Ashwin Datta (Chennai) and Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) set the track ablaze with some blistering performances in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National racing championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Chettipalayam here on Saturday.
For the young Ashwin, it was a lights-to-flag win in the opening race of the MRF F1600cc race.
But Raghul Rangasamy from Mamallapuram, on the other hand, had to fight his way to the second spot followed by Chennai’s Nirmal Umashanker.
But the most impressive of them all was Balu. The 43-year-old former champion from Coimbatore, who is returning to the track after five years, won the ITC category in a similar style.
He took off in a flying fashion from the front and built up a sizeable lead to pull off a comfortable win. Prime Racing’s veteran stars from Coimbatore D. Vidyaprakash and B. Vijayakumar exhibited their old class as well by finishing for the next two places respectively.
The results (Provisional):
MRF F1600 (Race 1): 1. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) 15:52.195s; 2. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram) 15:59.749; 3. Nirmal Umashanker (Chennai) 16:03.412.
Indian Touring Cars (Race 1): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) 16:38.541; 2. D Vidya Prakash (Prime Racing) 16:46.128; 3. B. Vijay Kumar (Prime Racing) 16:47.238.
Super Stock (Race 1): 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) 22:43.752; Deepak Ravikumar (Infinite Piston) 22:45.806; 3. K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing) 22:48.777.
Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 1): 1. Chrys D’Souza (Unimek Racing) 22:54.799; 2. Prabhu AS (ARKA Motorsports) 22:57.507; 3. Nikunj Vagh (Team N1) 23:01.287. Esteem Cup (Race 1): 1. S. Vinod (Team N1) 22:50.081 (lone finisher).
Formula LGB 1300 (Race 1): 1. Sohil Shah (MSport) 19:20.665; 2. Nabil Hussain (MSport) 19:21.179; 3. A Balaprasath (DTS Racing) 19:22.636. Race 2: Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) 17:32.137; 2. Rupesh Sivakumar (MSport) 17:51.678; 3. Nabil Hussain (MSport) 17:55.093.
Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race 1): 1. Dhruv Mohite (Kohlapur) 17:44.976; 2. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) 17:49.205; 3. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Thane) 17:54.758).