MMSC 4W National Racing: Vikash Anand wins big on return

Returning to racing after nearly 18 months, Vikash Anand from Chennai pulled off a grand double on Sunday in the high-profile MRF F1600 class while Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa from Race Concepts scored a fine win in the top-end Indian Touring Cars class on the concluding day of the second round of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai.

Also enjoying great success were Raghul Rangasamy who completed a hat-trick of wins in the Formula LGB 1300 category and Mumbai’s Anant Pithawalla who chalked up his second win of the weekend by demolishing the Indian Junior Touring Cars grid while Veeresh Prasad from Bengaluru comfortably won the Super Stock race that highlighted the rough and tumble nature of touring car competition.

One of the stars of the day was Vikash Anand who stopped Karthik Tharani’s four-win streak by winning both the MRF F1600 races on Sunday. It made him a serious contender for the championship whose winner will be eligible to participate in the Mazda Road to Indy shootout this winter in the United States.

Vikash hardly put a wheel wrong in the first race that he won comfortably ahead of a pack that was involved in a merry scrap for track positions. In the next outing, Vikash started fourth on the reverse grid, but made places to move into second behind Goutham Parekh. The duo was involved in a tight fight until Parekh’s mistake on the last lap saw Vikash move in front and win.

Tharanisingh's fortunes nosedived after his two wins on Saturday. In the third race on Sunday morning, a 30-second penalty for “causing avoidable collision” pushed him from third to eighth and in the next outing, he had a contact with Raghul to finish ninth.

MRF FF1600
Race 1 (10 laps)
1. Karthik Tharani - 20 mins, 02.032 secs
2. G Vikash Anand - 20:03.740
3. Raghul Rangasamy - 20:08.842

Race 2 (10 laps)
1. Karthik Tharani - 19:56.321
2. Sandeep Kumar - 19:57.390
3. Anindith Reddy - 19:59.357

Race 3 (10 laps)
1. G Vikash Anand - 17:12.816 secs
2. Raghul Rangasamy - 17:22.252
3. Goutham Parekh - 17:25.743

Race 4 (10 laps)
1. G Vikash Anand - 17:23.836
2. Goutham Parekh - 17:24.158
3. Raghul Rangasamy - 17:27.965

INDIAN TOURING CARS
Race 1 (6 laps)
1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) - 11:37.531
2. N Leelakrishnan (Red Rooster Racing) - 11:37.806
3. Deepak Paul Chinnapa (Race Concepts) - 11:38.555

Race 2 (6 laps)
1. Deepak Paul Chinnapa (Race Concepts) - 11:41.607
2. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) - 11:41.916
3. Narayanaswami Leelakrishnan (Red Rooster Performance) - 11:45.184

INDIAN JUNIOR TOURING CARS
Race 1 (10 laps)
1. Ananth Pithawalla (Team N1) - 20:53.436
2. Charen Chandran (Red Rooster Racing) - 20:56.015
3. Keith DeSouza (Unimek Racing) - 21:06.932

Race 2 (10 laps)
1. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) - 21:03.205
2. Keith DeSouza (Unimek Racing) - 21:18.877
3. Siddarth Praveen (Mega Racing) - 21:24.565

SUPER STOCK
Race 1 (10 laps)
1. Dean Mascarenhas (Race Concepts) - 21:28.623
2. Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) - 21:29.185
3. Alisha Abdullah (RAD Racing) - 21:42.870

Race 2, 10 laps
1. Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) - 21:33.526
2. Dean Mascarenhas (Race Concepts) - 21:37.773
3. Alisha Abdullah (RAD Racing) - 21:42.034

FORMULA LGB 1300
Race 1 (8 laps)
1. Raghul Rangasamy (WSRF) - 16:15.299
2. CJ Tejas Ram (WSRF) - 16:16.891
3. Alex Bora (WSRF) - 16:17.670

Race 2 (8 laps)
1. Raghul Rangasamy (WSRF) - 16:07.254
2. Alex Bora (WSRF) - 16:12.039
3. CJ Tejas Ram (WSRF) - 16:15.806

Race 3 (8 laps)
1. Raghul Rangasamy (WSRF) - 19:46.767
2. CJ Tejasram (WSRF) - 19:47.426
3. Alex Bora (WSRF) - 19:47.887