MMSC-FMSCI NRC ROUND 3 DAY 1
JAPANESE DRIVER YUDAI JINKAWA WINS SECOND SUCCESSIVE MRF 1600 RACE
GAURAV GILL BLITZES FIELD TO CLAIM POLE POSITION IN ITC
DILJITH & ARJUN NARENDRAN WIN IN TOYOTA EMR TROPHY
July 27, 2013: Japanese driver Yudai Jinkawa picked up from he left off and won Race 1 of the MRF 1600 race at Round 3 of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship at the MMRT in Chennai today. He was followed closely by Ashwin Sundar and 15yr old Tarun Reddy, who continues to impress in only his third competitive race weekend. Indian rallying champion Gaurav Gill made a remarkable comeback to the Indian Touring Car championship when he claimed pole position by 1.5secs ahead of championship contenders N Leelakrishnan and Arjun Balu.
Prashanth K and S Narendran continued their strong start to the season with 2 wins each in the LGB Formula Swift and F4 categories respectively. The Toyota Etios Motor Racing (EMR) Trophy got off to an excellent start with Diljith winning Race 1 while Arjun Narendran won an action packed Race 2. Feroze Khan continued his Chennai dominance with another convincing victory in the Indian Junior Touring Cars.
In the first race of the day Prashanth K held of a spirited challenge from Deepak Chinappa to win by less than a second in the Formula Swift category. Suhail Sabarwal finished in third place. S Narendran put on yet another flawless display to win by over 14 seconds ahead of Sudanand DR and Rajaram.
Race 2 saw the Toyota EMR take to the National Racing Championship for the first time. Diljith, who had earlier put the car on pole position led from start to finish to win the first race of the season. Behind him there was a great battle between youngster Akhil Rabindra, Abhinay Bikkani and Keith D'Souza who finished in that order with less than a second between them.
Race 3 of the day saw the LGB cars back in action with Prashanth K winning ahead of Deepak Chinappa and Inesh Singh in the Formula Swift category. S Narendran won Race 2 of the Formula 4 category after a race long battle with Jigar Muni with Sudanand DR finishing in 3rd place.
Race 4 of the day was the MRF 1600 category with Yudai Jinkawa on pole position ahead of Ashwin Sundar and Tarun Reddy. Jinkawa led off the start line but could not manage to pull away from Ashwin and Tarun. Ashwin got closer and was ready to make his move when the safety car came out for the first time. When racing resumed Ashwin once again put pressure on Jinkawa with Tarun right behind.
There was a second safety car when Goutham Parekh collided with Arjun Narendran. WIth two laps left Jinkawa managed to hold off Ashwin and Tarun for his second win of the season.
In the first IJTC race of Round 3, Feroze Khan managed to hold off Biren Pitwala and Gokul Krishna to further extend his championship lead. In the last race of the day The Toyota EMR was back on track in one of the most action packed races of the day. Arjun Narendran won his first race with Abhinay Bikkani coming in second place ahead of Varun Anekar. The battle behind Arjun was close with positions 2nd to 6th changing from lap to lap. Race 1 winner Diljith was in 4th place challenging for third before having a collision with Akhil Rabindra, who was later given a penalty after finishing 4th on track.
DAY 2 :
15 YEAR OLD TARUN REDDY BECOMES YOUNGEST WINNER IN MRF 1600 RACE
GAURAV GILL RETURNS TO WINNING WAYS WITH DOMINANT WIN IN ITC
DILJITH & ARJUN NARENDRAN WIN IN TOYOTA EMR TROPHY
July 28, 2013: 15 year old Tarun Reddy won in only his third racing round ahead of Japanese driver Yudai Jinkawa and Ashwin Sundar in Race 2 of the MRF 1600 race at Round 3 of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship at the MMRT in Chennai today. Ashwin Sundar finished first in Race 3 ahead of Shinya Michimi and Yudai Jinkawa to further extend his championship lead. Indian rallying champion Gaurav Gill continued his impressive comeback to the Indian Touring Car championship with convincing victories in both races.
Prashanth K and S Narendran continued their perfect weekend in the LGB Formula Swift and F4 categories respectively with yet another win. Diljith won Race 3 of the the Toyota Etios Motor Racing (EMR) Trophy while Feroze Khan continued his unbeaten run with yet another victory in the Indian Junior Touring Cars.
In the first race of the day Prashanth K won comfortably ahead of Deepak Chinappa and Suhail Sabharwal to win in the Formula Swift category. S Narendran put on yet another flawless display to win by over 27 seconds ahead of C Rajaram and Sudanand DR.
Race 2 saw the MRF 1600 take to track with Jinkawa starting on pole ahead of Tarun Reddy and Ashwin Sundar. Tarun had a great start and went around the outside of Jinkawa in the first corner to take the lead with Ashwin in third. Ashwin then went off track and dropped back to sixth place at the end of the second lap. Tarun pulled away from Jinkawa at an impressive pace at over a half a second a lap. Ashwin meanwhile made up 3 positions to get back into 3rd position. Tarun crossed the line in first position to become the youngest winner at the MMRT with Jinkawa in 2nd and Ashwin in 3rd place.
Diljith won Race 3 of the Toyota EMR Trophy ahead of Abhinay Bikkani and karting graduate Akhil Rabindra. Diljith started on pole position and led from start to finish comfortably. The battle behind him was very close with four cars fighting for the remaining two podium spots. In the Abhinay and Akhil managed to hold off the challenge from Keith D'Souza and Arjun Narendran to finish on the podium.
Gaurav Gill won Race 1 of the Indian Touring Cars while championship leader Arjun Balu struggled in his new Volkswagen Vento and was forced to retire. His title rival N Leelakrishnan finished in second place ahead of Ashish Ramaswamy. Gill led comfortably and was not matched all race long.
Feroze Khan finished a perfect weekend when he led from start to finish in Race 3 of the Indian Junior Touring Cars. Behind him R Rajan finished in second place ahead of Vidyuth Iyer. There was a great battle for 4th position with 5 cars involved in a close battle. Fahad Kutty finally won that battle to finish in 4th place.
Ashwin Sundar got back to the top step of the podium with a win in the MRF 1600 category. Ashwin had a good start and battled with Jinkawa for the top spot in the first three laps before pulling away. Jinkawa and Race 2 winner Tarun Reddy were battling for second position before the both went off and lost places. Japanese driver Shinya Michimi took advantage of the situation to finish in second place. Jinkawa and Tarun recovered to finish in third and fourth places respectively.
In the last race of the weekend Gaurav made it two out of two with another commanding win on a damp track. Title contenders Arjun Balu and N Leelakrishnan could not match Gill's pace and had to settle for second and third position.