CHENNAI, India – With just 36 points separating the top five contenders and a ticket to the Mazda Road to Indy $200K Scholarship Shootout up for grabs, the stakes could not have been any higher in the MRF Formula 1600 class, the marquee category in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship commencing at the MMRT track near here on Saturday.
The weekend will see three races each in the MRF F1600 and the Volkswagen Vento Cup while the premier Indian Touring Cars, the Indian Junior Touring Cars, the Super Stock and the F1300 Rookie Championship are all double-headers.
The winner of the MRF F1600 championship is eligible for the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout in the United States in December. As such, the competition for top honours in this class is expected to be sharp with two Chennai youngsters Vikash Anand and last year’s champion Karthik Tharani tied on 138 points.
Anand, returning to competitive racing after an 18-month break, missed the first two races of the season but made up by winning four of the last five starts while Tharani’s performance tapered off after he opened with four consecutive wins.
Ranged behind the pair of front-runners are Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (129), Anindith Reddy from Hyderabad (121) and local lad Sandeep Kumar (102).
Rangasamy is also in contention for title in the Super Stock category where he is locked with Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas on 102 points besides heading the F1300 Rookie Cup with 155 points to CJ Tejasram’s 146.
In sharp contrast, Coimbatore’s Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance), in his last domestic season before heading to the United Kingdom for higher studies, has already clinched the championship in the Indian Touring Cars class with a round to spare.
Having won six races from eight starts, Narendran, who also is placed seventh in the MRF F1600 points table, has 186 points, well clear of second-placed Deepak Paul Chinnappa (125) of Race Concepts (Bengaluru) with a maximum of 50 points at stake in the weekend’s double-header.
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 2016. 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.
For more information, contact Anand Philar at apmediacom@yahoo.com