2015 MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship: Third Round concludes at Coimbatore
The third round of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore was witness to some hard fought victories.
On Day One, Anish Racing's Mohit Aryan won in the Formula LGB 1300 class. Aryan maintained the lead after starting from pole position and crossed the finish line unchallenged. In the Junior Touring Car Class, Farhad Kutty won after a brilliant start from P3. The Team Game Over driver quickly moved up to P2 by the first corner on Lap One. He then moved swiftly into the lead after overtaking Sudanand Rajan who started on pole. Meanwhile, Goutham Parekh took pole in the qualifying round of the MRF FF 1600 Class. Abhinay Bikkani was victorious in the Super Stock Class.
Day Two was when the action stated to intensify as the racers took to a soaking wet track. Mohit Aryan who won the first race in the Formula LGB 1300 Class tasted success again as he crossed the chequered flag in P1. However, his winning streak was curtailed by Chetan Korata who won Race Three.
In the Junior Touring Car Class, Fahad Kutty reigned supreme once again despite a major setback. Owing to a technical violation, Kutty got a ten place grid penalty which meant he had to begin from P14 as the grid was reversed for the second race. The Team Game Over driver kept calm and managed to win a race involving a number of crashes at the notorious Turn Two. What made it even more difficult for the drivers was the incessant rain in Coimbatore.
In the Indian Touring Cars races, Arjun Narendran of Red Rooster Racing dominated the first race and cemented his place at the top step of the podium. There were two Safety Car periods during the race but other racers failed to capitalise on these and challenge for the lead. Race Two had to be called off since the cars only run on slick tyres. In the Super Stock Class, Bengaluru boy Abhinay Bikkani tasted success again with another win despite the fact that the race was marred by incidents of the fender bending persuasion.
The MRF FF 1600 Class witnessed the most intense of all battles in both Race One and Two. In the first race, pole sitter Goutham Parekh did not put a wheel wrong and went on to win the race. The trying, wet conditions proved to be too much for Arjun Narendran who spun off the track and rejoined in fourth position. He failed to improve upon his position till the end of the race.
In Race Two, Karthik Tharani Singh piped pole sitter Arjun Narendran into Turn One at the beginning of the race. Goutham Parekh chased hard in third and the three way battle for the lead ensued. In the closing stages of the race though, Parekh moved to P2 and began charging towards Karthik. The duo battled hard for the lead with Karthik putting up a strong defence at every corner. In the end, Karthik managed to fend off the attack and crossed the a mere 0.155 seconds ahead of Parekh.
| COIMBATORE: Mumbai's Fahad Kutty of Team Game Over survived a chaotic outing marked by on-track incidents to achieve a double in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class as did Abhinay Bikkani (Super Stock) from Bengaluru in the third round of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway on a windy and wet Sunday. Also achieving a double was Mohit Aryan, winner of the first race on Saturday in the Formula LGB 1300 class. Aryan took the honours in the second race run on Sunday and finished fourth in the third race which Chetan Korata topped. Meanwhile, Karthik Tharani Singh held off a charging Goutham Parekh and Arjun Narendran to win a brilliant MRF Formula Ford 1600 Race-2. Earlier in the day, Parekh took advantage of starting in pole position to win Race 1with 18-year old Tejas Ram taking his first podium by finishing an impressive second ahead of Karthik Tharani Singh. Karthik continues to lead the Championship with 120 points, albeit by just one point from Parekh with Narendran a further 17 behind in third place. Kutty, who had won the first race on Saturday but received a 10-place grid penalty for a technical infringement which pushed him to 14th on the reverse grid, held his nerve to notch his second success of the weekend. The race was marred by collisions on the tricky Turn-2 before a spell of sharp showers forced a closure after 10 of the scheduled 12 laps. Bikkani too drove a fine race to claim his second win in the Super Stock class that was run on the same grid as the IJTC, after coming through the dramatic on-track incidents that several cars badly dented. In contrast, the Indian Touring Cars race turned out to be a one-horse affair with championship leader Arjun Narendran of Red Rooster Racing literally destroying all opposition despite two Safety Car periods. The scheduled second race was cancelled as the ITC cars were running on slicks which were not conducive to the wet track. Parekh started on pole position alongside Chetan Korada with MRF wet tyres fitted on for the first time this season. Parekh held on to the lead with Narendran in second and Tejas Ram in third place with visibility at a very low level. Narendran had a spin at the back of the circuit and dropped fourth place. As the rain eased, Parekh pulled away to take his second win of the season. Tejas finished in second place ahead of Karthik Tharani Singh, who had a lonely race in third. In the second race, Karthik, starting from second position, jumped reverse grid pole sitter Narendran and lead into the first corner. Parekh and Tejas battled for third place and exchanged positions thrice before Parekh got back ahead and went after the top two. With four laps to go and two laps to go, Parekh passed Narendran. However, Karthik did a brilliant job to hold off Parekh by 0.155secs to win with Narendran and Tejas in third and fourth places respectively. The top four drivers were covered by two seconds. The results (Provisional): Formula LGB 1300 (Race -2, 12 laps): Mohit Aryan (Anish Racing) 1 (14:53.908); Sudanand Rajan (Anish Racing) 2 (14:57.917); Chetan Korada (Wallace Sports) 3 (14:58.610). Race-3 (12 laps): Chetan Korada 1 (15:47.979); Sudanand Rajan (15:52.006) 2; Raghul Ramasamy (Wallace Sports) 3 (15:59.434). Indian Touring Cars (Race 1, 12 laps): Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) 1 (16:55.977); Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Racing) 2 (16:59.648); Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) 3 (17:00.059). Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) 1 (14:47.223); Biren Pithawalla (Team N1) 2 (14:49.787); Rohit VRR (Rohit VRR) 3 (14:54.112). Super Stock (Race-2, 10 laps): Abhinay Bikkani (Race Concepts) 1 (15:11.890); Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) 2 (15:17.642 – incl 10sec penalty); Chandresh N Tolia (Team Game Over) 3 (15:21.893). MRF FF1600 (Race 1 – 14 laps): Goutham Parekh (Chennai) 1 (16:46.332); CS Tejasram (Chennai) 2 (16:53.157); Karthik Tharani Singh (Chennai) 3 (16:54.927). Race-2: Karthik Tharani Singh (17:55.527) 1; Goutham Parekh (17:55.682) 2; Arjun Narendran (Coimbatore) (17:57.555). | |