Raghul Rangasamy takes pole in MRF F1600 event

: Raghul Rangasamy took a big step towards realising his dream of earning a ticket to the Mazda Road To Indy shootout in U.S.A later this year by grabbing his first pole of the season in the MRF F1600 class in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Racing Championship at nearby Sriperumbudur.

"As I am already 25, this is my last chance to make it to the Mazda Road To Indy shootout and I am giving it everything I have," he said, referring to the upper age limit for participation in the shootout whose winner is eligible for a scholarship of USD 200,000.

The Mamallapuram-based Rangasamy,currently second in the championship, just 12 points adrift of leader Ashwin Datta, clocked one minute, 39.828 seconds, ahead of Sandeep Kumar (01:40.028) and Kolkata's Arya Singh (01:40.268).

Earlier, Chennai's Nabil Hussain (MSport), who heads the Formula LGB 1300 leaderboard, also qualified in pole position in his category with a lap of 01:53.679, followed by Ashwin Datta of Momentum Motorsports (01:53.705) and Bengaluru's Sohil Shah of MSport (01:54.279).

Also grabbing pole position in their respective categories were: Varun Anekar of Race Concepts (Super Stock), Nikhunj Vagh of Team N1 (Indian Junior Touring Cars) and Raghul Rangasamyof Performance Racing (Esteem Cup).

Meanwhile, last years champion Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports) from Coimbatore was the quickest in the Free practice session for high-end Indian Touring Cars as he clocked a best of 01:52.812 ahead of Saturdays qualifying run.

Kolhapur's Dhruv Mohite (01:54.959), who tops the Volkswagen Ameo Cup leaderboard, took pole position ahead of his nearest rival Saurav Bandyopadhyay of Mumbai (01:55.719).