Vikash Anand wins his first-ever MRF 1600 race in style

David Bodapati September 15, 2013

384 2 minutes read

Buddh International Circuit, 15 Sept 2013: Indian driver Vikash Anand

Vikash Anand wins his first-ever MRF 1600 race at BIC on Sunday. An Adrenna photo

won his first ever MRF 1600 race in style of the season ahead of 15yr old Tarun Reddy at the final round of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. M Sivaramakrishnan won the Indian Touring Car race after 2013 Champion and winner N Leelakrishnan was given a 15 second penalty for jumping the start. The BIC was bustling with 15000 fans present for the MMSC NRC special weekend for both cars and bikes. MMSC prize money of over 60 lakhs for the 2013 MMSC NRC is the highest of its kind for Indian motorsport, a press release said.

The opening race, the Toyota EMR Trophy had Diljith, who started on pole position, again lead from start to finish win with ease. Akhil Rabindra was again his main competition finishing in second place, 6.686 seconds behind the leader. Dean Mascarenhas finished in a distant third, 13.187 seconds behind the leader.

In the ITC race, Leelakrishnan started on pole and convincingly led from start to finish. Arjun Balu startting in second, also had a good start and was followed by M Sivaramakrishnan and V Ramnarayan. Arjun managed to stay in second with Sivaramkrishnan all over him. On lap 3 Sivaramkrishnan made his move and passed Arjun with Ramnarayan also getting past a lap later. Leelakrishnan crossed the finish line in 1st place but was later given a 15 second penalty for jumping the start. He eventually finished in 3rd position while Sivaramakrishnan was adjudged the winner. Ramnarayan finished in third place to take the final step of the podium. Leelakrishnan was crowned 2013 ITC Champion with 2012 Champion Arjun Balu finishing in second and V Ramnarayan in third position in the overall championship standings. Newly crowned Indian Junior Touring Car champion Feroze Khan signed off in style with victory in the IJTC race. Charen Chandran finished in second place ahead of Race 1 winner Ananth Pitawala.

The MRF 1600 race was up next with Japanese driver Kizuka Hirota on reverse-grid pole position. Vikash Anand had a great start from fourth on the grid and was upto second place after the first corner behind Hirota. Behind him Yudai Jinkawa, Advait Deodhar and Tarun Reddy followed. Tarun passed Advait on the long straight to move into 4th place behind Yudai. Vikash started putting pressure on Hirota and passed him on lap 2 with a brilliant move around the outside on Turn 4 at the end of the long straight. Tarun passed Hirota and Yudai over the next two laps to move into second place. At the front Vikash continued to put in fastest laps and pull away from the rest of the pack. He crossed the line in first place to take a well deserved win. tarun finished in second place with Hirota in third after Yudai suffered a puncture. 2013 Championship winner Ashwin Sundar did not race and was crowned MRF 1600 Champion in the last round. Vikash Anand finished in second place with Tarun Reddy in third place in the Championship.

With the championship still on the line, the final race of the day was Race 4 of the Toyota EMR Trophy. Varun Anekar started on pole in the reverse grid race. Varun led from the start and took his first ever win ahead of Akshay Gupta and Binoy John Maddela. Diljith finished in 4th place but that was enough for him to be crowned the first ever Toyota EMR Trophy winner with Akshil Rabindra in second and Varun Anekar in third place in the standings. All the three will get the opportunity to race internationally in the Vios Cup that will take place in Thailand later this year, which is conducted by Toyota Racing Development (TRD) in Thailand.

Results:

Race 1, Toyota EMR