The MRF MMSC FMSCI national Racing Championship made for a thrilling race weekend at the Madras Motor Racing Track in Chennai. MSport teammates Nabil Hussain, Sohil Shah rose to the top in Formula LGB 1300 class while Goutham Parekh and Raghul Rangasamy take the win in the MRF F1600 class. Arjun Narendran makes it a lucky weekend for Arka Motorsports in the Indian Touring Cars category. It was the maiden Ameo Cup race on the MMRT track, and the TC4A Vento’s win big in the newest Turbo class adding to a ‘Bonus’ for Volkswagen Motorsport.
The Formula LGB 1300 class saw some intense rivalry during the two races that were held on Saturday. The first race was a win-win for Sohil Shah of MSport who took a huge lead over the rest of the podium finishers, Ashwin Datta and Deepak Ravikumar. The second race which was on a Sunday was a lucky one for Team MSport Racing as Nabil Hussain latched onto the lead with teammate Sohil Shah following in a neck and neck seven lap race. Deepak of DTS Racing rounded off the podium. Nabil earned enough points to put him on top of the leader-board with 95 points. Sohil and Ashwin both trail with 83 points.
The first race of the Super Stock category earned a 1-2 finish for the Race Concepts team with Varun Anekar grabbing the top spot and Abhinay Bikkani following. K Srinivas Teja of Performance Racing rounds off the podium. Varun was on a streak again in the second race of the Super Stock category and went on to grab another win for Race Concepts team while teammate Prateek Benya managed a commendable third place on the podium. Performance racing’s RP Rajarajan finished in second place.
The Indian Junior Touring Car series is a stage that showcases young talent, and it did just that. In the first race, Chrys D’souza of Unimek Racing maneuvered his race-spec Honda Brio across the finish line with Prabhu AS right on his tail. Another win-win weekend but this time for Unimek Racing, as Chrys manages another big win over Nikunj Wagh and Prabhu AS who were on his tail for second and third place.
Team N1 Racing’s Vinod Subramaniam was in the groove and finished first place in both the Esteem Cup races. Raghul Rangasamy locked onto his tail for second place finishes in race one and two. During the first race, the podium was rounded off by Alisha Abdullah. The second race that was held on Sunday was red flagged and restarted due to an incident involving two cars that lost control on the main straight during the start, thankfully no one was injured and the drivers managed to get their cars back to the pits for inspection.
The ITC class is one of the most highly respected classes in the MRF National Racing Championship, mainly because of the immense skill that the drivers showcase in order to rustle their menacingly quick race cars around the track. The whole ITC class was a wining streak for the Arka Motorsports team with their lightweight, quick and nimble Esteem race cars. Race Concepts was never far behind with their Honda City race car, continuously developing them to make them quicker every season. Arjun Narendran of Arka Motorsport took a good lead over Arjun Balu piloting the Race Concepts Honda City. Arjun Balu’s Honda City was light, but somehow the Arka Esteems were even lighter weighing under 900kg. Arjun Narendran took the win for the first race of the ITC class on Saturday with Arjun Balu trailing for a second place. Ashish Ramasamy completes the podium. The second race was quite literally owned by the Arka Motorsports team as Arjun grabbed the first place with Ashish and Leelakrishnan rounding off the podium.
The Turbo support category is the newest addition to the MRF National Racing Championship and shares the grid with the Indian Touring Cars. Volkswagen Motorsport and Team N1 Racing took this as an opportunity that would help them develop their cars for the further seasons. Volkswagen Motorsport India entered the class with three souped up TC4 A-Specced Vento cars which were equipped with lightweight forged wheels from Wheels India. Team N1 Racing entered the class with a Skoda Laura race car piloted by Ananth Pithawala. All four race cars in the Turbo class were still in their R&D stage.
Rayomond Banajee makes a comeback into competitive racing after almost eight years in the Turbo class. The first race on Saturday was won by Volkswagen Motosport’s Karthik Tharani taking the lead for a first place win, Rayomond Banajee trailed for a second place. Ishaaan Dodhiwala completed the podium. The second race was also a big win for the Volkswagen lot, as Karthik grabbed the first place, Rayomond Banajee and Ishaan followed for second and third. The Team N1 Racing Skoda Laura had its first outing in the Turbo class, Ananth Pithwala found it hard rustle the 1200kg tank through the MMRT track, the weight disadvantage meant that he had to be sensitive with his braking techniques while entering a corner.
The first race of the F1600 class was won by Sandeep Kumar followed closely by Raghul Rangasamy and Goutham Parekh. Goutham rose to the top overtaking Sandeep for the first place in the second race on Sunday. Raghul takes the win in the third race of the MRF F1600 class. Goutham Parekh takes a commendable second place win with Ahswin Datta following to complete the podium.
This was the first Ameo Cup race to be held in Chennai and turned out to be quite the drama as Saurav Bandyopadhyay got off to a perfect start, overtaking Dhruv Mohite in the process on the very first lap. To earn maximum points, Saurav had to hold on to the lead, which he did turn after turn creating a big gap between him and Dhruv. Behind the front row the action was even more intense with Shubhomoy getting a better start to Anmol. On the second lap Anmol snatched back the second position with Dhruv rounding off the podium.
The second race on Sunday saw Jeet Jhabakh taking the win with Anmol Singh and Saurav following closely in second and third. Pratik Sonawne who started last on the grid, made his way up to fourth place for a close third place battle with Saurav. In the third race, Dhruv took the top spot with Jeet and Anmol following.