National racing returns to Coimbatore

The third round of the MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship (NRC) will be held here this weekend with Toyota Etios Motor Racing (EMR) Trophy and the showpiece MRF Formula 1600, commencing here Saturday at the Kari Motor Speedway.

Also on the programme are races in Indian Touring Car Championship (ITC), Formula LGB 1300, Indian Junior Touring Car Championship (IJTC) and the all-new Super Stock categories, totalling 16 races.

In ITC, Arjun Narendran swept to victory in all three races in Round 2 in Chennai and will be looking to continue his brilliant form at his home track. His main challengers include veteran B. Vijaykumar, Ashish Ramaswamy and Vidyuth Iyer.

The MRF F1600 will continue with 16-year-old Tarun Reddy the favourite for the weekend. Hot on his heels are Advait Deodhar and Vikash Anand.

With 27 cars on the grid, the IJTC is likely to witness a triangular fight involving defending champion Feroze Khan, Senthil and Ashish Ramaswamy.

The Formula LGB 1300 Championship also looks to be a three-way battle with championship leader Ajay Kini going up against Goutam Parekh and last year's Formula LGB F4 champions S. Narendran.

EMR, running for the second year, will feature eight races over two race weekends. This weekend will see 16 drivers battling it out with Deodhar and Prashant Tharani Singh leading the charge.

MRF will be the sole tyre partner for all categories while the races will be telecast on Doordarshan.

Friday will be devoted to free practice sessions while qualifying is scheduled Saturday followed by the races.