Balu completes grand double

Chennai : Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) completed a grand double in the Indian Touring Cars class to head the leaderboard at the end of round four of MRF MMSC FMSCI National Car Racing Championship at the MMRT track at nearby Sriperumbudur on Sunday.

Bengaluru's Rithvik Thomas of Race Concepts also achieved a double in the Super Stock category on a day which began in heavy showers and ended in bright sunshine.

Early in the day, there was a 10-car pile-up in the MRF F1600 race that started in heavy showers and lasted barely 300 metres. As pole-sitter Yash Aradhya spun when he put wheels into a puddle, losing grip, the cars behind him, with nowhere to go, crashed into one another resulting in the race being abandoned.

None of the drivers suffeded major injuries, but with 10 cars badly damaged, it was decided to cancel Sunday's three races and run them in the next round in September.

"The next round in September will thus have seven races in the MRF F1600 category. It was an unfortunate incident with Yash running into a puddle and spinning. With so many cars badly damaged, we decided to put off today's 3 races and have them in the next round," said Chairman of the Meet Vicky Chandhok.

Results (Provisional): Indian Touring Cars (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (12mins, 49.794secs); 2. Aditya Patel (Rayo Racing) (12:50.491); 3. Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (Rayo Racing) (12:58.907).

Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Dhruv Shivaji Mohite (21:19.565); 2. Aditya Patel (21:20.682); 3. Arjun Balu (21:28.378).

Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (15:11.978); 2. Aditya Patel (15:17.508); 3. Ishaan Dodhiwala (Team Rayo Racing) (15:28.324).

Super Stock (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Sudanand Daniel (Race Concepts) (14:15.475); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (14:15.787); 3. R Rajashekar (Race Concepts) (14:45.952). Race 2 (10 laps): 1. R P Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (22:15.115); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (22:27.432); 3. Sudanand Daniel (Race Concepts) (22:28.759).

Race 3 (8 laps): 1. Rithvik Thomas (16:15.162); 2. Sudanand Daniel 16:50.951; 3. R P R Rajarajan 16:40.747.

Volkswagen Ameo Class (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) (20:09.577); 2. Aiman Sadat (Bangladesh) (20:12.811); 3. Siddharth Mehdiratta (Lucknow). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Prateek Sonawane (Pune) (16:00.024); 2. Sidharth Mehdiratta (Lucknow) (16:01.383)