

    Chennai, 8 Oct 2022: Sai Sanjay, a teenager from Salem, stormed to a brilliant victory in the MRF F2000 category while Thrissur’s Diljith Shaji took the honours in the Formula LGB 1300 class as the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 commenced at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.

    In the day’s last race, 20-year old Justin Singh from Gurugram, claimed the honours in the MRF Saloons (Toyota Eitos) category with a lights-to-flag win ahead of Pune’s Diana Pundole and Angad Matharoo (Chandigarh).

    Sai, 19, started from P2 on the grid and after a good start, moved into the lead. He then defended his position with aplomb despite coming under pressure from Agra’s Shahan Ali Mohsin for much of the 10-lap race for a deserving win.

    Competing on equal footing, Diana Pundole, Pune, keeps the Women in Motorsports flag flying beating many of the boys on way to a 2nd on the podium in the Saloon class. A Shameem Fahath image

    Shahan Ali, last year’s MRF F1600 champion, had to be content with second place after starting from P4, while Yash Aradhya came in third, holding off pole-sitter and fellow-Bengalurean Rishon Rajeev.

    Earlier, 29-year old Diljith led a 1-2 finish for DTS Racing with Viswas Vijayaraj from Nellore for company while Bengaluru’s Arjun Nair (Momentum Motorsports) was third. The eight-lapper, after much jostling in the early stages, settled down with Diljith forging his way to the front followed by Viswas.

    The pair pulled away from the pack to finish in that order, well ahead of Bengaluru’s Arjun Nair (Momentum Motorsports) who did well to make four spots after starting from P7.

    Coimbatore ace Arjun Balu, 47, the defending champion from Race Concepts (Bengaluru) stable, set the pace in the premier Indian Touring Cars category, by qualifying for pole position with a hot lap of 01min, 50.000secs. He was well ahead of 2017 winner, Arjun Narendran (01:52.560), also from Coimbatore, and who is returning to full-time racing after a five-year break.

    The two Volkswagen Virtus cars, making their debut in the championship, and driven by Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) and Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) were fourth and fifth, respectively, some 2.9 seconds off Balu’s pace.

    From Left: Shahan Ali Mohsin (2nd), Sai Sanjay (winner) and Yash Aradhya on MRF F2000 Race 1 podium at Madras International circuit on Saturday. A Shameem Fahath image

    Chennai veteran Gurunath Meyyappan (Race Concepts), staging a return to racing after a prolonged break, took pole position in the Indian Junior Touring Cars category as did another local racer, Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing) in the Super Stock class.

    Provisional results:

    MRF F2000 (Race-1, 10 laps): 1. Sai Sanjay T (Salem) (15min, 47.253secs); 2. Shahan Ali Mohsin (Agra) (15:47.856); 3. Yash Aradhya S (Bengaluru) (15:51.725).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Diljith Shaji (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (14:59.136); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (15:03.587); 3. Arjun S Nair (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (15:12.926).

    MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios – Race 1, 8 laps): 1. Justin Singh (Gurugram) (16:32.066); 2. Diana Pundole (Pune) (16:34.812); 3. Angad Matharoo (Chandigarh) (16:41.338).

    About Madras Motor Sports Club

    Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved its racing activities from Sholavaram to its present location, the Madras International Circuit (earlier MMRT), in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. Parallelly, MMSC imported timing equipment specifically for Drag racing. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. MMSC also constructed a 500-capacity grand stand with provision for garages / storage below. In another upgrade, the MMSC installed Digi flags from TAG Heuer Chronolec that will be positioned strategically around the track. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.