Chennai, September 20, 2025: Pune’s Arjun Chheda and Bengaluru’s Arjun S Nair produced commanding performances to take top honours in the MRF Formula 2000 and MRF Formula 1600 categories, respectively, setting the pace in the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 at the Madras International Circuit (MIC) on Saturday.

Seventeen-year-old Chheda, starting from pole, drove a flawless race to clinch his second consecutive victory and third win of the season, ahead of Bengaluru duo Ethan Joy and Ishaan Madesh. In the Formula 1600 race, 20-year-old Nair capitalized after pole-sitter Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran retired on the opening lap. Mumbai’s Zahan Commissariatfinished second while Chennai’s Gyan S claimed third place.

In the Indian Touring Cars (ITC) class, Chennai’s Ritesh Rai (Buzzing Hornet), who skipped the first round, stormed to victory in his Volkswagen Polo, leaving behind defending champion Biren Pithawalla and veteran Arjun Balu. Coimbatore’s Vidyaprakash Damodaran, who turned 80 last month, continued to impress with his second win of the season in the ITC 1625cc category.

Team Performance Racing marked a strong comeback, sweeping the podium in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class with Viswas Vijayaraj leading from Deepak Ravikumar and Hattim Shabir. In Super Stock, TS Diljith of Thrissur secured an easy win.

DTS Racing dominated the Formula LGB 1300, with Tirupur’s Vinith Kumar scoring a fine double in both Open and Junior categories. The Volkswagen Polo Cup saw Aman Nagdev (Noida) edge out Navi Mumbai drivers Ojas Surveand Aditya Patnaik. Running alongside, Chennai’s Mohamed Arafath snatched victory in the MRF Saloons class after a close battle with Tarushi Vikram.

The day’s racing featured a 30-car combined grid, delivering wheel-to-wheel battles, dramatic retirements, and exciting podium finishes—setting up a thrilling weekend of motorsport action at MIC.

The results (Provisional, Race-1, all 8 laps unless mentioned):

MRF Formula 2000: 1. Arjun Chheda (Pune) (13mins, 04.999secs); 2. Ethan Joy (Bengaluru) (13:08.542); 3. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (13:10.475).

MRF Formula 1600: 1. Arjun S Nair (Bengaluru) (14:14.925); 2. Zahan Commissariat (Mumbai) (14:16.029); 3. Gyan S (Chennai) (14:39.089).

Indian Touring Cars (ITC): 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai, Buzzing Hornet) (15:08.020); 2. Biren Pithawalla (Mumbai, Team N1) (15:30.364); 3. Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts) (15:38.908). ITC 1625cc: 1. Vidyaprakash Damodaran (Coimbatore, Team Performance Racing) (16:18.968); 2. Mohammed Fahad Kutty (Mumbai, Team Game Over) (16:30.557); 3. Suprej Venkat (Coimbatore, pvt.) (17:08.623).

Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, Team Performance Racing) (15:55.948); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (16:06.104); 3. Hattim Shabir (Chennai, Team Performance Racing) (16:06.533).

Super Stock: 1. Diljith TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (16:43.574); 2. Aman Nagdev (Noida, Strada Motorsports) (16:55.154); 3. Kesara Godage (Chennai, Red Line Racing India) (17:05.321).

Formula LGB 1300 (Open): 1. Vinith Kumar (Tirupur, DTS Racing) (15:07.523); 2. Balaprasath (Coimbatore, DTS Racing) (15:19.238); 3. Joel Joseph (Ernakulam) (DTS Racing) (15:21.312). Junior: 1. Vinith Kumar (Tirupur, DTS Racing) (15:07.523); 2. Joel Joseph (Ernakulam) (DTS Racing) (15:21.312); 3. Lokithlingeash Ravi (Pollachi, DTS Racing) (15:22.320).

Volkswagen Polo Cup: 1. Aman Nagdev (Noida) (15:49.689); 2. Ojas Surve (Navi Mumbai) (15:50.994); 3. Aditya Patnaik (Navi Mumbai) (15:53.930).

MRF Saloons: 1. Mohammed Arfath (Chennai) (17:27.192); 2. Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) (17:27.384); 3. Akshay Muralidharan (Coimbatore) (17:36.694).