Arjun, Chirag post dominating wins
Arjun Balu of Race Concepts and Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghorpade lit up the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2021 with dominating performances in their respective categories at the MMRT here on Sunday.
Arjun (17:00.366) brought into play his vast experience to complete a double in the premier Indian Touring Cars class, after starting from P3 (reverse grid) in a “wet race” following a bout of heavy showers. Having won the first race on Saturday, Arjun, who started behind the Rayo Racing duo of Anindith Reddy and Jeet Jhabakah, played a waiting game before getting a jump on the two drivers.
Jeet (17:09.508) came second while Anindith (17:09.774) completed the podium. Chirag, who had won the first race in the MRF F1600 category on Saturday, topped the third of the triple-header after local teenager Dillon Zacharaiah took the honours in the second outing for his maiden win in the class.
Dillon (16:37.473) drove a fine race while starting from P2 on the reverse grid, with Suriyavarathan (16:37.884) of Coimbatore and Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj (16:38.344) finishing second and third respectively.
In the evening, Chirag (10:37.982) scored a lights-toflag win to complete a double, in a race that was reduced to six laps from the scheduled eight. Shahan Ali Mohsin, who finished second, was later docked a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which pushed him to sixth. The penalty moved Viswas (10:45.318) to second place and Ashwin Datta (10:45.995) to third.
Also achieving a double was Charen Chandran (18:03.480), who won both the races in the Super Stock category. Rithvik Thomas (18:32.647), representing Race Concepts, ended Performance Racing driver Deepak Ravikumar’s winning streak in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class by winning Race-2.
Raghul Rangasamy (19:34.504) of Quest Motorsport clinched the honours in the Formula LGB 1300 race from P5 start while Fahad Kutty (12:11.978) completed a profitable weekend as he won two of the three races and finished on podium in the other in the MRF Saloon Cars category.