Japan's Jinkawa wins thriller at Buddh Circuit

Japanese driver Yudai Jinkawa won a thrilling MRF 1600 race ahead of Vikash Anand and Tarun Reddy in the final round of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship at the Buddh International Circuit here Sunday.

The top three were separated by three-tenths of a second at the chequered flag. Reddy was later given a jumpstart penalty.

N. Leelakrishnan held off reigning champion Arjun Balu to win by 3.030 seconds in the Indian Touring Car (ITC) class while Ananth Pitawala claimed his first ever win in the Indian Junior Touring Car category.

Diljith won Race 1 while youngster Akhil Rabindra won Race 2 of the Toyota EMR Trophy.

The opening race had pole man Diljith lead from start to finish to take a dominant win. Rabindra managed to hold off Abhinay Bikkani to finish in second place, 7.716 seconds behind the leader. Varun Anekar finished in 4th place after a race long battle with Akhil and Abhinay.

In the ITC race, Leelakrishnan started on pole and had a good start off the line. Balu started slow but just managed to hold off a charging M. Sivaramakrishnan behind him. Leelakrishnan pulled a two second lead in the first two laps and kept the gap for the rest of the race. Arjun went faster as the race went on setting his fastest lap off the race on the second last lap.

Sivaramakrishnan had a lonely race in third as he finished 13.317 seconds behind the leader.

The next race was the most exciting with the MRF 1600 cars on track. Jinkawa, starting on pole, had a great start and went into the lead with Reddy and Anand right behind him. Reddy and Anand had a great battle for the first three laps with the latter finally getting past in the mid-sector.

Reddy then started to reel Jinkawa in bringing Reddy with him and was right on his tail with three laps to go. Anand drove brilliantly and tried to pass the Japanese several times but could not find a way past. The top three finally finished within a mere 0.307 seconds separating them. Reddey ended up in fifth place after the penalty.

place but ran out of laps.

Results:

Race 1, Toyota EMR

1. Diljith

2. Akhil Rabindra

3. Varun Anekar

Race 2, ITC

1. N Leelakrishnan

2. Arjun Balu

3. M Sivaramakrishnan

Race 3, Indian Junior Touring Cars

1. Ananth Pitawala

2. VJ Senthil

3. Charen Chandran

Race 4, MRF 1600

1. Yudai Jinkawa

2. Vikash Anand

3. Advait Deodhar

Race 5, Toyota EMR

1. Akhil Rabindra

2. Farhan Ahmed

3. Diljith