Raj Bharath pips Ryan Cullen to take pole: MRF Challenge in Bahrain

Bahrain, 13 Nov 2014:  Raj Bharath continued his brilliant form to qualify on pole position for Race 1 of Round 2 of The MRF Challenge 2014 at Bahrain International Circuit. GP3 driver Ryan Cullen traded fastest laps with Bharath but had to settle for 2nd place on the grid, albeit just 0.076secs off pole position. Championship leader Toby Sowery will start from 3rd position while it was a good day for Indian fans with Vikash Anand enjoying his best ever qualifying session in the MRF Challenge to start 4th on the grid. Round 2 of the MRF Challenge is the main support race for the second biggest motorsport series in the world, the FIA World Endurance Championship.

After a highly competitive Round 1, which was held under floodlights in Qatar as a night race, the action continued from where it left off with the top 10 drivers close to each other. Bharath started off qualifying with a strong first lap but Cullen was quick to match it and go faster. This went on for the next 5 laps with both drivers exchanging fastest laps and almost nothing to choose from them. With 15 minutes to go the red flag came out after a racing incident between Tarun Reddy and Advait Deodhar, ruining both their sessions.

When the session resumed it was the same story with Bharath leading Cullen by 0.033secs. Both drivers still managed to go faster with Bharath managing to hold on to pole after a brilliant session. The gap between 3rd and 8th place was 0.203 with Sowery starting in 3rd position ahead of Vikash in 4th place. Dylan Young will start in 5th position with Camren Kaminsky in 6th position.

Bharath was ecstatic after taking his first ever pole position. He commented, “The car has been great from the beginning and i have been confident ahead of qualifying. It was a really close session and even after the red flag I felt we had the pace to go faster. Cullen was close and it was a great battle for pole position. I am confident ahead of tomorrow and look forward to fighting for the win.”

Earlier in the day Free Practice 1 saw Australian driver Dylan Young fastest ahead of Sowery, Cullen and Bharath. The times got even faster in Free Practice 2 with Cullen taking over the top spot in a highly competitive session. The top 12 drivers were covered by less than a second. Tarun Reddy was 2nd fastest with Sowery and Bharath completing the top 4.

Out of the 5 Indians on the grid, 4 drivers have graduated from the MRF 1600 category, which runs with the MMSC National Racing Championship. Tarun Reddy won the 2014 MRF 1600 Championship, with Advait Deodhar, Lee Keshav and Vikash Anand finishing in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively. Raj and Tarun were both race winners in Round 1 in Qatar, and are currently lying 2nd and 5th in the Championship respectively.

18 year Toby Sowery currently leads the Challenge with 86 points. He finished on the podium in all 4 races in Round 1 which included 2 wins. The battle for 2nd is tied with Raj Bharath and GP3 driver Ryan Cullen on 53 points. Kyle Mitchell is 3rd on 51 points with Tarun Reddy on 49 points.

MRF Challenge

In its third year, the MRF Challenge 2014 will feature 16 MRF Formula 2000 race cars, which have been made in India by JA Motorsport based in Coimbatore, in collaboration with Dallara, world’s largest racing car manufacturer and also Jayem Automotives Ltd, which is a strategic partner for Tata Motors Ltd. The Formula 3 style car has been built by JA Motorsport in technical collaboration with Dallara, and is considered to be the fastest of its kind in Asia. The MRF Formula 2000 is powered by a 2.0 litre 210 BHP Renault Sport Engine and will have a Hewland 6-Speed sequential gearbox. The race car has also been crash tested to FIA F3 safety standards and will race with MRF ZLO slick and wet tyres.

The MRF Challenge has fielded a strong driver line-up in the last two seasons, with drivers going on to win races in GP2 and British Formula 3. The MRF Challenge Alumni include GP2 drivers like Arthur Pic, Tio Ellinas, Jon Lancaster, Conor Daly, GP3 drivers like Ryan Cullen and Carmen Jorda, Former Formula 2 Champion Luciano Baccheta and British Drivers Harry Tincknell (WEC) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook.

MRF Challenge 2014 Calendar:

Round 1: October 17-18, 2014, Doha, Losail International Circuit (Night Race)

Round 2: November 14-15, 2014, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit (World Endurance Championship Support Race)

Round 3: January 24-25, 2014, Chennai, Madras Motor Race Track

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