Winning the last ever Volkswagen Polo R Cup (replaced by the Vento Cup this year) has been a spring board of sorts for Karthik Tharani Singh if his performances in the MRF F1600 Championship of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship is any indication.
Qualifying on pole, winning both races of the second MRF F1600 round at the MMRT near Chennai allowed Tharani Singh to end the weekend on top of the championship standings ahead of experienced single seat drivers like Goutam Parekh and the reigning Indian Touring Car Championship title holder Arjun Narendran.
A SUPER WEEKEND
Tharani Singh was fastest in all the practice sessions before qualifying on pole position with a lap of 1:41.886 and became the only driver to dip into the 41s all weekend. Behind him the battle was even closer with Narendran, Parekh and Siddharth Trivellore all separated by less than two tenths of a second in practice.
In the first race, Tharani Singh had a good start to lead into the first corner. Behind him Narendran held off Parekh and Trivellore to keep second place. Tharani Singh pulled away from the pack as Narendran and Parekh got into a fierce battle. A mistake by Narendran helped Parekh get a run on him and pass him on the straight heading into Anands corner. Karthik took the chequered flag comfortably to win his first race of the season, which at that point made him the third winner in the first three races of the championship.
Parekh, a winner from the previous round, finished in second place with Narendran in third and Trivellore in fourth place.
In the second race, Trivellore started on reverse grid pole alongside Narendran. He went into the lead with Narendran, Karthik and Parekh behind him.
A close, four-way battle ensued before Narendran tried a move on Trivellore on the seventh lap, which sent both drivers wide. Karthik took the opportunity to pounce into the lead and pull away for another emphatic win. Behind him Narendran finished second with Trivellore getting his first podium of the season. “It feels just fantastic to top all sessions in a race weekend,” said a jubilant Tharani Singh. “This is the first time I have done this in my single seater career. A big thank you to MRF for giving me such a great car. I have improved a lot over the year and feel I was driving really well. It was a very strategic race and I am happy that it has worked in my favour.”
A LOW KEY AFFAIR
The weekend was, however, a reportedly low-key affair as far as media coverage was concerned, as has unfortunately been the case with the National Racing Championship ever since the much anticipated unification of the JK Tyre and MRF racing banners failed to materialize in 2013.
While the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) should be commended for its work in updating the MMRT to FIA Grade-two status, its management of what is supposed to be – on paper – the country’s premier circuit racing series has not quite been up to a satisfactory standard. The lack of a feeder series like JK Tyre has with the National Karting Championship to a marketing strategy that seems focused on the MRF Formula 2000 challenge – and at time of writing, very much on the cricket ‘world cup’ – have been cited as reasons for the National Racing Championship being low key affairs.
The current state of affairs is regrettable as the Formula Ford 1600 machines are well built racing cars in which a driver in India can get a good idea of what he or she can expect in single seaters outside the country.
The championship served as a means for Tarun Reddy – last year’s champion – to display the maturity he developed as compared to the 2013 season when he was extremely erratic.
Probably more regrettable is how the Indian Touring Car Championship seems to have dropped off the national motorsport radar when it should – by right – be the premier circuit racing discipline in the country on par with its rallying counterpart, the Indian Rally Championship.
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