FMSCI MRF National Racing Champions Crowned

Even though it had been initially scheduled on the MRF Racing website, the plans for the MRF MMSC National Racing Championship to be held at the Buddh International Circuit were put on the back-burner. Instead all five rounds ended up being held at the Madras Motor Sport Club stronghold of Chennai. Proof, if needed at how the MMSC holds sway over the decisions taken by MRF Racing when it comes to circuit racing.

The final weekend of the year, which was also paired with the Volkswagen Vento Cup, saw champions being crowned in the Formula 1600, Formula 1300 Rookie Championship Indian Junior Touring Car and Super Stock Championship. Vikash Anand won the former while Rahul Rangasamy doubled up in F1300 and Super Stock. Keith D’Souza won the IJTC crown while Arjun Narendran had already wrapped up the Indian Touring Car championship in round four.

Vikash Anand won two races and scored a second place finish to clinch the title and win a place in the ‘Mazda Road to Indy’ shootout as the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on Sunday.

The Road to Indy is a ladder program in which drivers from around the world compete with one another to qualify for a seat in the Indycar series, which is North America’s premier open-wheel competition, almost on par with Formula 1 in terms of the speed of the cars.

Going into this weekend’s triple-header, Vikash Anand and Karthik Tharani were locked on 138 points. Anand began his campaign with a second place finish behind Tharani on Saturday, but won both the starts today to seal the championship.

“I worked hard to win this championship and I really can’t explain how I am feeling right now,” said Anand. “Indy is a great opportunity to go abroad and explore new opportunities and learn. I will give my best to be competitive.”

Anand’s title win was impressive as he had taken an 18-month long break from racing prior to getting his F1600 campaign underway, in which he scored six wins over the course of the season.

Meanwhile, the Vento Cup races – a more detailed account of which you can read by autoX editor Dhruv Behl, who participated in them – saw Ishaan Dodhiwala inch closer to the title after having a perfect Sunday where he scored two wins, the first one of which he was ahead of Behl who finished second and briefly led.

Prior to that day Karminder Pal Singh had won the race on Saturday to keep up a bit of pressure on Dodhiwala. However, it was not enough for the points leader to be fazed as he went about taking care of business on Sunday.

The final round of the Vento Cup is scheduled to be held on October 1-2 at the Buddh F1 circuit.