National Racing: Tharani clinches MRF FF1600 title

The final round of the 2015 National Racing Championship came to a conclusion at Chennai’s Madras Motor Race Track here on Sunday, with Karthik Tharani winning the flagpiece MRF Formula Ford 1600 title.

Tharani had qualified his #16 car on pole position for race 1, but a poor getaway dropped him down the order. The Chennai-born driver recovered quickly and was soon breathing down the neck of championship rival Goutham Parekh.

Eager to cover the 12 points deficit in the championship, Tharani moved to the outside of turn 4, to have the inside line in the following corner.

As Tharani lined a move, the two drivers made contact, sending Parekh out of the race. Tharani, meanwhile, could cruise to victory and turn the tables in his favour in the championship.

Race 2 - Parekh wins from eighth on the grid

The final race of the weekend saw a dominant showing from Goutham Parekh who surged to the lead by lap 3, having started from eighth on the grid.

Once at front, he established a sizeable gap over the rest of the field in the 15 lap race, proving his calibre once again.

However, second place was enough for Karthik Tharani to seal the MRF 1600 title - a feat that might his prospects of racing in the MRF Challenge later this year.  

MRF 1600 Results - Race 1

1. Karthik Tharani 24:50.502

2. CS Tejasram 24:59.078

3. Arjun Narendran 24:59.888

Race 2

1. Goutham Parekh 25:59.348

2. Karthik Tharani 26:00.541

3. Arjun Narendran 26:11.650

ITC: Narendran seals title

The third Indian Touring Car Championship race ended spectacularly when KE Kumar parked his smoking car on the start/finish straight. A bizarre set of circumstances meant that the situation went out of control, with the car completely burning in flames.

Eventually, Coimbatore’s C Rajaram was declared the winner of the red-flagged race, with Sivaramkrishnan and G Sidhartha Kishore completing the podium.

Arjun Narendran - who had already won the championship coming into this round - had an off-colour weekend as he concentrated his efforts on the more prestigious MRF 1600.

ITC Results -

Race 2

Deepak Paul Chinnapa (Race Concepts) 18:00.216
Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster) 18:01.045
Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster) 18:15.782

Race 3

C Rajaram (Prime Racing) 13:46.446
Sivaramakrishnan (Red Rooster) 13:54.199
G Sidhartha Kishore (Performance Racing) 14:02.35