National Car Racing Championship 2022: Bengaluru boy Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000; Wins for Arjun, Zahan

Bengaluru, October 9: Bengaluru teenager Chirag Ghorpade and Coimbatore's seasoned pro Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) put in near-flawless performances for commanding wins in their respective categories before heavy rains led to abandonment of the first round of the MRF Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) Federation of Motor Sports Club of India (FMSCI) National Car Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit in Irungattukottai, near Chennai on Sunday (October 9).

As per information received via a media release, the day's other winner was Mumbai youngster Zahan Commissariat who claimed the honours in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) race which was red-flagged after five laps due to heavy rains.

17-year-old Chirag led from the front after starting from pole position on the reverse grid of the MRF F2000 category race and barely had to look in the rearview mirrors as he opened up a big gap in the very first lap.

Pace setter

Such was his pace that was not apparent in yesterday's Race-1 where he finished eighth, that he made an untroubled progress through the 12 laps that was briefly interrupted by a Safety Car period.

Chirag made a well-timed getaway on restart and eventually spared four seconds to second-placed Rishon Rajeev (Bengaluru) with Chennai's Dillon Thomas Zachariah finishing third.

Arjun steals show

Later, it was an Arjun Balu show in the saloon cars race that was run on a combined 27-car grid comprising all three categories - the premier Indian Touring Cars, Indian Junior Touring Cars and Super Stock.

Balu, starting from pole, briefly slipped to second behind 2017 champion Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports), also from Coimbatore, after missing a gear-shift at the start. However, he swiftly moved to the front and increased the gap gradually for a comfortable win despite alternator failure and the car running only on battery power.

Front-runners

Narendran finished second ahead of Rayo Racing's Jeet Jhabakh from Hyderabad who was in the brand new Volkswagen Virtus which made its debut in the championship this weekend. Behind the front-runners, Chennai's Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), racing in the championship for the first time since 1999, topped the IJTC category, followed by team-mate Diana Pundole (Pune).

However, both were disqualified following post-race scrutiny for a technical infringement. Chennai's Anand Prasad (Performance Racing), thus, moved from third to first, ahead of team-mate K Srinivas Teja and Charen Chandran (Arka Motorsports). Ritesh Rai (Performance Racing), also from Chennai, won in the Super Stock class, followed by DB Motorsports pair of Jason Deepak Saldanha (Mangaluru) and Jarshan Anand (Chennai).