Harpal Singh Bedi
Gurugram’s Divy Nandan and Salem’s Sai Sanjay claimed double podium apiece with a win and a third place in the two MRF F2000 races on the opening day of the second round of the Indian National Car Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit here on Saturday.
Divy Nandan, 20, who enjoyed a great start in the first race for a comfortable win, finished the day with a third-place finish in the next outing starting from P6. Sai Sanjay, also 20, made amends for a disappointing first race with a fine win in the next starting from P4.
Also tasting success was Nellore’s 24-yearold Viswas Vijayraj (DTS Racing) in the Formula LGB 1300 category, with a pole-to-flag effort.
Earlier, 10-times National champion Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) powered to another fluent win in the premier Indian Touring Cars category as he led a Coimbatore sweep of the podium spots, sparing over seven seconds to Arjun Narendran (Arka Motorsports) while 77-year old D Vidya Prakash (Performance Racing), the oldest man in the championship, finished third.
The ITC along with Indian Junior Touring Cars and the Super Stock classes, was run in a combined grid of 27 cars that saw as many as four drivers penalized for jump start resulting in a couple of podium finishers getting demoted.
Local veteran Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts) took the honours in the IJTC class with Narendran S (Redline Racing), also from Chennai, topping the Super Stock category.
Meanwhile, Viswas Vijayaraj chalked up a dominating win from pole to flag in the Formula LGB 1300 category race, easily holding off second-placed Mamallapuram veteran Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) while local ace Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsports) came in third with a last-lap pass on Bengaluru youngster and team-mate Tijil Rao.
Justin Singh (Gurugram) and Angad Mathroo (Chandigarh) won a race apiece in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) category.
HSB