Arjun Narendran double ensures maiden Indian Touring Car championship

Buddh International Circuit (Noida), 27 Sept 2014: Arjun Narendran took his first ever title when he sealed the Indian Touring Car Championship with 2 wins at the 2014 MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship (NRC) at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. The battle for supremacy in the Indian Junior Touring Car (IJTC) will come down to the last race after reigning champion Feroze Khan won ahead of Siddharth B and VJ Senthil to keep lead by 3 points.

Tarun Reddy headed into Race 1 of the MRF FF 1600 series as Champion after his main contender Advait Deodhar pulled out of the finale after suffering from illness. Tarun, starting on pole once again, had a great start and went into the lead ahead of Lee Keshav and Karthik Tharani Singh. There was action on Lap 1 with Anshul Shah and Adnan Lehri collided resulting in the Safety Car coming out. After 3 laps under the safety car the racing resumed and it was Tarun pulling away from the rest of the field again. Behind him Lee Keshav and Karthik were running very close together with the latter unable to find a way past. Behind them there was a close battle between Niranjan Todkari, Siddharth Trivellore, Dhruv Behl and Abhinav Bikkani with Trivellore getting the best of the them and finishing in 4th place. Tarun went on to win ahead of Lee Keshav and Karthik.

Arjun Narendran started on pole position in the ITC category and had a clean getaway to lead into the first corner ahead of Ashish Ramaswamy. Ashish kept up with Arjun for the first few laps but could not hold on as the latter was too fast. Arjun won by a convincing 13secs with Ashish in 2nd place and veteran driver Vidya Prakash in 3rd place. In Race 2 of the ITC category it was Arjun again as he pulled away comfortably from the chasing pack. Ashish Ramaswamy did not have it so easy as he spent all race battling with Sivaramakrishnan and just managed to hold off him as they crossed the finish line.

VJ Senthil started on pole position in the IJTC race but was quickly passed by Feroze Khan and Siddharth B. Senthil had a 7 point lead heading into the finale but will now start 3 points behind with one race to go. However for tomorrow’s decider, Senthil will start on pole again with Feroze Khan starting behind in 6th position, which is based on 2nd fastest qualifying time. 

The Toyota Etios Motor Racing Trophy (EMR) provided some thrilling racing with Varun Anekar winning both races and thereby taking the lead in the championship. In Race 1 Varun beat Hisham 0.533 with Dean Mascarenhas further behind in 3rd position. Race 2 was even closer with a race long battle between Varun and Dean as both drivers battled for the championship. Varun caught Dean by lap 2 and both cars put on a great show for the lead. Varun finally got past Dean on the back straight but with one lap to go almost lost the lead but managed to stay ahead. As they crossed the finish line both drivers were side-by-side as Varun edged ahead by 0.011 seconds.

Race Classifications – ALL RESULTS ARE PROVISIONAL

Indian Junior Touring Cars

1. Feroze Khan
2. Siddharth B
3. VJ Senthil

Toyota EMR – Race 1

1. Varun Anekar
2. 2.        Hisham
3. 3.        Dean Mascarenhas

Toyota EMR – Race 2

1. Varun Anekar
2. 2.        Dean Mascarenhas
3. 3.        Prashant Tharani

Superstock – Race 1

1. Balavijay
2. Rajarajan
3. Joel Joseph

Superstock – Race 2

1. Balavijay
2. Joel Joseph
3. Rajarajan

Indian Touring Cars – Race 1

1. Arjun Narendran
2. Ashish Ramaswamy
3. Vidyaprakash

Indian Touring Cars – Race 1

1. Arjun Narendran
2. Ashish Ramaswamy
3. Sivaramakrishnan

MRF FF 1600 – Race 1

1. Tarun Reddy
2. Lee Keshav Gupta
3. Kartik Tharani Singh