2nd round of MRF MMSC National car racing championship begins

The second round of the MRF MMSC FMSFI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2019 commenced at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Friday, which was reserved for Free Practice sessions.

If practice timings are any definite indicators, then the competition in the Indian Touring Cars (ITC) promises to be hot and close even as Karthik Tharani (one minute, 08.672), Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (01:08.989) and Ishaan Dodhiwala (01:09. 145), all representing Volkswagen (VW) factory team, clocked the three fastest timings in Free Practice (FP).

Yet, the VW camp was wary of veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) who sat out FP2 with turbo issues while in FP1, no timings were recorded from the transponder of his car as it was not fitted in the designated spot.

The Race Concepts camp said they were awaiting a replacement for the turbo from Bengaluru, the teams base.

Coimbatores septuagenarian D Vidyaprakash (Prime Racing) topped FP2 in 01:10.700 with most other competitors opting to sit out.

Meanwhile,Salem's Rupesh Siva Kumar (Momentum Motorsports) emerged quickest in the Formula LGB 1300 class that is packed with young aspirants, timing 01:09.451 in FP2,closely followed by Bengalurus Sohil Shah (M Sport) with 01:09.546.

Sohil had topped FP1 ahead of Rupesh who, however, went quicker in the next outing.

Mumbai racer Saurav Bandyopadhyay went fastest in the Volkswagen Ameo Class, clocking a best of 01:09.606, which he did in FP1, while Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) was the second quickest in 01:09.776.

The FP2 session witnessed a slightly slower pace with Jhabakh (01:10.098) topping the time sheets followed by Punes Prateek Sonawane (01:10.270) and Bandyopadhyay (01:10.379).

In the Super Stock category, Bengalurus Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) posted the quickest time of 01:14.231, ahead of team-mate Prateek Benya (01:14.744) and Chennais RP Rajarajan (01:15.091) of Performance Racing.