Maiden win for Bengaluru boy Aradhya
Bengaluru boy Yash Aradhya marked his first season in the MRF F1600 class with a maiden win in the fourth round of the Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT in Chennai on Sunday.
Aradhya, who celebrated his 17th birthday last Friday, started Race- 3 from third position on the grid, but within two laps, hit the front, getting past pole- sitter Goutham Parekh and Sandeep Kumar before defending his position to score a fine win. Earlier, Parekh comfortably won the in Race- 2 of the MRF F1600.
After this weekend’s tripleheader, Raghul Rangasamy ( 134), following his win in Race- 1 yesterday, leads the MRF F1600 championship, ahead of Parekh ( 129), Ashwin Datta ( 110) and Sandeep Kumar ( 109). The winner of the championship will earn a ticket to the Mazda Road To Indy shootout in the United States later this year.
The second race of the Indian Touring Cars class witnessed another tight battle between last year’s champion Arjun Narendran ( Arka Motorsports) and Arjun Balu ( Race Concepts).
The two Coimbatore drivers were locked in a titanic fight with Narendran, who had finished second behind Balu in yesterday’s first race, managing to avenge that defeat, but not before the two came together twice in the eight- lap race.
Balu, who led initially after starting from pole position, ran wide after a contact with Narendran who then survived another brush towards the end of the race.
With another two races to be run in the final round of the championship next month, Bengaluru’s Ashish Ramaswamy ( Arka Motorsports) continues to lead with 131 points following two podium finishes this weekend while Balu is placed second on 111, followed by Nikanth Ram of Arka Motorsports ( 98) and Narendran ( 93).
Another Bengaluru entry, 27year old Varun Anekar completed a double in the Super Stock category of saloon cars to lead the championship in this category with five wins in six starts.
Nikunj Vagh ( Surat) and Biren Pithawalla ( Mumbai) of Team N1, won the Indian Junior Touring Cars and the Esteem Cup races, respectively.
Bengaluru’s Shubhomoy Ball and Dhruv Mohite from Kolhapur, split the two Volkswagen Ameo Cup races on Sunday. Mohite, thus, extended his lead in the championship, having scored five wins from eight starts.