Saishiva Sankaran, Bhuvan Bonu Continue Winning Streaks in MRF Indian National Racing Challenge

Pics: Pramod Mani

Chennai, India, September 26, 2026: Pune teenager Saishiva Sankaran and Visakhapatnam’s Bhuvan Bonu continued their winning runs in the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 4W – 2026, taking victories in the Formula 2000 and Formula 1600 races respectively at the Madras International Circuit on Saturday.

The second round of the 2026 championship saw 18-year-old Saishiva claim his fourth consecutive victory of the season, while 16-year-old Bhuvan secured his third straight win, having completed a double in the opening round last month.

The Formula 2000 victory further underlined Saishiva’s strong start to the season. Starting from pole position, the Pune racer made a clean getaway and quickly established a sizeable advantage over the field.

Bengaluru’s defending champion Ishaan Madesh, who had qualified fourth, gained two positions by Turn 2 to move into second. However, Saishiva continued to increase his advantage lap after lap before easing his pace towards the finish to conserve his tyres.

Saishiva eventually took a comfortable victory, with Ishaan Madesh finishing second and Mumbai’s Krishay Gutte completing the podium.

Ishaan, meanwhile, indicated that he expected to show stronger pace in Sunday’s races, with two more races scheduled for the Formula 2000 category.

In Formula 1600, Bhuvan Bonu also produced a controlled performance after initially being involved in a close battle for position. Once he had cleared his immediate rivals, the Visakhapatnam teenager opened up a comfortable gap and maintained it through to the chequered flag.

Bengaluru’s Tanmay Kothari finished second, while Chennai’s Gyan S secured third place.

The Formula 2000 and Formula 1600 races were among the highlights of the second round of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 2026, which is being held at the Madras International Circuit.

Viswas Vijayaraj Extends Formula LGB 1300 Winning Streak

Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj continued his unbeaten run this season in the Formula LGB 1300 Open category, leading a podium sweep for DTS Racing in a highly competitive 24-car field.

The race featured plenty of jostling for track position in the early stages before an incident involving several cars brought proceedings to a halt. The race was subsequently restarted, but the distance was reduced to two laps.

Vijayaraj, despite suffering a damper issue on his car, managed his machinery through the shortened race to take another victory. His DTS Racing team-mates Leon Jaden Samuel from Tirunelveli and Thrissur’s Diljith TS finished second and third respectively, completing a clean sweep for the team.

In the Formula LGB 1300 Junior category, Sri Lankan schoolboy Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa of Momentum Motorsports extended his winning streak with another controlled performance.

The eight-lap schedule was also affected by the red flag, which came after two laps following an on-track incident. Following the restart, the reduced race distance produced a short and intense battle for the remaining positions.

The results (Provisional):

MRF F2000 (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Saishiva Sankaran (Pune) (12:52.987); 2. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (12:53.390); 3. Krishay Gutte (Mumbai) (13:02.171).

MRF F1600 (Race-1, 8 laps): 1. Bhuvan Bonu (Visakhapatnam) (14:02.774); 2. Tanmay Kothari (Bengaluru) (14:05.299); 3. Gyan S (Chennai) (14:07.075).

Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1, 2 laps) Open: 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (Nellore, DTS Racing) (03:54.047); 2. Liron Jaden Samuels (Tirunelveli, DTS Racing) (03:55.174); 3. Diljit TS (Thrissur, DTS Racing) (03:55.260).

Junior (2 laps): 1. Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa (Colombo, Momentum Motorsports) (04:02.111); 2. Pranav Ramasamy (Tiruppur, DTS Racing) (04:05.547); 3. Shatveer Shetty (Bengaluru, Momentum Motorsports) (04:05.604).