Defending champion Raghul Rangasamy secured a grand double to put himself in contention for the title in the premier MRF F1600 category on the opening day of the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Car Racing Championship at nearby Sriperumbudur on Friday.
The 26-year old Rangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram, shrugged off an otherwise inconsistent season so far and won two of the three races carried over from the rain affected fourth round, besides finishing second behind Bengalurus Yash Aradhya in the other outing to pick up 68 points.
As a result, Rangasamy jumped five spots to move from seventh to second on the leaderboard.
He is just seven points behind championship leader 18-year old Sohil Shah of Bengaluru, who drew a blank in todays Race 3 due to a driveshaft problem after finishing second and third in the other two races.
With four races of the final round to be run over the next two days and a maximum of 100 points to be won, the title race is nicely poised.
Shah (114 points), Rangasamy (107) and Nayan Chatterjee (97) occupy the top three spots. Behind the trio are Aradhya (86), Vishnu Prasad (85) from Chennai and Faridabads Manav Sharma (70).
In the days first race, Aradhya scripted a lights to flag victory with the seasoned Rangasamy a close second, even as Shah did well to finish third after starting eighth on the grid.
Rangasamy then took charge of the remaining two races that he started from pole, winning both quite comfortably.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru's Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports) qualified in pole position in the Formula LGB 1300 category in which Chennai-based Ashwin Datta has virtually clinched the title, enjoying a 50-point lead going into this weekend's double header.
Datta's closest rival Sohil Shah opted out of the two races, preferring to focus on the MRF F1600 championship which he leads.
Mumbais Saurav Bandyopadhyay took pole position in the Volkswagen Ameo Class ahead of two guest drivers from South Africa, Tasmin Peper and Jeffrey Kruger. Bandyopadhyay currently leads the points table in this category.
Results (provisional, all 8 laps unless mentioned): MRF F1600 (carry over from Round 4) (Race-2): 1. Yash Aradhya (Bengaluru) (13mins, 33.380secs); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (13:33.616); 3. Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) (13:39.154).
Race-3: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (13:31.752); 2. Sohil Shah (13:33.747); 3. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) (13:37.234).
Race-4: Raghul Rangasamy (13:29.886); 3. Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai) (13:35.915); 3. Yash Aradhya (13:37.252).
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
