National 4W Racing Championship: 13 races scheduled for Round 3; 71 entries in fray
An addition to the championship is the Polo Cup with a 10-car grid that will have four races, three of which will be on the same grid as the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios).
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CHENNAI: The MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship resumes after a five-month break with Round-3 scheduled for July 20-21 at the Madras International Circuit, here. In all, 13 races will be run across eight categories with 71 entries, including drivers from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, in the fray.
An addition to the championship is the Polo Cup with a 10-car grid that will have four races, three of which will be on the same grid as the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios). Triple headers have been scheduled for the other categories – the MRF Formula 2000 and 1600 (combined grid), Indian Touring Cars, Super Stock and Indian Junior Touring Cars (combined grid), and the Formula LGB 1300.
At the top of the heap are the two MRF single-seater classes dominated by a pair of teenagers – Jaden Rahman Pariat, 17, from Shillong in Formula 2000 and Bengaluru’s Abhay Mohan, 16, in Formula 1600. Both head the championship table in their respective categories with Jaden having won five of the six races over two rounds in February, and Abhay unbeaten in all six starts.
The ever-popular touring cars category with its three sub-classes have dished out close, wheel-to-wheel races. In the top-end ITC class, Mumbai’s Biren Pithawalla (N1 Racing) emerged from the shadows to win all four races over two rounds to distance himself from his rivals in the championship stakes.
Chennai’s Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing) is the early leader with three wins from four starts in the IJTC class while the contest is much closer in the Super Stock category where Redline Racing’s Anirudha Aravind (Chennai) leads Balaprasath (DTS Racing) from Coimbatore are locked in a close tussle.
The Polo Cup is expected to churn out plenty of thrills considering the line-up of drivers some of whom have graduated from karting, notably 19-year-old Aditya Patnaik from Mumbai, a former National champion. Focus will also be on another Mumbai racer, Romir Arya who at 16 is the youngest on this grid, but with some success in National-level karting.
In the LGB 1300 category, Viswas Viayaraj, the DTS Racing pilot from Nellore, enjoys pole position following four wins besides two second-place finishes, but needs to keep an eye on his team-mate and closest rival, Coimbatore’s Balaprasath.
The three MRF Saloons races in February witnessed close competition with Pune’s Diana Pundole heading the points table after scoring two wins and a P3 on either side of Anirudha Aravind’s triumph.