4W Racing Championship set for thrilling finish

CHENNAI: It promises to be a hectic scramble for points in the fourth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship scheduled to be held at the Madras International Circuit here this weekend (August 17-18) when 15 races will be run across all categories.

Of the 70 entrants, two teenagers, Jaden Pariat from Shillong and Bengaluru’s Abhay Mohan, competing in the two premier single-seater categories, the MRF Formula 2000 and MRF Formula 1600, respectively, will have the spotlight trained on them.

Pariat, the 17-year-old with international exposure via the Formula 4 races, enjoys a 24-point advantage over Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni. Given his performance thus far, seven wins from nine starts, Jaden has one hand on the championship trophy even granting that a maximum of 75 points are on offer across three races scheduled.

In contrast, Bengaluru’s 16-year-old Abhay Mohan has an unassailable lead in the MRF Formula 1600, having won all the nine races. The trio of Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai), Monith Kumaran (Chennai) and Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) is bunched up behind the leader, just 16 points separating them.

The championship is wide open in the ever-popular touring car segment with its three sub-classes. Mumbai’s Biren Pithawalla (N1 Racing), with nine wins, leads in the top-end Indian Touring Cars (ITC) from Chennai ace Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing).

It is a neck-and-neck situation in the Indian Junior Touring Cars (IJTC) with two Chennai drivers and Performance Racing team-mates, Srinivas Teja and Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwalla separated by just three points. It is even closer in the Super Stock class where Coimbatore’s Bala Prasath (DTS Racing) leads Justin Singh (Redline Racing India) from Gurugram by mere two points.

The battle for the title is likely to go down to the wire in the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) category as the top three, Diana Pundole (Pune), Sri Lankan Kesara Godage and Chennai’s Anirudha Aravind, are apart by 11 points.

The highly competitive Polo Cup has the busiest schedule with six races to complete the championship in this category with 150 points at stake. Navi Mumbai’s Aditya Patnaik and Dhruv Chavan form Lonavla currently head the leaderboard, but behind the pair are several drivers fully capable of springing surprises.

DTS Racing’s Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore) with seven wins, appears best placed to clinch the title in the Formula LGB 1300 as he leads team-mate Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) by a commanding 63 points.

Race Director Manoj Dalal said: “You can expect plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing up and down the grid considering that the championship titles in all categories are up for grabs. This season has seen the emergence of some talented young drivers who have continuously raised the bar in terms of pace and overall performance. This being the final round, it is only fitting to thank our title sponsors, MRF Tyres, besides our fuel partners Indian Oil who came on board earlier this summer, the competitors, the Media, officials and marshals, all of whom have contributed to the success of the championship.”