National Car Racing: Sai Sanjay clinches F2000 crown, Viswas Vijayraj wins Formula LGB 1300 title

Chennai, Jan 29 (IANS) A second place finish in the third race helped Salem's Sai Sanjay pocket the title in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category, on a day of twists and turns, as the Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 concluded at the Madras International Circuit here on Sunday.

While Sai Sanjay gathered enough points this weekend in the three races to seal the championship, Bengaluru's Sohil Shah, winner of Race-1 on Saturday, won both races on Sunday to complete a triple crown. The 21-year-old Sohil, who missed two of the four rounds, finished fourth in the championship behind Sai Sanjay, Ryan Mohamed (Chennai) and Divy Nandan (Gurugram).

Also sealing the titles in their respective categories were Viswas Vijayraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) in the Formula LGB 1300; Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Super Stock; Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Indian Junior Touring Cars; Justin Singh (Gurugram) in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) and Pratik Sonawane (Mumbai) in the Volkswagen Polo Cup, the Madras Motor Sports Club informed in a release on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the popular Indian Touring Cars category witnessed as many as three disqualifications for technical infringements. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) and Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports), both from Coimbatore, were disqualified from Saturday's Race-1. Narendran suffered the same fate in Race 2 on Sunday but later won Race 3. However, the revised results fetched Balu the National title ahead of Narendran in the provisional championship standings.

Viswas Vijayraj sealed the title in the Formula LGB 1300 category though finishing second behind Bengaluru's Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsports) in the final race on Sunday. The other championship leader Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) dropped out of contention after he was disqualified for ignoring a black flag.

"I don't know what to say. It is such an emotional moment for me. After missing the championship a few times in the past, it is great to finally win it in my fifth season. I owe everything to my parents who I know are watching the live streaming and MRF Tyres for their support," said Viswas.

Mumbai's Zahan Commissariat, hailing from a family of racers, scored an impressive win starting from P10 in the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) category, and the victory helped him to finish fifth in the championship. Gurugram's Justin Singh failed to finish following an incident but had a sufficient cushion to annex the title ahead of Angad Mathroo (Chandigarh) by five points. Mathroo came in second behind Commissariat and ahead of Pune's Diana Pundole, who ended up third in the championship.

The results (Provisional - all 10 laps unless mentioned):

MRF F2000 (Race-2): 1. Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) (15min, 36.462sec); 2. Mohamed Ryan (Chennai) (15:40.983); 3. Dillon Thomas Zachariah (Chennai) (15:42.064). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) (12:28.545); 2. Sai Sanjay T (Salem) (12:33.894); 3. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (12:52.777).

Indian Touring Cars (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (25:00.290); 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai, Rayo Racing) (25:08.270); 3. Jeet Jabakh (Hyderabad, Rayo Racing) (25:11.802). Race-3: 1. Arjun Narendran (Coimbatore, Arka Motorsports) (18:58.937); 2. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (19:12.399); 3. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai, Rayo Racing) (19:14.297).

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-1, 12 laps): 1. Raja Rajan (Chennai, Performance Racing) ( 25:27.541); 2. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (25:27.700); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) (25:27.997). Race-3: 1. Raja Rajan (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:36.876); 2. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts) (19.38.441); 3. Akkineni Anand Prasad (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:40.541).

Super Stock (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Narendran S (Chennai, Redline Racing) (26:19.871); 2. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) (26:23.033); 3. Jason Deepak Saldanha (Mangaluru, DB Motorsports) (26: 28.874). Race-3 (9 Laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Performance Racing) (19:01.675); 2. Narendran S (Chennai, Redline Racing) (19:07.807); 3. Dilijith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (19:12.675).

Formula LGB 1300 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (20:10.154); 2. Viswas Vijayraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (20:10.291); 3. Dhruvh A Goswami (Bengaluru, MSport) (20:10.865).

Volkswagen Polo Cup (Race-3, 8 laps): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai) (15:50.470); 2. Pratik Sonawane (Mumbai) (15:54.571); 3. Raaj Bakhru (Mumbai) (15:57.079). Race-4: 1. Ojas Surve (Mumbai) (19:42.853); 2. Avik Anwar (Dhaka) (19:49.034); 3. Pratik Sonawane (Mumbai) (19:52.460).

MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios - Race-2): 1. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) 20:49.191; 2. Angad Mathroo (Chandigarh) 20:53.991; 3. Diana Pundole (Pune) 20:54.112.