Double for Aditya, Chetan and Diana

Angad Matharoo clinches MRF Saloon Car championship

Bengaluru's Aditya Swaminathan and Chetan Surineni notched up a double each in the MRF Formula 2000 and F1600 categories, respectively, as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 concluded at the Madras International Circuit.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh's Angad Matharoo provisionally clinched the championship in the MRF Saloon Car (Toyota Etios) category with five wins from nine starts, besides two podium finishes this weekend.

Also scoring a double over the weekend were Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Performance Racing) in Indian Junior Touring Cars, Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) in Formula LGB 1300 and Diana Pundole from Pune in the MRF Saloon Car category. Diana also became the first female driver to score a double in a single round in MMSC National four-wheeler racing championship.

In view of the wet track conditions, the officials decided to run just the touring cars race while postponing the other two races, the MRF Formula 2000/1600 and the MRF Saloon (Toyota Eitos).

During the pre-lunch session, Bengaluru's Aditya Swaminathan, in his debut single-seater season, grabbed the pole position in the MRF Formula 2000 category. Another Bengalurean, Chetan Surineni, topped the charts in the MRF Formula 1600 qualifying session.

Pune's Diana Pundole, a mother of two, qualified for pole position in the MRF Saloon (Toyota Etios) category as did Nellore's Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) in the Formula LGB 1300 class.

ITC

The eight-lap Race 1 for the touring cars witnessed some drama even before it commenced. Pole-sitter and Balu's teammate Gurunath Meiyappan from Race Concepts, the championship leader, retired with a turbo issue on the out-lap itself and could not take the start.