NAYAN CHATTERJEE HOLDS OFF ANINDITH REDDY TO MAKE MAIDEN MRF 1600 WIN
Mick Schumacher took another commanding win at Round 3 of the MRF Challenge 2016 at the Buddh International Circuit ahead of Joey Mawson and Harrison Newey. In the second race of the day Newey struck back to take his first win of the weekend in an action packed race as Schumacher crashed out. Ralf Aron and Joey Mawson completed the podium. Mawson continues to lead the championship on 211 points with ….Nayan Chatterjee put in an inspired effort to hold off Anindith Reddy to win his first ever race of the series.
Starting on pole position, Schumacher got the perfect start to lead into the first corner, with front-row starter Newey once again losing out at the start, this time to Joey Mawson. Newey briefly got past Mawson down the main straight only for the Australian to take the position back going into corner 4. As Mawson and Newey continued to battle, Schumacher pulled away at the front. Schumacher crossed the finish line in 1st place, taking his 2nd win in 3 races. Mawson fended off Newey to finish in 2nd place. Drugovich finished in a lonely 4th place, ahead of Rinus Van Kalmthout, Juri Vips and Pedro Cardoso.
The second race of the day provided all the action. Newey made a perfect start to lead the race, as there was a big battle behind between Aron, Mawson and Schumacher for second place. Schumacher tried to pass Mawson but both drivers collided, dropping Mawson to 8th. Schumacher closed in on Aron and both went wide coming out of turn 3, allowing Drugovich to go past. As Schumacher was passing Aron, he clipped Drugovich who had turned into turn 4. Both Schumacher and Drugovich retired on the spot, bringing out the safety car in the process. The race finished under safety car with Newey winning ahead of Aron and Mawson. Behind them Cardoso finished in 4th place, ahead of Schramm and Van Kalmthout.
Mick Schumacher was happy to continue his impressive form at the BIC. He commented, “I had a good start and with both these guys (Newey and Mawson) battling behind me I had the chance to pull away. It is a shame about the last race but am pretty happy about the entire weekend.”
Harrison Newey commented, “I have had trouble with my starts the entire weekend so it was good to finally have a good start. I have had the pace in all the races but tough to overtake here. This is a good way to end the weekend”
In the second race of the MRF 1600 championship, reverse grid pole sitter Alex Bora held on to the lead at the start only to lose out to Chatterjee in the opening lap. Reddy passed Bora and started to close in on Chatterjee and on lap 4 got past him to take the lead. The next two laps saw an intense battle ensue with both drivers trading places at the front. With 3 laps to go Chatterjee took the lead and stayed in front to take his first victory in the championship. Reddy finished in 2nd place with Race 1 winner Ananth Shanmugam recovering well to finish in a creditable 3rd place. Anshul Shah finished in 4th place ahead of Bora and Arya Singh.
MRF Challenge 2016, Round 3, New Delhi, Race 3:
Pos | Driver Name | Total Time |
1 | Mick Schumacher | 22:22.305 |
2 | Joey Mawson | 22:26.311 |
3 | Harrison Newey | 22:27.580 |
4 | Felipe Drugovich | 22:37.090 |
5 | Rinus van Kalmthout | 22:39.029 |
6 | Juri Vips | 22:40.895 |
7 | Pedro Cardoso | 22:42.345 |
8 | Ralf Aron | 22:44.168 |
9 | Dylan Young | 22:53.981 |
10 | Kimi Schramm | 22:54.568 |
MRF Challenge 2016, Round 3, New Delhi, Race 4:
Pos | Driver Name | Total Time |
1 | Harrison Newey | 30:30.191 |
2 | Ralf Aron | 30:31.155 |
3 | Joey Mawson | 30:31.549 |
4 | Pedro Cardoso | 30:31.878 |
5 | Kimi Schramm | 30:32.410 |
6 | Rinus van Kalmthout | 30:32.654 |
7 | Dylan Young | 30:34.182 |
8 | Manuel Maldonado | 30:34.637 |
9 | Pavan Ravishanker | 30:36.030 |
10 | Yoshiaki Katayama | 30:43.053 |
MRF 1600, Round 1, New Delhi, Race 2:
Pos | Driver Name | Total Time |
1 | Nayan Chatterjee | 17:21.448 |
2 | Anindith Reddy | 17:24.780 |
3 | Ananth Shanmugam | 17:27.097 |
4 | Anshul Shah | 17:38.250 |
5 | Alex Bora | 17:43.914 |
About MRF Challenge
In its fifth year, the MRF Challenge will feature MRF Formula 2000 race cars, which have been made in India by JA Motorsport, who are based in Coimbatore. The Formula 3 style car has been built by JA Motorsport in technical collaboration with Dallara, and is considered to be the fastest of its kind in Asia. The new car is powered by a 2 litre Mountune Duratec engine with max power of 230 bhp and shod on MRF Z.L.O. tyres. The car will also feature advanced aerodynamics with underbody diffuser and a Hewland 6-speed sequential gearbox.
This year the grid has yet another promising line-up headed by the returning Newey and Schumacher. Joining them is German F4 Champion Joey Mawson, 2015 Italian F4 Champion and F3 race winner Ralf Aron, Japanese F3 Champion (National Class) Yoshiaki Katayama and Manuel Maldonado, cousin of former F1 race winner Pastor Maldonado.
MRF Challenge 2016 Calendar:
Round 1: November 17-19, 2016, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit (WEC Support Race)
Round 2: December 7-9, 2016, Dubai, Dubai Autodrome
Round 3: January 27-29, 2016, New Delhi, Buddh International Circuit
Round 4: February 17-19, 2016, Chennai, Madras Motor Race Track