Sandeep, Chetan Surineni complete double

CHENNAI: Chennai drivers Sandeep Kumar and Chetan Korada won a race apiece in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category to headline the concluding day’s proceedings in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

The other winners on Sunday were Jai Prashanth Venkat, Chetan Surineni, Viswas Vijayaraj, Gurunath Meiyappan, Akkineni Anand Prasad, Diljith TS and Angad Matharoo in various categories.

Sandeep finished the weekend winning two of the three races while Korada took the honours in Race-2. Korada brought into play his 17-year race experience to negotiate a slippery track following heavy overnight rains to win a raging battle against much younger opponents in the MRF Formula 2000 category. The 36-year-old Korada, thus became the first-ever competitor to win a race with a prosthetic leg. It was also his first win in this category.

Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni also scored a double in the Formula 1600 class with wins in Race-1 and 3 while Mumbai’s Veer Sheth claimed top spot in Race-2.

The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned):

MRF Formula 2000 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (16mins, 31.448secs); 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (16:32.071); 3. Rohaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (16:32.565). Race-3: 1. Sandeep Kumar (17:16.562); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (17:16.821); 3. Chetan Korada (17:22.307)

MRF Formula 1600 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Veer Sheth (Mumbai) (18.11.448); 2. Suprej Venkat (Coimbatore) (17:16.350, +1 lap). Race-3: 1. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (17:34.230); 2. Veer Sheth (17:35.192); 3. Suprej Venkat (17:42.809)

Indian Touring Cars (Race-3): 1. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts Motorsports) (15:31.253); 2. Biren Pithawala (Mumbai, Team N1) (15:41.733); 3. Ritesh Rai (Pvt., Chennai) (15:42.157)