Chennai’s Karthik Tharanisingh clinched the MRF Formula Ford 1600 title with a win and a second place in the fifth and final round of the MMSC-FMSCI Indian National racing championship at the MMRT track, here on Sunday.
Tharanisingh started the first race of the weekend from pole position with championship leader Goutham Parekh starting second.
Parekh, who was leading the standings by 12 points, soaked the pressure from Tharanisingh through the race without putting a foot wrong while defending. But going into the final lap,
Tharanisingh ran wide into turn four and made contact with Parekh’s rear tyres and the latter went off the track and retired giving Tharanisingh the lead by 13 points.
Parekh, however, won the second race after starting eighth on the grid but Tharanisingh coasted to second place and clinched the title with 193 points to Parekh’s 187 points.
Also winning the championship titles in their respective categories were Arjun Narendran of Red Rooster Racing in the Indian touring cars, Sidharth Balasundaram of Red Rooster Racing in the Indian junior touring cars and Abhinay Bikkani of Race Concepts in the super stock category.
Provisional results:
MRF FF1600: Race 1: 1. Karthik Tharanisingh (24mins, 54.502secs); 2. CS Tejasram (24:59.078); 3. Arjun Narendran (24:59.888).
Race 2: 1. Goutham Parekh (25:59.348); 2. Karthik Tharanisingh (26:00.541); 3. Arjun Narendran (26:11.650).
Championship: 1. Tharanisingh (193 points), 2. Parekh (187 points), 3. Narendran (170 points).
Indian Touring Cars, Race-2: 1. Deepak Paul Chinnapa (Race Concepts) (18:00.216); 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooser Racing) (18:01.045); 3. Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster Racing) (1:15.782).
Race-3: 1. C Rajaram (Prime Racing) (13:46.446); 2. Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster Racing) (13:54.199); 3. G Sidhartha Kishore (Performance Racing) (14:02.357).
Championship: 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) (171 points), 2. Chinnapa (127 points), 3. Rajaram (116 points).
Indian Junior Touring Cars, Race-1: 1. Sidharth Balasundaram (Red Rooster Racing) (21:02.870); 2. Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) (21:02.913); 3. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (21:16.113).
Race-2: 1. Sidharth Balasundaram (Red Rooster Racing) (20:59.395); 2. Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) (20:59.831); 3. Biren Pithawalla (Team N1) (21:18.191).
Championship: 1. Balasundaram (213 points), 2. Kutty (187 points), 3. Anant Pithawala (104 points).
Super Stock, Race 1: 1. Kashif Kapadia (Team Game Over) (21:45.031); 2. Chandresh N Tolia (Team Game Over) (21:45.960); 3. Abhinay Bikkani (Race Concepts) (21:47.810).
Race 2: 1. Abhinay Bikhani (Race Concepts) (21:36.001); 2. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (21:44.106); 3. Chandresh Tolia (Team Game Over) (21:50.121).
Championship: 1. Bikhani (133 points), 2. Anekar (129 points), 3. Tolia (102 points).
Formula LGB 1300: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Wallace Sports) (19:55.370); 2. Mohit Aryan (Anish Racing) (19:55.748); 3. Sudanand Daniel (Anish Racing) (20:02.147).
Championship: 1. Aryan (125 points), 2. Chetan Korada (108 points), 3. Rangasamy (91 points).
