Indian sports news wrap, September 24

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on September 24.

Chetan Korada celebrating his win in MRF F2000 Race-2. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

MOTORSPORT

FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023: Chennai drivers Sandeep, Chetan win a race apiece

Chennai drivers, Sandeep Kumar and Chetan Korada won a race apiece in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category to headline the concluding day’s proceedings in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

The other winners today were Jai Prashanth Venkat, Chetan Surineni, Viswas Vijayaraj, Gurunath Meiyappan, Akkineni Anand Prasad, Diljith TS and Angad Matharoo in various categories.

Sandeep Kumar finished the weekend winning two of the three races while Korada took the honours in Race-2.

Korada brought into play his 17-year race experience to negotiate a slippery track following heavy overnight rains to win a raging battle against much younger opponents in the MRF Formula 2000 category this morning.

The 36-year-old Korada thus became the first-ever competitor to win a race with a prosthetic leg. It was also his first win in this category.

Sandeep Kumar also had to fight hard for his second win of the weekend putting him 16 points clear of Korada in the championship standings.

Top three in women’s class (MRF Saloons race) - (from left) Tarushri Vikram (Bengaluru), Diana Pundole (Pune) and Shravantika Lakshmi (Coimbatore) | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Bengaluru’s Chetan Surineni also scored a double in the Formula 1600 class with wins in Race 1 and 3 while Mumbai’s Veer Sheth claimed the top spot in Race 2.

Veteran Gurunath Meiyappan (Race Concepts), who returned to racing last year after a long break, did as he pleased in winning the premier Indian Touring Cars race for a double this weekend as he jumped to the top spot on the points table with a 55-point lead over defending champion and team-mate Arjun Balu who opted out of the races after retirement due to electrical issues on Saturday.

Chennai’s Akkineni Anand Prasad (Team Performance Racing) and Diljith TS (DTS Racing) from Thrissur, completed three wins each in the Indian Junior Touring Cars and Super Stock categories.

While Akkineni has notched four wins this season, including three in the just-concluded Round 2, Diljith scored victories in all six races as both head the points table in their respective categories.

Later, last year’s champion Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) from Nellore, held off team-mate Diljith TS in a close finish to also score a double in the Formula LGB 1300 category and moved within seven points of championship leader Raghul Rangasamy who had two podium finishes and a fourth in this weekend’s triple header.

Meanwhile, 36-year-old Jai Prashanth Venkat (Coimbatore) ended the unbeaten run of Angad Matharoo (Chennai) in Race-2 of the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) category with a fine win with little separating the two at the finish line. However, Matharoo bounced back in style by winning Race-3 with ease for his fifth success in six outings across two rounds.

The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned)

MRF Formula 2000 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (16mins, 31.448secs); 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (16:32.071); 3. Rohaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (16:32.565). Race-3: 1. Sandeep Kumar (17:16.562); 2. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (17:16.821); 3. Chetan Korada (17:22.307).

MRF Formula 1600 (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Veer Sheth (Mumbai) (18.11.448); 2. Suprej Venkat (Coimbatore) (17:16.350, +1 lap). Race-3: 1. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru) (17:34.230); 2. Veer Sheth (17:35.192); 3. Suprej Venkat (17:42.809).

Indian Touring Cars (Race-3): 1. Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai, Race Concepts Motorsports) (15:31.253); 2. Biren Pithawala (Mumbai, Team N1) (15:41.733); 3. Ritesh Rai (Pvt., Chennai) (15:42.157).

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-3): 1. Akkineni anand Prasad (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (15:51.593); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (15:53.351); 3. Yug Italia (Surat, Team N1) (16:32.750).

Super Stock (Race-3): 1. Dilijith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (16:55.993); 2. Justin Singh (Gurugram, Redline Racing India) (17:13.108); 3. Jarshan Anand (Pvt., Chennai) (17:22.891).

Formula LGB 1300 (Race-3): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (15:04.180); 2. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (15:04.330); 3. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (15:07.432).

MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios, Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Jai Prashanth Venkat (Coimbatore) (24:36.569); 2. Angad Matharoo (Chennai) (24:36.807); 3. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) (24:39.118) (all Redline Racing India). Race-3: 1. Angad Matharoo (16:41.170); 2. Diana Pundole (Pune) (16:53.827); 3. Zahan Commissariat (17:02.412).

-Team Sportstar