Chennai night street racing: In a battle of substance and circumstance, motorsport emerges triumphant

A display of racing acumen was followed by stunt shows before the remainder of the day’s competitive action brought the curtains down on India’s first-ever night street race.

Despite the hiccups, the historic feat, witnessed by celebrity team owners Sourav Ganguly, John Abraham, Naga Chaitanya and Arjun Kapoor, potentially heralded a new dawn for Indian motorsport. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

The Indian Racing Festival (IRF) had its task cut out in trying to conduct the sessions that spilt over from a chaotic opening day.

A major seven-hour delay on Saturday meant that Day 2 of the second round had a packed schedule and expectations of drivers, teams and spectators loomed large at the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit.

With anticipation hanging heavy in the air, a bright Sunday morning greeted the streets of Chennai as the FLGB cars fired up the track once again. Though the action began more than an hour after the originally intended start time — reportedly owing to delayed track inspection and safety simulation — the cars were able to get much-needed time on the circuit.

When left in clear space, they seemed to be picking up the pace with every lap. But interruptions and delays resurfaced, eating into precious preparatory practice laps.

During one of the Indian Racing League (IRL) practice sessions, a few issues that came up included the rear bodywork of one of the cars flying off and a bollard making its way to the middle of the track. The yellow flag was waived only after a significant minute’s delay but the track was cleared of debris swiftly.

Though it was intermittently overcast, the sky eventually cleared up, revealing the magnificent sight of race cars in blazing sunlight.

Most of the qualifying sessions were conducted before the lunch break and by the time spectators arrived at the venue, it was time to finally see proper race action.

A little past 4 PM, the most awaited moment of the weekend arrived - the FLGB 4 cars saw the lights go out, setting off on the first official lap at the street circuit. 

Before a lap could be completed, a Safety Car (SC) was deployed after one of the cars lost control and spun. But racing soon resumed and it looked quite competitive. The FLGB cars battled it out for points and made moves to get past their competitors on narrow streets. 

A view of the cars racing down the Napier Bridge stretch of the track | Photo Credit: PTI

A similar SC incident took place on Lap 1 of the first Formula 4 race after Zakariya Mohammed ran off the track and stalled, unable to continue. After that, though, there was plenty of time to witness fierce track battles. 

Though the possibility of overtaking in a street circuit is usually considered difficult, the nature of the track seemed to allow cars to fight it out for a better position. 

A display of racing acumen was followed by stunt shows before the remainder of the day’s competitive action brought the curtains down on India’s first-ever night street race.

Despite the hiccups, the historic feat, witnessed by celebrity team owners Sourav Ganguly, John Abraham, Naga Chaitanya and Arjun Kapoor, potentially heralded a new dawn for Indian motorsport.

While adequate infrastructure and efficient administration pose major challenges in India’s quest for becoming a serious contender for hosting major global motorsport events, the visual extravaganza of high-speed cars glittering in the golden hour instead of the monotony of late afternoon Chennai traffic gave one a sense of what could be.

The weekend began on a sombre note when the drivers were seen boarding the bus back to their hotel shortly after arriving on the track. But what seemed like a non-starter from the get-go was eventually salvaged, to a certain extent, by the sight of cars racing into the night.