MRF F1600 triple-header to highlight 12-race card: 4w Racing Nationals
Irrungattukottai, 19 July 2018: The third round of the MRF Indian National Racing Championship which has never failed to dish out high octane action while witnessing emergence of fresh talent, gets off to a start at the MMRT, about 40 km from Chennai, on Friday even as the competition hots up among title contenders in various categories. The Racing Nationals are organised by Madras Motor Sports Club under the aegis of the National governing body for the sport, the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs in India (fmsci).
The championship returns to the MMRT after a gap of five months after the first round in February and the next in Coimbatore last month. A card of 12 races has been scheduled for the weekend. The programme includes Volkswagen Ameo Cup besides the first round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Drag Racing Championship 2018 for four-wheelers which will be run post-lunch on Saturday and Sunday,
The three races in the MRF F1600, now in its seventh season, has proven to be an excellent platform for young guns to showcase their racing talent. The added incentive to the winner of the championship in the MRF F1600 is the chance to participate in the Mazda Road to Indy shootout in the United States later this year which has been organized by the MMSC. The winner of the shootout will receive a scholarship of USD 200,000.
The previous round at Coimbatore witnessed the emergence of 19-year old Ashwin Datta from Chennai who won all three MRF F1600 races in a display of raw pace that blitzed the field and gave himself a head-start in the championship.
The other open-wheel single-seater category, Formula LGB 1300, threw up three different winners – Team MSport’s Nabil Hussain and Sohail Shah, and Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) – in the season-opening triple-header in Coimbatore last month that accurately reflected the competitiveness of the races.
Among saloon cars, the premier Indian Touring Cars category should witness the more thrilling action. The previous round in Coimbatore was all about returning stars as Coimbatore ace Arjun Balu (Race Concepts), back on track after a five-year break, won both the races to close in on championship leader Ashish Ramaswamy (ARKA Motorsports) from Bengaluru. Just 18 points separate the duo with veteran B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) and Nikanth Ram (ARKA Motorsports) sandwiched in between.
A fresh addition to this grid is last year’s champion, Coimbatore-based Arjun Narendran (ARKA Motorsports) who returns after sitting out the previous two rounds and his presence is expected to further sharpen the competitive edge.
In the other saloon cars categories, K Srinivas Teja (Prime Racing) heads the Super Stock with one win and four podiums as also Prabhu AS (ARKA Motorsports) in the Indian Junior Touring Cars while Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing), having won four races, is ahead in the Esteem Cup.
The Round 2 of Volkswagen Ameo Cup is again expected to dish out its share of thrillers as witnessed in the previous round at Coimbatore where Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite achieved a credible double to take a firm lead in the championship.
About Madras Motor Sports Club: The Madras Motor Sports Club has been the pioneer in developing and promoting motorsport in India since 1953, and we look to further improve in the years to come. It is the club’s endeavour to provide more opportunities for competitors, and to this end, it has chalked out various progressive programmes. From the days of Sholavaram , MMSC built its own racetrack which was inaugurated in 1979 and secured its FIA Grade-2 international certification in 2014, making it the only club which owns such a facility that has been further upgraded with international-standard Paddock, complete with VIP hospitality suites, 20 spacious garages and a separate Paddock on the western side with its own circuit. The club has organised the Porsche Super Cup, Formula Campos, Formula Asia, Asian touring car championships, Formula 3, Tata Prima Truck racing championship, the FIM Asia Road Racing Championships (2-wheelers) besides a host of other motorsport events over the years. The club also has active participation for its events from vehicle manufacturers who also use the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) extensively for testing their products.
