Diljith TS bags 2 titles; Deepak Ravikumar is FLGB 2023 champion

Chennai, 17 Dec 2023: On a day over-run with emotions, Chennai’s Sandeep Kumar and Bengaluru youngster Chetan Surnineni won the titles in the showpiece MRF Formula 2000 and 1600 categories, respectively, as the curtains came down on the fourth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

Also picking up the National titles in their respective categories were Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts, Indian Touring Cars), Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing, Indian Junior Touring Cars) and Diljith TS (DTS Racing, Super Stock and Formula LGB 1300).

The Championship battle in the MRF Formula 2000 went right down to the wire. Sandeep Kumar did just enough to pick up crucial points and pip Kolkata’s Arya Singh by just three points to claim the championship. Incidentally, both the MRF F2000 races were won by Bengaluru’s Aditya Swaminathan.

Likewise, Chetan Surineni won Race-1 and finished second in Race-2 behind Viswas Vijayaraj to claim the championship in the MRF F1600 category.

For 48-year-old Meiyappan, who made a comeback to racing after a break of 20 years last season, it was an emotional moment. Needing just five points going into Round 4, he finished Race-1 in fourth and Race-2 in third to seal the title with a tally of 171 points. Meanwhile, Chennai’s 41-year-old Ritesh Rai (Arka Motorsports) scored a double in the ITC category in front of his family to cap a memorable weekend as he finished second in the championship, ahead of Mumbai’s Biren Pitawalla (Team N1 Racing).

“I am totally exhausted but very satisfied to win my first-ever National championship. I missed the qualifying session yesterday as I was racing in Dubai (Porsche Cup) and returned home early this morning. After a two-hour sleep, I was at the track for the races. The feeling is still to sink in as I am just too tired mentally,” said Meiyappan.

Another Chennai driver, Deepak Ravikumar edged out his Performance Racing team-mate Akkineni Anand Prasad for the title in the IJTC class by winning both the races today for a double while 30-year-old Diljith, who had effectively sealed the championship with a round to spare, only confirmed the title in the Super Stock category.

However, Diljith had to fight hard for the Formula LGB 1300 crown that was decided only on conclusion of the final race in this class. He finished second in Race-1 behind team-mate Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) and third in Race-2 to annex the title. The Race-2 was won by 16-year-old Bengaluru schoolboy Dhruvh Goswami (MSport) from pole position in the reverse grid.

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

MRF F2000 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Aditya Swaminathan (Bengaluru) (15:59.086); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (15:59.657); 3. Jaden Rahman Pariat (Shillong) (16:09.957). Race-3: 1. Aditya Swaminathan (15:54.237); 2. Jaden Rahman Pariat (15:54.507); 3. Arya Singh (16:00.352).

MRF Formula 1600 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Chetan Sureneni (Bengaluru) (17:12.071); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) (17:16.562); 3. Aman Nagdev (Noida) (17:19.278). Race-3: 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (16:39.489); 2. Chetan Surineni (16:39.738); 3. Veer Sheth (Mumbai) (16:47.179).

Indian Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Arka Motorsports) (15:01.439); 2. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (15:08.362); 3. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (15:08.858). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (22:08.620); 2. Biren Pithawalla (22:12.222); 3. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts) (22:23.804).

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (15:27.357); 2. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (15:31.118); 3. Haktim Shabbir Jamnagarwala Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (15:37.365). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (22:34.641); 2. Akkineni Anand Prasad (22:37.484); 3. Haktim Shabbir Jamnagarwala (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (22:37.919).

Super Stock (Race-1): 1. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai, Pvt.) (16:37.212); 2. Dilijith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (16:37.615); 3. Justin Singh (Gurgram, Redline Racing) (16: 40.756); Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Dilijith TS (23:40.218); 2. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai, Pvt.) (23.41.591); 3. Jarshan Anand (Chennai, DB Motorsport) (23:54.807).

Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (14:53.894); 2. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (14:54.251); 3. Bala Prasath (Coimbatore, DTS Racing) (15:10.025). Race-2: 1. Dhruvh Goswami (Bengaluru, MSport) (25:18.849); 2. Abhay M (Bengaluru, MSport) (25:19.081); 3. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (25:23.650).