Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) and C.S. Tejasram (WSRF) stole the opening day’s honours in the second round of the MRF-MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Saturday.
Arjun made the best use of his home track to finish on top in the race for the high-end Indian Touring Cars. He snapped out of a slow start, to take an early lead. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) and veteran racer Radha Selvarajan (Rad Racing) were right behind him. The duo applied the pressure lap after lap, only to crash their chances midway.
Selvarajan tried an impossible overtake on a left-hander and the cars made contact, leaving Deepak beached off the track. The stewards slapped a Rs. 10,000 penalty on the former.
Arjun cashed in on the chance that came his way, to win the race in style. Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster Performance) and B. Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) finished for the second and third places.
“I did not get my first gear right at the start, but I managed to take the lead. I was also aware that Deepak and Radha uncle were engaged in a stiff fight, but it did not affect me much,” said Arjun.
“Once I enjoyed a big lead, I decided to preserve my tyres for the races to come,” he added.
Chennai’s Tejasram survived some anxious moments as well before pulling off a come-from-behind win in the Rookie Cup (FF1300) race.
“It was a lucky win today [Saturday] as Alex [Bora] was leading nicely at the start. Also, Raghul gave me some tough moments from behind,” said Tejasram after the race.
The results (provisional):
Indian Touring Cars-Race 1 (12 laps): 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (14:20.639s); 2. Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster Racing) 14:33.050; 3. B. Vijayakumar (Prime Racing) 14:38.360.
Indian Junior Touring Cars-Race 1 (12 laps): 1. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) 16:00.084; 2. Keith DeSouza (Unimek Racing) 16:00.955; 3. S. Vinod (Red Rooster Performance) 16:00.053.
Super Stock-Race 1 (12 laps): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Pvt) (16:03.958); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) 16:05.710; 3. Dean Mascarenhas (Race Concepts) 18:903.
Rookie Cup (FF 1300)-Race 1 (12 laps): 1. C.S. Tejasram CS (WSRF) 14:50.596; 2. Rupesh Sivakumar (Momentum Racing) 15:03.532; 3. Vinesh Chand (WSRF) 15:17.843.
Qualifying-Volkswagen Vento Cup: 1. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Hyderabad) 1:10.087; Keith De Souza (Goa) 1:11.018; 3. Karminder Pal Singh (New Delhi) 1:11.288.
