COIMBERATORE, India – Ashwin Datta made stunning debut in the MRF F1600 category last weekend by dominating all three races as part of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at Kari Motor Speedway. He now leads the chase for an invitation to attend the Mazda Road to Indy $200K USF2000 Scholarship Shootout which will take place in the United States later this year.
Raghul Rangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram, was the fastest in the free practice sessions with a best of 01:02.672 in FP1 and though his second session was restricted to just two laps to preserve his tires, no other driver went quicker. Sandeep Kumar, from Chennai, topped the second practice session while Kolkata’s Arya Singh, the 2017 Formula LGB 1300 champion, Datta and Nirmal Umashanker filled the top four spots in this session, all separated by less than a second.
Datta, a 19-year old from Chennai, enjoyed an untroubled ride to victory in the first race on Saturday. Having started from pole position, Datta drove a near-flawless race to win by the proverbial country mile. Behind him, Rangasamy fought his way from sixth on the grid to finish second ahead of Chennai’s Umashanker.
Veteran Sandeep Kumar finished fourth ahead of reigning Volkswagen Ameo Cup Champion Karminder Singh, who posted a fine drive from back of the pack, albeit some 28 seconds behind race winner Datta. Karting graduate Yash Aradhya also impressed on his MRF F1600 debut by finishing on the tail of Karminder.
Datta had to work a little harder on Sunday morning. He qualified only fourth but, following an early incident brought out the Safety Car, Datta leapt into the lead and gradually opened up a commanding lead to emerge a creditable winner ahead of Bengaluru teenager Aradhya, who had started from pole, and Chennai’s Nabil Hussain.
Datta, in just his third full season of racing, having graduated from junior formula competitions, sustained the momentum by winning the third race in the afternoon, this time from lights to flag despite two Safety Car interruptions.
“The wins are unbelievable,” said the 6"2' tall Ashwin who dropped his weight from 94 kgs (207 lbs) to 72 kgs (160 lbs) in two months to get fit for the races. “I had good pace through the weekend. My progression in the past couple of seasons has been mainly due to my initial training at Meco Motorsports and later at Momentum Motorsports who nurtured me. Frankly, my target for the weekend was to finish in the top five, but I am happy that everything came together.”
MRF F1600 Results (all 15 laps):
Race 1: 1. Ashwin Datta, 15 laps in 15:52.195; 2. Raghul Rangasamy, 15:59.749; 3. Nirmal Umashanker, 16:03.412.
Race 2: 1. Datta, 17:20.586; 2. Yash Aradhya, 17:23.803; 3. Nabil Hussain, 17:24.995.
Race 3: 1. Datta; 20:00.619; 2. Nayan Chatterjee, 20:03.107; 3. Rangasamy, 20:04.163.
About Madras Motor Sports Club:
The Madras Motor Sports Club has been the pioneer in developing and promoting motorsport in India since 1953, and we look to further improve in the years to come. It is the club’s endeavor to provide more opportunities for competitors and to this end, it has chalked out a progressive program for 2017. From the days of Sholavaram , MMSC built its own racetrack which was inaugurated in 1979 and secured its FIA Grade-2 international certification in 2015, making it the only club which owns such a facility. The club has organised the Porsche Super Cup, Formula Campos, Formula Asia, Asian touring car championships, Formula 3, Tata Prima Truck racing championship, the Asian 2-wheeler racing championships besides a host of other motorsport events over the years. The club also has active participation for its events from vehicle manufacturers who also use the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) extensively for testing their products.