2016 MRF Formula 1600 Champ Vikash Heads To Mazda Road To Indy Shootout

The weekend was quite favourable for the 22-year-old lad Vikash Anand from Chennai, who finished on the top in the MRF Formula 1600 category and also got a ticket for the Mazda Road to Indy shootout. This was the fifth and the final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship that was held at the Madras Motor Race Track in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai on Sunday.

Going into the weekend's triple-header, Vikash Anand and Karthik Tharani were tied at 138 points. Anand finished second behind Tharani on Saturday, but won both races on Sunday to clinch the title.

"I worked hard to win this championship and I really can't explain how I am feeling right now. Indy is a great opportunity to go abroad and explore new opportunities and learn. I will give my best to be competitive," said Vikash Anand, who returned to racing this season after an 18-month break and notched six wins to earn 206 points, 10 more than Tharani.

Also achieving a double victory was Raghul Rangasamy, who won both races in the F1300 Rookie Championship to take home the title. He later went on to claim the championship in the Super Stock class after Race 2 winner Veeresh Prasad was given a 20-second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags and got demoted to fourth spot. The result saw Raghul and Veeresh tying on 142 points. Raghul was declared champion on the basis of his three wins to Veeresh's two on the count-back which was employed to break the tie.

In other related developments, Goa's Keith Desouza (UNIMEK Racing) topped the Indian Junior Touring Cars class with a crucial win on Sunday which helped him finish with 199 points while his nearest rival Ananth Pithawala (Team N1) from Mumbai ended up with 191.

Coimbatore's Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing), who had already clinched the championship in the premium Indian Touring Cars class, ended the season with a double victory for a tally of 240 points, well clear of Bengaluru's Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) who finished with 135.

Ishaan Dodhiwala from Delhi won both races on Sunday in the Volkswagen Vento Cup to consolidate his position at the top of the leaderboard.