Biren Pithawalla tops Indian Touring Cars race

CHENNAI: Bengaluru’s Aditya Swaminathan and Chetan Surineni notched a double each in the MRF Formula 2000 and F1600 categories, respectively, as the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 concluded at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh’s Angad Matharoo provisionally clinched the championship in the MRF Saloon Car (Toyota Etios) category with five wins from nine starts, besides two podium finishes this weekend, while Coimbatore’s Jai Prashanth Venkat was placed second followed by Mumbai’s Zahan Commissariat.

Also scoring a double over the weekend were: Diana Pundole from Pune in the MRF Saloon Car category and who became the first female driver to score a double in a single round in the MMSC National four-wheeler racing championship, Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Indian Junior Touring Cars and Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) in Formula LGB 1300.

Aditya Swaminathan, starting from the pole, took the honours in Race-1 in the MRF F2000 category without much ado but had to fight hard for the win in the next after starting from P5 on the reverse grid. Championship leader Sandeep Kumar from Chennai salvaged his weekend by winning Race-3, edging out Kolkata’s Arya Singh in a close finish.

Chetan Surineni won Race-1 and 3 in the MRF F1600 holding off Viswas Vijayaraj in both outings while Mumbai’s Veer Sheth topped Race-2.

One of the big stories of the day was scripted by Biren Pithawalla (Team N1 Racing), a 42-year-old businessman from Mumbai, piloting a Honda Jazz. He put in a solid performance to win the premier Indian Touring Cars race, his second of the season after a stirring duel.

Starting from P2 on the reverse grid, Biren overtook pole-sitter and his cousin Anant Pithawalla on Lap 2. With Anant holding off the pursuing cars, Biren made rapid ground to draw clear of the pack. Behind the pair, championship leader Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), after surviving a contact with defending champion and team-mate Arjun Balu who then retired, caught up with Biren who gave a fine exhibition of defensive driving to take the chequered flag. Meiyappan finished second to stay on top of the leaderboard while Ritesh Rai (Arka Motorsports) came in third.