Reddy, Arya shine at national racing tourney

Hyderabads Anindith Reddy emerged as the quickest in both free practice sessions of the MRF FF1600 while Arya Singh, a 16-year-old schoolboy from Kolkata, clinched the Student Cup (Formula 1300) with two wins and a podium finish in the third round of the Indian National Racing Championship here on Friday.

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 of Team N1, and Bengaluru's Varun Anekar (Super Stock) of Race Concepts won in their respective categories.

Championship leader in the MRF FF1600 class, Reddy was clearly ahead of the pack as he put in a series of consistently quick laps in the two free practice sessions, but expected a tough fight in the double-header this weekend.

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 day undoubtedly belonged to 16-year old Arya Singh. After finishing third in the first of the three races in the Student Cup class (Formula 1300), Arya, in just his second full season, put in impressive drives to win the next two of the triple-header.

"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 second spot, but in the next outing, I had a good start and won comfortably," he said.

"The third race was 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."

--IANS

ajb/bg