The Indian National Car Racing Championship completed its Round 3 and the racing was every bit exciting. From new winners on Saturday to clean sweeps on Sunday, we had it all. Here is DRC’s report from the weekend down in Chennai.
Saturday – new winner in F2000 while old domination in F1600
In the F2000 category, the leaderboard looked a bit different as Akhil Agarwal, 29, from Mumbai, won after Jaden Pariat was disqualified. This DSQ was a result of Jaden not complying to a drive-through penalty that he gained due to a jump start. The podium was completed by Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni and Tarun Muthaiah.
In the F1600 category, it was another show of domination by the 16-year-old Abhay Mohan. He raced to his 7th consecutive victory on Saturday. Monith Kumaran and Raaj Bakhru completed the podium.
Meanwhile, in the LGB1300 category, it was DTS Racing that took all the podium honors. Saturday’s Race 1 was won by Viswas Vijayaraj, his fifth of the season, while the podium was completed by Diljith TS (Thrissur) and Bala Prasath.
On the Stock car side of things, the racing was just as interesting to watch. For the Polo Cup, Mumbai’s Aditya Patnaik got an amazing getaway and held the lead till the end. In just his second race in the category, he breezed to an easy victory. The podium was rounded up by Bangladesh’s HM Tauhid Anwar Avik and Romir Arya of Mumbai.
For the honours in MRF saloons category, Kesara Godage crossed the finish line first. Round 1 highlight Diana Pundole came across the line second while Sri Lankan Kalim Iqbal came P3.
Click here to read our report from the Indian National Car Racing Championship Round 1.
Biren Pithawala had quite a lonely race in the Indian Touring Cars as both the other cars of Ananth Pithawalla and Deepak Ravikumar did not finish citing mechanical issues.
For the Indian Junior Touring Cars category, there was quite some wheel-to-wheel action across the 8-lap race. Ultimately, Hatim Shabbir came back victorious followed home by Srinivas Teja and Yug Italiya.
Finally, in the Super Stock category, Justin Singh from Gurugram (Redline Racing) won in dominating fashion. The podium was completed by Chandigarh’s Angad Matharoo and Bala Prasath (DTS Racing) from Coimbatore.
Sunday – Jaden does the double while Pithawalla remains unbeaten
Sunday’s races meant that Jaden Rahman Pariat was back to winning ways in the Formula 2000 category. He won both Race 2 and Race 3 held on the final day of Round 3. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) and Akhil Agarwal (Mumbai) came home in P2 and P3 in both races.
Elsewhere in the F1600 category, there was the familiar name of Abhay Mohan on top of the timesheets. He has extended his race-winning streak to 9 with a double win on Sunday. Both Jaden Pariat and Abhay Mohan are on track to win the championships in their respective classes.
In the LGB1300 category, Viswas Vijayraj was the star of the weekend as he won both races on Sunday. In Race 2, he won the race starting from P5 on the grid. Diljit TS came P2 in both races on Sunday, while Neev Datta and Bala Prasath picked up P3 in Race 2 and Race 3, respectively.
For the Stock cars, Biren Pithawalla continues his consecutive win streak in Indian Touring Cars.
In the ever-competitive Indian Junior Touring Cars class, Hatim Shabbir won all three races held across the weekend. This meant that Hatim had come within touching distance (3 points) of the championship leader Srinivas Teja.
Justin Singh won in the Super Stock category in Race 3 held on Sunday, while his rival and championship leader Bala Prasath, won Race 2. Justin has won 2 of the 3 races held this weekend and is at P2 in the championship by a difference of just 6 points.
For the MRF Saloons P1 trophy, Kesare Godage of Sri Lanka crossed the finish line first in both Race 2 and Race 3. Despite this, Diana Pundole still leads the championship as she scored enough points over the weekend.
Finally, in the Polo Cup, Dhruv Chavan won 2 races out of the 3 held on Sunday. The other race was won by Aditya Patnaik. Meanwhile, the other youngster completing the podium was Ojas Surve. He collected 2 P3s and one P2 on Sunday. Throughout the weekend, Dhruv Chavan and Aditya Patnaik had two wins each over 4 races.
This marks the end of the two-day MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship Round 3. It was a showcase of close racing in some places and dominations in others by young and upcoming talents. The INCRC will return for round 4 on Aug 16th-18th.
Click here to see the calendar of the Indian National Car Racing championship.