Deepak Pual Chinnappa racks up double win in ITC championship

Round 1 of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship took place earlier this year, however the touring cars were absent that weekend. They caught up with their races now, with three races of the ITC taking place at the Kari Motor Speedway this weekend. 

Qualifying took place on Saturday, with Arjun Narendran putting in the fastest lap  — a 1:09.658 —in his Maruti Suzuki Esteem. Close behind him was Deepak Paul Chinnappa who put up a 1:09:715 in his Honda City followed by Ashish Ramasamy who did a 1:09:833 in his Esteem. A mechanical problem meant Arjun Narendran could not start Race 1, so Deepak Paul Chinnappa started on pole. Deepak had a terrible start, overcooking his clutch and dropping down to tenth place. Ashish took off in to the lead, with V Nikanth Ram in second. However, Deepak began picking off the competition one by one and by Lap 2, he was back in third place. He managed to catch Nikanth as well, and was chasing Ashish who had managed to pull away from the pack. It took him another three laps to chase Ashish down, and he finally overtook him in the sixth lap. It looked like it was Deepak’s race — he managed to put a huge gap between himself and Ashish, however, with four laps to go Ashish began drawing in him. Turns out, Deepak’s Honda City had developed mechanical trouble — losing his power steering, two gears and his LSD. Ashish caught up to Deepak and overtook him with two laps to go to the chequered flag. Deepak wasn’t quite done yet, he got in front of Ashish down the main straight on the last lap, but couldn’t hold his position and finished second best.  C Rajaram, who had started P3 on the grid finished third.

Race 2 stated with a reverse grid from fourth place. V Nikanth Ram started on pole, followed by Rajaram in P2, Deepak in P3 and Ashish in P4. Deepak got a good start and took the lead in to C1, followed by Rajaram and Arjun Narendran (who started in P8!). Arjun moved in to second place, and Ashish managed to climb up to third. Deepak had a comfortable lead in the front but Arjun was chasing him down. Arjun went wide at the last corner, and had a huge moment which he saved — but lost a lot of positions and dropped to eighth. Being much faster than the cars in front of him, he overtook a few and managed to salvage third place. Ashish finished second with Deepak on the top rung.

Race 3’s starting grid was decided by the second fastest qualifying lap. Arjun was on pole, followed by Ashish in P2, and Deepak in P3. Deepak got the better of Ashish at the start and was behind Arjun going in to P1. Meanwhile, D Vidya Prakash had climbed up from P8 in to fourth. On the second lap, Arjun went wide at the last corner again, giving up his position to Deepak, but managing to hold on to second. Ashish began challenging Arjun for second place and over took him in lap 4. Ashish got the better of Arjun, pulling away in second and D Vidya Prakash got on Arjun’s tail. With just 7 laps to go, D Vidya Prakash backed off the pace after going wide at the last corner — he seemed to settle for fourth. However, Ashish’s car threw up mechanical issues and he couldn’t finish. Deepak won his second race of the weekend, followed by Arjun in second and D Vidya Prakash — who has been racing for 50 years now — was on the third rung of the podium.