While 47-year-old Arjun Balu scored his 10th national title win, Sandeep Kumar won the Volkswagen Polo Championship.
Winners of the 2021 MRF MMSC Indian National Car Racing Championship were crowned as the season wrapped up at the Madras Motor Race Track over the weekend. Veteran Arjun Balu and Tijil Rao successfully defended their respective titles, while Shahan Ali Mohsin took home the title in the headlining MRF F1600 category.
The round also saw the finale of the all-new Volkswagen Polo Championship, with Sandeep Kumar winning the title.
- Balu claims his 10th national title
- Kumar wins first Volkswagen Championship featuring new race-spec Polo
- Mohsin defeats Ghorpade to win MRF F1600 title
MRF F1600
Chirag Ghorpade and Mohsin were both in title contention in the MRF F1600 category, with Ghorpade in the lead. But Mohsin managed to finish ahead of his rival in all three races, collecting a trio of second place finishes. This was enough to hand the 17-year-old the title by a margin of just five points.
Results
Race 1
1. Suriya Varathan – 17mins 29.252secs
2. Shahan Ali Mohsin – 17mins 29.511secs
3. Chirag Ghorpade – 17mins 30.188secs
Race 2
1. Rishon Rajeev – 19mins 11.167secs
2. Shahan Ali Mohsin – 19mins 13.495secs
3. Arya Singh – 19mins 15.714secs
Race 3
1. Rishon Rajeev – 16mins 36.017secs
2. Shahan Ali Mohsin – 16mins 36.781secs
3. Chirag Ghorpade – 16mins 37.188secs
Indian Touring Cars
Defending champion Arjun Balu picked up his 10th national title. He sealed the Indian Touring Cars title with a race to spare after collecting his fifth win of the season. Earlier in the weekend, he also set a lap record at the MMRT with his pole position time of 1min 49:023secs in a Honda City.
Of course, Balu didn’t take it easy even after wrapping up the title and he rounded out the season with yet another win. At 47 years old, Balu is showing no signs of slowing down and a truly dominant season saw him take six wins in eight race starts.
“It is certainly great to win the championship. It has been a very challenging season as the team had to deal with a lot of issues,” Balu said. “However, I am happy at the way the car performed for which I thank the entire Race Concepts team for working on it for long hours.”
Results
Race 1
1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) – 15mins 16.979secs
2. Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing) – 15mins 25.150secs
3. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Rayo Racing) – 15mins 26.345secs
Race 2
1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) – 19mins 03.534secs
2. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Rayo Racing) – 19mins 07.781secs
3. Jeet Jhabakh (Rayo Racing) – 19mins 12.281secs
Volkswagen Polo Championship
Another racer to win the title with a race to spare was Sandeep Kumar. With an eye on the prize, the 2020 Formula LGB4 National champion decided to take a more controlled approach, finishing third, fourth and fifth in the weekend’s races.
Despite not collecting a win, a consistent performance and six podiums saw him clinch the title in what is the first season featuring the race-spec Polos.
Results
Race 1
1. Anmol Singh Sahil – 15mins 58.466secs
2. Oshan Kothadiya – 15mins 58.852secs
3. Sandeep Kumar – 15mins 59.430secs
Race 2
1. Avik Anwar – 22mins 45.394secs
2. Sourav Bandopadhyay – 22mins 45.790secs
3. Pratik Sonawane – 22mins 46.397secs
Race 3
1. Anmol Singh Sahil – 15mins 49.022secs
2. Oshan Kothadiya – 15mins 55.239secs
3. Sai Sanjay TS – 15mins 55.929secs
Super Stock
Performance Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar had already wrapped up the Super Stock title in Round 3. He finished the season in style with yet another win, while his teammate RP Raja Rajan won the first race.
Results
Race 1
1. RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) – 16mins 13.456secs
2. Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing) – 16mins 13.947secs
3. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) – 16mins 15.609secs
Race 2
1. Deepak Ravikumar (Performance Racing) – 20mins 11.966secs
2. RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) – 20mins 31.732secs
3. Suprej Venkat (Race Concepts) – 20mins 47.678secs
Formula LGB 1300
Tijil Rao, 18, played it smart and safe to finish second in both final races. This was enough for him to successfully retain the Formula LGB 1300 for another year. DTS Racing’s Viswas Vijayaraj and MSport’s Raghul Rangasamy picked up a win each.
Results
Race 1
1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) – 15mins 22.116secs
2. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsports) – 15mins 22.553secs
3. Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsports) – 15mins 23.275secs
Race 2
1. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) – 13mins 36.695secs
2. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport) – 13mins 37.163secs
3. Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsport) – 13mins 41.072secs
MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios)
Redline Racing’s Fahad Kutty collected two wins at the finale to win the MRF Saloon Cars title His teammate Anand Prasad, who returned to active racing after a 14-year break, took victory in Race 2.
Results
Race 1
1. Fahad Kutty (Redline Racing) – 16mins 39.303secs
2. Anand Prasad (Redline Racing) – 16mins 39.677secs
3. Justin Singh (Redline Racing) – 16mins 46.523secs
Race 2
1. Anand Prasad (Redline Racing) – 20mins 59.670secs
2. Angad Matharoo (Redline Racing) – 21mins 05.286secs
3. Zahan Commissariat (Redline Racing) – 21mins 08.907secs
Race 3
1. Fahad Kutty (Redline Racing) – 16mins 44.973secs
2. Anand Prasad (Redline Racing) – 16mins 45.559secs
3. Justin Singh (Redline Racing) – 16mins 50.139secs.
Indian Junior Touring Cars
Performance Racing’s Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala won the Indian Junior Touring Cars title. However, following a protest, the final outcome is still awaited.
Results (Provisional)
Race 1
1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) – 15mins 50.484secs
2. Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala (Performance Racing) – 16mins 18.581secs
3. K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing) – 16mins 25.152secs
Race 2
1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) – 19mins 51.297secs
2. Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala (Performance Racing) – 20mins 34.450secs
3. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) – 20mins 34.620secs
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