Sriperumbudur: Classy Arjun Narendran from Coimbatore (Arka Motorsports) underlined his dominance by achieving a double in the premier Indian Touring Cars category while Goutham Parekh and Raghul Rangasamy split the two races in the MRF F1600 class as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT here on Sunday.
With the championship winner in the MRF F1600 eligible for the Mazda Road To Indy shootout in the United States later this year, there was considerable jockeying for points. At the end of the triple-header this weekend, 19-year old Arjun Datta maintained his overall lead with 96 points after two rounds, ahead of Rangasamy (84), Parekh (68) and Sandeep Kumar (67). With two more rounds and six races to be run in the coming weeks, the championship is wide open.
The first race in the MRF F1600 was a stop-go affair due to two stoppages following collisions and was reduced to a total of five laps. Chennai-based Parekh, first runner-up in 2015 season before taking a two-year break, started fourth on the reverse grid and moved to the front with Sandeep Kumar and Nabil Hussain in close attendance. The order remained unchanged as they crossed the finish line.
Results:
MRF F1600:
Race 2 (5 laps): 1. Goutham Parekh (Chennai) 10mins, 35.884secs; 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) 10:37.360; 3. Nabil Hussain (Chennai) 10:40.124.
Race 3: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram) 13:37.431; 2. Goutham Parekh (Chennai)13:39.405; 3. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) 13:41.178.
Indian Touring Cars (Race 2): 1. Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports)15:19.822; 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports)15:36.340; 3. N Leelakrishnan (Arka Motorsports) 15:43.649.
Super Stock (Race 2): 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) 15:56.865; 2. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) 16:27.612; 3. Prateek Benya (Race Concepts) 16:46.478.
Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 2): 1. Chrys D’Souza (Unimek Racing) 16:59.758; 2. Nikunj Wagh (Team N1) 17:11.890; 3. Prabhu AS (Arka Motorsports) 17:29.380.
Esteem Cup (Race 2): 1. V Subramaniam (Team N1) 16:45.670; 2. Raghul (Performance Racing) 16:54.011.