Arya Singh, a 16-year old schoolboy from Kolkata, clinched the Student Cup (Formula 1300) with two wins and a podium finish on day one of the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National racing championship at the MMRT track here on Friday.
“My intention was to have fun and drive fast. I am happy that I managed to win two of the three races. In the first race, I made a mistake at turn-3 when in the lead and had to settle for the second spot, but in the next outing, I had a good start and won comfortably.
“The third race was the most exciting as I had a good battle with Rithvik after I lost position due to a mistake again at turn-3. In the end, I managed to pass him going into turn-1 on the last lap and held the lead,” said Arya, who idolises former World F1 champion Fernando Alonso.
South African Devin Robertson, a guest driver, qualified for pole position in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup, a clear second off joint championship leaders Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) and Karminder Singh (Delhi), while defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) from Coimbatore topped the qualifying session in the premier Indian touring cars class.
In the day’s last event that was run on a combined grid, Mumbai’s Kamlesh Parmar (Indian junior touring cars) and Anant Pithawalla (Esteem Cup), both from Team N1, and Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Super Stock) of Race Concepts won in their respective categories.
“I had a very good run in the morning when the track conditions were excellent. In the afternoon, the track was quite hot and I was off the morning pace. Anyway, we still have the qualifying and the two races. There is not much difference between the top three and it will boil down to who strings together a few good laps,” said Anindith.
The winner of the MRF FF1600 championship earns a berth in the Road To Indy shootout in the United States, provided the qualifier is under 25 years of age.
The results (round three): Indian junior touring cars: Race one: 1. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (19:52.565s); 2. A.S. Prabhu (Red Rooster Performance) (19:57.069); 3. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (20:14.408).
Super Stock: Race one: 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (19:18.592); 2. R.P. Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (19:31.053); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Quickshift Racing) (19:37.032).
Esteem Cup: Race one: 1. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (19:15.634); 2. Charan Chandran (Red Rooster Performance) (19:15.817); 3. Sudanand Rajan (Red Rooster Performance) (19:22.041).
Student Cup: Race one (7 laps): 1. Aanjan Patodia (Pune, Momentum Motorsports) (08: 16.251); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata, DTS Racing) (08:16.362); 3. Rithvik Thomas (Bengaluru, Wallace Sports) (08:17.064).
Race two: 1. Arya (09:11.388); 2. Patodia (09:21.109); 3. Rithvik (09:22.361).
Race three: 1. Arya (09:25.868); 2. Bala Prasath (Coimbatore, DTS Racing) (09:27.129); 3. Rithvik (09:28.836).
Qualifying rounds: Indian touring cars: 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) (01:54.365); 2. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (01:55.023); 3. C. Rajaram (Performance Racing) (01:57.724).
Volkswagen Ameo Cup: 1. Devin Robertson (South Africa) (01:54.150); 2. A. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (01:55.252); 3. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (01:55.268).
