Indian National Racing Championship 2018: Brazilian Drugovich seals championship

While Ram, a 21-year old commerce graduate from Coimbatore, bagged full points, team-mate Ashish Ramaswamy from Bengaluru achieved a double by winning the second race earlier, but retired with an expired engine in the weekend’s third outing.

Meanwhile, 17-year old Brazilian Felipe Drugovich stamped his authority in the MRF Challenge 2017 as he swept to victory in both the races run today to finish the season with 10 wins from 16 outings over four rounds. 

Drugovich, who had sealed the championship on Saturday itself, had few problems in Race 3 after easing his way to the front of the field. He set such a hot pace that midway through the 20-lap race that he finished some 11 seconds in front of second-placed Indonesian Presley Martono who was followed home by Rinus van Kalmthout from the Netherlands.

In the final race of the 2017 MRF Challenge later in the day, Drugovich, starting second on the grid, got a jump on pole-sitter Rinus van Kalmthout of the Netherlands in the very first lap and then gradually increased the lead to notch another fluent win. 

While Drugovich finished the season with 333 points, Martono (254) and Kalmthout (247) completed the top three positions in the championship. 

RESULTS: MRF Challenge – Race 3 (20 laps): 1. Felipe Drugovich (Brazil) (33mins, 09.353secs); 2. Presley Martono (Indonesia) (33:20.422); 3. Rinus van Kalmthout (Netherlands) (33:21.398)