MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 2W Round 3 – Day 1

Chennai, October 30: Pune’s Sarthak Chavan marked his 20^th birthday today by qualifying for pole position with a record lap in the premier Super Sport 301-400cc Open class to launch his campaign in the third round of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 2W 2026 in style at the Madras International Circuit, here on Friday.

Sarthak, who heads the points table following three wins in four starts, clocked a blistering flying lap of 01 minute, 47.251 seconds which bettered the previous best of 01:47.291 set earlier today in free practice by his Petronas TVS Racing team-mate Chiranth Vishwanath.

In the process, Sarthak led a 1-2 for his team as veteran KY Ahmed was placed second ahead of Thiruvallur’s Mohamed Mikail (Madrabbit Racing). Chiranth, following a penalty for an infringement during qualifying session, will start Saturday’s Race-1 from eighth on the grid.

Later, Chennai’s Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing) qualified for pole position in the Super Stock 165cc Intermediate class with a late burst while veteran Mathana Kumar, returning to racing after a lengthy layoff, took P1 in the Super Stock 301-400cc Open category.

Kavicholaiarasan from Trichy (Speed Up Racing) topped the qualifying session in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) class as did Vijayawada’s Akarsh Jangam (MAI Racing) in the Stock 165cc (Novice) category while Rajender Beedani from Hyderabad (Maxperience Racing) will start the Pro-Stock 200cc race on Saturday from pole position.

PETRONAS TVS ONE-MAKE CHAMPIONSHIP

Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani, the points leader in the Expert class (Apache RR 310), expectedly took the pole position, ahead of R Hari Haran from Coimbatore and Bengaluru’s AS James.

Poojitha Anil Kumar from Bengaluru was the quickest in the Women category and will start Saturday’s race from pole position.

The results (Qualifying – top 3 best time):

Super Sport 301-400cc Open:

1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (01min, 47.251sec);
2. KY Ahamed (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (01:49.252);
3. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, MadRabbit Racing) (01:49.341).

Pro-Stock 200cc Open:

1. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad, Maxperience Racing) (01:57.336);
2. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, MadRabbit Racing) (01:57.749);
3. AS James (Bengaluru, MadRabbit Racing) (01:57.816).

Super Stock 301-400cc Open:

1. Mathana Kumar S (Chennai, Team Rockers Racing) (01:53.691);
2. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore, Team Rockers Racing) (01:53.817);
3. Sri Harsha (Hyderabad, Motul Gusto Racing) (01:54.199).

Super Stock 165cc Intermediate:

1. Ann Jennifer AS (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (02:04.928);
2. Anandhu KK (Chennai, Veedol C2 Racing) (02:05.064);
3. Faruk Ali Sohtun (East Khasi, Motul Spark Racing) (02:06.978).

Stock 301-400cc (Novice):

1. Kavicholaiarasan (Trichy, Speed Up Racing) (02:01.368);
2. Venugopalan S (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (02:01.674);
3. Divy Parmar (Mumbai, Ipone Yakuza Racing India) (02:02.286).

Stock 165cc (Novice):

1. Akarsh Jangam (Vijayawada, MAI Racing) (02:07.440);
2. Hari Haran R (Coimbatore, RACR Castrol Power1) (02:08.245);
3. Tejash BA (Tumakuru, MadRabbit Racing) (02:08.785).

Petronas TVS One-Make Championship

Expert (Apache RR 310):

1. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad) (01:53.745);
2. Hari Haran R (Coimbatore) (01:54.272);
3. AS James (Bengaluru) (01:55.802).

Women (Apache RTR 200):

1. Poojitha Anil Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:14.269);
2. Drishya Nair (Pune) (02:14.782);
3. Hannah Akkineni Joshitha (Hyderabad) (02:16.660).