National racing championship to resume on Saturday

The third round of the MMSC FMSCI national racing championship, which resumes after a three-month summer break will witness some of India's top drivers vying for the top honours at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Saturday.

An exciting card of 10 races spread over two days will see competitions in the top-end Indian touring cars, junior touring cars, super stock and the rookie championship (Formula 1300) apart from the Volkswagen Vento series challenge which boasts of a grid of 18 cars driven by talented youngsters who came through an arduous selection process.

The previous two rounds of the national championship in Chennai, provided high octane action and razor-sharp competition and the same can be expected here this weekend with predictions of rain adding spice to the proceedings.

The Indian touring cars class with its modified machines has three races scheduled over the weekend and there is much to look forward to. Defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) leads the table with 43 points is the home favourite and is just three ahead of Bengaluru's Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) while former multiple national rally champion Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan (Red Rooster Performance), also a local, is lying third with 33.

Mumbai's Anant Pithawalla (Team N1), with three dominating and back-to-back wins in four outings, enjoys a 12-point lead over Keith DeSouza (Unimek Racing) from Goa in the junior touring cars class while just one point separates Bengaluru lad Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) and Chennai-based Alisha Abdullah (RAD Racing) who finished third in all the four races so far in the super stock category.

In contrast to these close battles, Chennai's Raghul Rangasamy roared to victory in all the three races of the rookie championship for a commanding 24-point lead over his WSRF team-mate CJ Tejasram.

The Volkswagen Vento Series Challenge will be making its debut in the championship, albeit as a one-make series, and the double-header is one of the high points of the weekend.

The drivers, who form the Volkswagen Vento Series Challenge grid were chosen from an original 560 entries that were eventually shortlisted to 62 from among whom 12 were selected to be joined by eight others who had participated in the previous Vento Cup and the Polo Cup series.

--IANS

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