MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2021 – Round 3 Day 2

Chennai, January 21: Agra’s Shahan Ali Mohsin won a battle of the teenagers while Ishaan Dodhiwala (Rayo Racing) from Hyderabad avoided a first corner incident to triumph as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2021 sparked to life at the MMRT, here on Friday.

Meanwhile, 15-year old Bengalurean, Ruhaan Alva (MSport) displayed good pace while comfortably winning a Safety Car-interrupted Formula LGB 1300 race.

Shahan, 17, enjoyed a good start from pole position and went on to pip two 16-year old Bengalureans Chirag Ghorpade and Rishon Rajiv, for his third win of the season. The victory took the Agra teenager’s tally to 109 points in the championship, just 14 short of leader Chirag.

Earlier, in the Indian Touring Cars race, Dodhiwala steered clear of a Turn-1 incident involving championship leader Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) and Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing) to chalk up a fluent win, his first of the season. Balu and Jhabakh, who tried a pass taking the inside line, came together and went off the track while Dodhiwala slipped through into the lead. Balu recovered quickly and all but caught up with Dodhiwala before being forced to ease off due to rising engine temperature each time he pushed.

Eventually, Dodhiwala, who came into this round as a replacement for absentee team-mate Anindith Reddy, won handily ahead of Balu who, however, continues to lead the championship table. The Stewards, after a post-race investigation, docked third-placed Jhabakh a 15-second penalty for “causing an avoidable collision”.

It was a lights-to-flag victory for Ruhaan who fully capitalized on his pole position start and was never really challenged through the eight-lapper which was interrupted by a Safety Car period due to an on-track incident.

Behind Ruhaan, who had missed the previous round due to an international karting commitment, raged a tight fight for the other podium spots. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) and Mohd Ryan (MSport), running second and third, spun off after a contact. It allowed Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsport) to move into second position from fourth and defend his spot to the chequered flag, ahead of team-mate Tijil Rao, the teenager from Bengaluru who put in a great performance to move from P19 to P3. The victory took Ruhaan from eighth and fourth in the championship standings.

Also chalking up victories today were Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar of Race Concepts (Indian Junior Touring Cars) and Chennai’s Deepak Ravikumar of Performance Racing (Super Stock) while Oshan Kothadiya from Pune drove a near-flawless race for his maiden win of the season in the Volkswagen Polo category.

Haryana’s Justin Singh and Mumbai veteran Fahad Kutty, who started P11 on the reverse grid, won a race apiece, in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) category.

The results (provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned)

MRF F1600 (Race-1)

1. Shahan Ali Mohsin (Agra) (13mins, 31.446secs)
2. Chirag Ghorpade (Bengaluru) (13:32.719)
3. Rishon Rajiv (Bengaluru) (13:33.917)

Indian Touring Cars (Race-1)

1. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Rayo Racing, Hyderabad) (15:26.029)
2. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts, Coimbatore) (15:42.328)
3. Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing, Hyderabad) (16:06.177, incl 15-second penalty)

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1)

1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts, Bengaluru) (16:01.284)
2. K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing, Chennai) (16:13.396)
3. Charen Chandran (Pvt, Coimbatore) (16:29.012)

Super Stock (Race-1)

1. Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing, Chennai) (16:11.010)
2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts, Bengaluru) (16:19.707)
3. RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing, Chennai) (16:23.196)

Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1)

1. Ruhaan Alva (MSport, Bengaluru) (19:08.955)
2. Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsport, Chennai) (19:14.841)
3. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport, Bengaluru) (19:15.168)

Volkswagen Polo (Race-1)

1. Oshan Kothadiya (Pune) (15:57.549)
2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (16:01.665)
3. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Thane) (16:02.115)

MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios – Race 1, 10 laps)

1. Justin Singh (Red Line Racing, Haryana) (16:47.458)
2. Fahad Kutty (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (16:48.378)
3. Anand Prasad (Red Line Racing, Chennai) (16:49.775)

Race-2 (10 laps)

1. Fahad Kutty (Red Line Racing, Mumbai) (21:09.211)
2. Bala Prasath (Quest Motorsport, Coimbatore) (21:12.259)
3. Angad Matharoo (Red Line Racing, Chandigarh) (21:13.716)