Double for Biren Pithawalla, Srinivas Teja, Viswas Vijayaraj
Chennai, February 25: Displaying remarkable patience, Jaden Rahman Pariat from Shillong and Abhay Mohan from Bengaluru achieved a triple crown apiece in their respective MRF single-seater category as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2024 concluded at the Madras International Circuit.
Also coming through unbeaten this weekend were Biren Pithawalla from Mumbai from Team N1 Racing in the Indian Touring Cars category.Chennai’s Srinivas Teja from Team Performance Racing in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class.Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj won two of the three races in the Formula LGB 1300 category.
MRF Formula 2000:
Displaying impressive pace, 17-year-old Jaden from Meghalaya added another win to the double he had scored in the previous round last weekend during Round-1. Chetan Surineni from Bengaluru finished second with six seconds difference, Tarun Muthiaiah also from Bengaluru with over 41sec difference was third.
Pariat, showcased his maturity particularly in the10-lap Race-2 which he started from P3 on the reverse grid. He tucked in behind Bengaluru teenager Chetan Surineni for the initial couple of laps before making a move to take a lead which he expanded lap by lap to win by the proverbial country mile. Surineni finished second and Tarun finished third.
“I took my time to settle down and then I made my move. Patience was the key and after I moved to the front, I kept pushing,” said Jaden, who also participated in Formula 4 races in the United Kingdom last year.
In Race-3, Pariat capitalized on his pole position to start for yet another handsome win, his fifth in six starts across two rounds. Surineni followed in second and Tarun finished third.
MRF F1600:
Bengaluru's Abhay, only 15, notched his fourth win in as many starts in the class, as he won race1, Raaj Bakhru from Mumbai finished second while Mumbaikar Zahan Commissariat finished third.
In Race-2 was the very close fought battle. Abhay took a start in P7, but gradually carved his way through the grid, biding his time and waiting for the front-runners to make mistakes before seizing the opportunity for a fine win. Zahan finished second behind him with less than a second difference and Bakhru finished third.
“I was very patient and I knew that I had to grab the opportunity when the guys in front made a mistake which they did eventually. Very happy with this win,” said Abhay who later went on to win Race-3 from pole position for his sixth win in as many starts over two rounds. Monith Kumaran from Chennai with three seconds difference finished second and Zahan with over 4sec difference settled for third.
Indian Touring Cars:
Mumbai’s Biren Pithawalla from Team N1 Racing, starting from pole position in race1, also remained unbeaten, recording his third straight win. Biren was hardly challenged as his main rival, Ritesh Rai from Buzzing Hornet Motorsports, retired with a mechanical issue while Biren’s cousin and team-mate Ananth Pithawalla, was stuck in third gear and just about finished the race in distant third position behind Deepak Ravikumar from Team Performance Racing.
Biren Pithawalla was in his elements while recording his fourth straight win. Starting from P3 on the reverse grid, Biren snatched the lead by Turn-3 in the very first lap and never looked back. Behind him, Chennai’s Ritesh Rai, despite his best efforts, could not catch up with Biren to finish second ahead of third position finisher Deepak Ravikumar.
Indian Junior Touring Cars:
Chennai’s Srinivas Teja led a podium sweep for Team Performance Racing, ahead of fellow-Chennaiite Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala who finished second and third finisher from Coimbatore’s Yokeshwaran. It was Teja’s second win in three starts, including two in Round-1. Teja completed a double, with an untroubled run Nikunj Vagh from Mumbai representing N1 Racing finished behind him in second hile Yokeshwaran finished third.
Super Stock:
Anirudha Arvind from Redline Racing India was handed victory in race1, the top finishers, Angad Matharoo from Buzzing Hornet Motorsports and Justin Singh from Redline Racing India were disqualified for technical infringements following post-race scrutiny. Balaprasath from Coimbatore, DTS Racing and Jarshan Anand from Chennai, DB Motorsports also moved up two spots to finish second and third, respectively.
Chandigarh’s Angad Matharoo took the honour in race two as Justin Singh finished second while Anirudha Arvind from Chennai finished third.
Formula LGB 1300:
Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj from DTS Racing qualified for pole position with Delta Speed’s Mohit Aryan from Chennai closed the front row of the grid for race1. Pole sitter Viswas was the winner by managing to keep his teammate Balaprasath from Coimbatore in second with a difference of over six seconds and Mohit Aryan slipped one position down from pole to finish third with a further over two seconds difference. In race2, Balaprasath with a narrow difference managed to win over his teammate Viswas and Gokul Krishna from Chennai representing Delta Speeds finished a distinct third. The 8lap race3, once again went into Viswas kitty as Balaprasath finished second while Mohit finished third.