Sarthak Chavan wins season opener, and adds a second podium

Pune youngster Sarthak Chavan, who finished third in the 2025 championship, hogged limelight in the opening round of the TVS Apache RR310, TVS Racing International championship 2026 held concurrently along with Idemitsu FIM Asia Road Racing Championship at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.

He won the race on Saturday and was on podium again on Sunday in the weekend races, in the grid which had four Indian racers. He finished second in Race 2.

Race1:

Sarthak began the race in P5 and in the very first lap mid track he overtook all the three front runners on a right hander, but while exiting the same curve went wide and was unable to hold on and slipped back to fourth. Rakshith from seventh on the grid, moved to fourth before slipping to ninth. Chiranth from eighth moved to fifth and KY Ahamed crashed in the very first lap and had to pull out.

With five laps to go Sarthak moved to third and had to get back to fourth. With four laps to go all the three Indian riders were in line from Sarthak in fourth, Chiranth in fifth and Rakshith in sixth.

Three laps to go Sarthak held on to fourth, while Chiranth and Rakshith slid to sixth and seventh. With two laps to go, Sarthak clocked the fastest lap time but remained in same position. Rakshith went past Chiranth to hold on to sixth position and Chiranth continued his slide but regained his place.

Sarthak set the fastest lap time for the second time and rode aggressively to overtake all three front runners and led the race. But once again, three corners before the finish, he was caught up in between them and managed well to pull out of the bunch despite vehicles restricting his handle movement from both sides. Finally, he managed to finish on top in one of the closest finishes. Ramdan Rosli and Haziq MD Fairues finished second and third. Chiranth Vishwanath held on to sixth position while Rakshith Shihari Dave finished eighth.

Race2:

As there was no relief from rain, this race was declared as a wet race. The grid position remained the same. Sarthak from P5 entered the first corner in second but was choked and exited the curve in fourth.  With five laps to go Sarthak had moved to third and there on moved up to second in the same lap. Chiranth and Rakshith were in ninth and tenth and KY Ahamed was in 16th. With four laps to go, Chiranth had to pull out and Rakshith crashed out in the very  next lap. This race saw racers sliding out in corners periodically.

Sarthak was behind MD Ramdan Rosli till the first two laps. But there on, Ramdan started extending his lead and Sarthak decided to ride cautiously as there was a huge gap between Luis Miguel and him. KY Ahamed had climbed upto 8th position in the final lap and finished in ninth position. Ramdan won the race followed by Sarthak in second and Luis Miguel finished in third.