Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000 race

CHENNAI: Chirag Ghorpade held his nerve to win his second race of the season in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category on the concluding day of the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit here on Sunday.

Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu of Race Concepts and Mahabalipuram’s Raghul Rangasamy from MSport completed a double each in the weekend in the Indian Touring Cars and the Formula LGB 1300 category respectively.

The day’s schedule came to an abrupt end with two remaining races cancelled following the demise of Chennai racer KE Kumar in a hospital, where he was attended to for the injuries that he suffered in a crash during the saloon cars race.

Ghorpade, a 17-year-old from Bengaluru, did well to survive close attention from Salem’s T Sai Sanjay before crossing the finish line while local lad Mohamed Ryan completed the podium.

In contrast, Balu, starting P5 on the reverse grid, showed amazing pace as he jumped into the lead by Turn 4 in the opening lap of the scheduled 12lap race, which was reduced to nine after it was red-flagged following the incident involving Kumar but re-started later. Balu again went into cruise mode to destroy the field.

Rangasamy, who earlier in the day had won the Formula LGB 1300 second race after starting form P11 on the reverse grid, continued his winning ways by topping the next outing.

RESULTS (PROVISIONAL): MRF F2000: Race 3: 1. Chirag Ghorpade (15 minutes, 48.752 seconds); 2. T Sai Sanjay (15:49.462); 3. Mohamed Ryan (15:51.211).

Indian Touring Cars: Race 2:

1. Arjun Balu (17:30.324); 2. Ananth Pithawalla (17:43.103); 3. Biren Pithawalla (17:44.389).

Indian Junior Touring Cars: Race 2: 1. Raja Rajan (17:55.058); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (18:02.406); 3. Akkineni Anand Prasad (18:06.320).

Super Stock: Race 2: 1. Narendran (19:18.726); 2. Ritesh Rai (19:23.585);

3. Fahad Kutty (19:26.875).

Formula LGB 1300: Race 2: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (18:57.069); 2. Diljith Shaji (18:57.511); 3. Tijil Rao (18:58.585). Race 3: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (15:14.465); 2. Viswas Vijayaraj (15:14.620); 3. Chetan Surineni (15:17.331)