Chennai street race: Metropolis’ dreams of racing under the night sky come true with memorable performances and quality action

The city’s ambitious initiative of hosting a night street race started with a blip on Saturday after a nearly eight-hour delay in getting the track ready. However, the organisers of the Indian Racing Festival weekend made it a special Sunday for the drivers and the fans by completing the full card of races despite a crammed programme.

Though the action started an hour later than scheduled on day two, when the lights took over, the metropolis’ dream of hosting a motor race under the night sky turned into a reality.

The on-track drama was exciting, and barring a minor incident during the first Indian Racing League race, the event passed off without hiccups.

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Hugh Barter etched his name in history as the first winner of the Formula 4 race held around the streets of Chennai with a lights-to-flag victory to extend his lead in the Formula 4 Indian championship.

The Australian put his car in pole position and showed his dominance, sailing into the distance. Behind him, India’s Ruhaan Alva and Abhay Mohan filled the remaining steps of the podium.

The first F4 race had an early Safety Car on the opening lap when Zakariya Mohammed went off.

Barter controlled the pace when racing resumed, building up a lead of five seconds at the halfway mark, followed by Ruhaan. Behind the top two, Jaden Pariat and Divy Nandan battled hard for the final podium spot.

Pariat executed the best overtake into turn-1 to take third place from Nandan on the sixth lap.

But on lap 10, Pariat ran wide in the final corner at turn-19, which caught out Nandan, who clipped the former’s car and allowed Abhay to clinch a podium.

Eventually, the race was red-flagged with three minutes left.

In the second F4 race, Barter, who had to start last after crashing during the second qualifying, charged through the field from 16th to fifth in four laps. The Aussie was on course for victory but ran wide chasing Ruhaan and slipped to eighth before settling for fifth.

Meanwhile, the first IRL race produced some superb wheel-to-wheel racing. However, the lasting memory of the race was the sight of a canine on the circuit, which forced a brief suspension.

Once racing resumed, leader Raoul Hyman controlled proceedings expertly to become the first IRL winner at the Chennai street circuit.

But the competition for the second, third and fourth spot between pole-sitter Gabriela Jilkova, Jon Lancaster and Alister Yoong kept everyone on the edge of their seats.

Lancaster lost his battle against Gabriela when he hit the latter’s rear tyre and retired.

Despite minor damage to her car, Gabriela steered it past the finish line and took second place ahead of Yoong.

The second race of the IRL then closed out the weekend with a race that saw another close battle for the top-spot. Aqil Alobhai of South Africa took a well-deserved win ahead of two Indians Sohil Shah and Rishon Rajeev.

If Saturday showed what could go wrong when putting up a street race of this magnitude, Sunday was testament to how magnificent the city can be when things fall in place. Fast cars zooming past the iconic landmarks of Chennai and drivers trying to push the limit without going over it by even a fraction was a sight to behold and something that will be entrenched in the history of the city.