15-year Tarun is youngest winner of MRF 1600 race

Irungattukottai, (Chennai) 28 July 2013: The 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 National Racing Championship in Chennai on Sunday.

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, according to a Press Release from Adrenna Communications for the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).

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.

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