CHENNAI: Chirag Ghorpade, the schoolboy from Bengaluru and Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu lit up the free practice sessions with some serious pace to kick-start the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2021 at the MMRT, here on Thursday.
Chirag who heads the championship table topped the two practice sessions in the premier MRF F1600 category, with a best lap of one minute and 39.950 seconds, while his closest rival teenager Shahan Ali Mohsin from Agra posted the second best of 01:40.018 as the talented duo seemed to be heading for a close battle for honours in the triple-header to be run over the next two days. On the other hand, veteran Arjun Balu piloting the Race Concepts-prepared Honda VTec was in a league of his own in the Indian Touring Cars category.
He was about a couple of seconds quicker than his nearest rivals, the Rayo Racing pair from Hyderabad, Jeet Jhabakh and Ishaan Dodhiwala, both driving the Volkswagen Polo. Balu’s best laps in the two practice sessions were 01:51.211 and 01:50.768 in FP2. Earlier, Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport) and Ruhaan Alva (MSport) topped the two practice sessions in the Formula LGB 1300 category.