Arjun Balu, Rithwik Thomas, Diljith reign supreme

Irungattukottai, near Chennai, 7 Nov 2020: Top speedster and talented Indian racing driver, Arjun Balu of Race Concepts, chalked up another fluent victory to extend lead the championship lead in the top-end Indian Touring Cars class as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship commenced here at the MMRT on Saturday.

Balu from Coimbatore, thus, swept to his third consecutive win despite teething troubles with his car, following a double in the opening round in February, but was far from pleased with his performance. “I was still down on my lap times and was not too happy with the balance of the car. We made some changes to the car from the previous round, and so, had to deal with some teething issues. It was a struggle all weekend and we had to do a lot of work. I hope to do better in the next two races and come back stronger,” said Balu. Starting on pole Balu had a good launch and pulled off a quick lap of eight tenths over Keith in the first lap and did consistently faster laps thereafter, except in the Lap 2. He was not only faster than Keith in the second place but clocked the best lap of 1:53.146 (118.2 kmph). Joel Joseph who came fifth is the tuner of the Race Concept cars.

Finishing behind Balu were two FB Motorsport teammates, Keith D’Souza and last year’s champion Dhruv Mohite, neither of whom came anywhere near the Coimbatore ace who was simply sublime. Mohite who did not take part in the ITC class Round 1, opened his account while Keith is second on the table, adding to his second and fourth in the first two races in February.. “I too had a good start but we did not have the raw pace and all I can do was to keep up with him as much as I could. But I am happy with my race,” said Keith D’Souza of FB Motorsports tuned by Farad Bathena.

Also finishing on the top step of the podium was Bengaluru’s Rithvik Thomas, also of Race Concepts, in the Super Stock class and, Diljith TS from Thrissur, in the Toyota Etios MRF Saloon Car Championship.

A couple of rain spells delayed the races but the stop-go proceedings did not affect their competitive nature and produced plenty of action.

Tijil Rao of Momentum Motorsport and Mohamed Ryan of M Sport won a race each in the Formula LGB 1300 category that had two races on Saturday.

Pole-sitter Tijil Rao led a 1-2 for Momentum Motorsport after holding off team-mate Chirag Ghorpade in a tense battle and behind them, Diljith TS, of DTS Racing, completed the podium. It was a good run by Ghorpade who started seventh on the grid and cut through the field to catch up with Tijil. The two were locked in a tense battle, but Tijil just about kept his nose in front while Dilijith made two places from fifth to finish third.

In the second Formula LGB 1300 race, Mohamed Ryan (M Sport) won handily from reverse grid start ahead of Karthik Krishna (Hasten Performance) and Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing). Tijil managed to finish fifth for some important points. “He pressurised me a lot but I managed to keep it up for the win the first race. Now on to the next race,” said Mohamed Ryan. A Balaprasath clocked the best lap in Race 2: 1:53.007 (118.4 kmph) and it was Chirag Ghorpade with the fastest lap in Race 1 timing 1:53.085 (118.3kmph).

The combined saloon car race grid comprised two other classes, including the Super Stock, which was won by Rithwik Thomas of Race Concepts. It was his third success in a row and he extended his championship lead in this class. Raghul Rangasamy of Race Performance came second ahead of Alisha Abdullah, who did a good job to take the podium again ahead of five more racers, including Shivani Pruthvi of Davangere, who switched from rallies to racing once again, after her debut in racing last year at Coimbatore. “It was a good race. I started on the pole and had a fight for a few corners in the beginning before I settled down. Looking forward to tomorrow’s races,” said Rithvik Thomas. He consistently had faster laps and his best lap of 1:58.922 was over a second faster than the best lap of second-placed Rangasamy.

“I am very happy with my performance today and I have more to learn. I am focused now tomorrow’s races and looking forward to it,” said Alisha Abdullah.

The MRF Saloon Car Championship with identical Toyota Etios vehicles, made its debut, where Diljith TS topped without much ado. Chennai’s Balaprasath, who also took part in the Karting Nationals at Bengaluru last Sunday, came second ahead of Mumbai’s Chandresh Tolia.

The results (Provisional, all 8 laps unless mentioned):

Formula LGB (Race-1): 1. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsports) (15mins, 20.044secs); 2. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsport) (15:20.726); 3. Diljith TS (DTS Racing) (15:25.857).

Race 2 (10 laps): 1. Mohamed Ryan (M Sport) (19:10.071); 2. Karthik Krishna (Hasten Performance) (19:11.888); 3. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) (19:12.884).

Indian Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15:13.588); 2. Keith D’Souza (FB Motorsport) (15:21.592); 3. Dhruv Mohite (FB Motorsport) (15:26.575).

Super Stock (Race-1): 1. Rithwik Thomas (Race Concepts) (16:09.642); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (16:15.868); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Race Concepts) (16:33.443).

MRF Saloon Car Championship (Race-1): 1. Diljith TS (Thrissur) (17:04.940); 2. A Balaprasath (Chennai) (17:12.098); 3. Chandresh Tolia (Mumbai) (17:22.490).

About Madras Motor Sports Club

Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.