Chirag Ghorpade and Arjun Balu put in near-flawless performances before heavy rains intervene

Chirag Ghorpade winner of the MRF F2000 Race-2 at Madras International Circui on Sunday, October 9, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Bengaluru teenager Chirag Ghorpade and Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) put in near-flawless winning performances in their respective categories before heavy rains led to the abandonment of the first round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

The day’s other winner was Mumbai youngster Zahan Commissariat, who claimed the honours in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) race, which was red-flagged after five laps due to heavy rains.

Zahan Commissariat (No.19) on way to winning the MRF Saloon (Toyota Etios) race at the Madras International Circuit on October 9, 2022.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Later, it was an Arjun show in the saloon cars race that was run on a combined 27-car grid comprising all three categories — the premier Indian Touring Cars, Indian Junior Touring Cars and Super Stock.

Narendran finished second ahead of Rayo Racing’s Jeet Jhabakh from Hyderabad, who was in the brand new Volkswagen Virtus, which made its debut in the championship this weekend.

Behind the front-runners, Chennai’s Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), racing in the championship for the first time since 1999, topped the IJTC category, followed by team-mate Diana Pundole (Pune). However, both were disqualified following post-race scrutiny for a “technical infringement”. Chennai’s Anand Prasad (Performance Racing), thus, moved from third to first, ahead of team-mate K. Srinivas Teja and Charen Chandran (Arka Motorsports).

Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing), also from Chennai, won in the Super Stock class, followed by DB Motorsports pair of Jason Deepak Saldanha (Mangaluru) and Jarshan Anand (Chennai).

Bengaluru’s Chirag Ghorpade, who won the MRF F2000 Race-2 at the Madras International Circuit on October 9, 2022.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Provisional results: MRF F2000 (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Chirag Ghorpade (21:09.735); 2. Rishon Rajeev (21:13.319); 3. Dillon Thomas Zachariah (21:15.235).

Indian Touring Cars (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15:14.085); 2. Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports) (15:22.908); 3. Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing) (15:39.557).

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Anand Prasad (Performance Racing) (16:05.841); 2. K. Srinivasa Teja (Performance Racing) (16:18.879); 3. Charen Chandran (Arka Motorsports) (16:30.685).

Super Stock (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing) (15:19.989); 2. Jason Deepak Saldanha (DB Motorsports) (15;22.778); 3. Jarshan Anand (DB Motorsports) (15:58.631).

MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios – Race 2, 5 laps): 1. Zahan Commissariat (Redline Racing) (10:44.711); 2. Angad Matharoo (Redline Racing) (10:46.640); 3. Jai Prashanth Venkat (Redline Racing) (10:50.412).

Special awards for lady drivers (all Redline Racing): Race-1: Diana Pundole and Tarushi Vikram. Race-2: Shravanthika Lakshmi and Tarushi.