Indian Racing Festival 2024, Round 4: Lancaster gives Chennai Turbo Riders fourth win; Alibhai leads F4 Indian Championship

Chennai Turbo Riders continued its relentless assault on the Indian Racing League (IRL) by clinching its fourth win of the season through veteran Britisher Jon Lancaster as Round 4 of the Indian Racing Festival got off to a thrilling start at the recently upgraded Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on Saturday.

Lancaster produced moments of magic to hold off pole-sitter and former Formula 1 test driver Neel Jani of Hyderabad Blackbirds, returning to the IRL after missing the previous two rounds, in a tight finish.

In P3 behind the two veterans was India’s Sohil Shah of Goa Aces JA Races.

In a race that kept spectators on their toes, Jani, the 40-year-old from Switzerland, starting from pole position, opened a near five-second gap over Lancaster while 23-year-old Bengalurean Shah made places with some super aggressive moves to tuck himself in P3.

Formula 4 Indian Championship

South African Aqil Alibhai Hyderabad Blackbirds notched his third win of the season with a near-flawless drive starting from P2 on the grid to consolidate his position at the head of the Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC) leaderboard.

With a daring move at Turn-1 on the very first lap, Alibhai went past pole-sitter Ruhaan Alva of Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers and never looked back for a deserving win

While Alibhai disappeared into the distance, there were furious battles up and down the grid on a tight and tricky 2.2 km circuit that presented only a couple of overtaking opportunities.

Alva, the teenager from Bengaluru, just about held on to his P2 after coming under pressure from Shillong’s Jaden Pariat of Bangalore Speedsters as the duo completed the podium behind Alibhai who also picked up a bonus point for the best lap of the race.

The Safety Car deployed twice, and it left the drivers to do a one-lap sprint at the end of the 25-minute race duration.

27th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship

Veteran Diljith TS (Dark Don Racing) from Thrissur made the best of a gift from leader Tijil Rao (Dark Don Racing) to win the JK-LGB Formula 4 race while Dhruvh Goswami (MSPORT) came in second.

Tijil, who was comfortably ahead, ran wide while negotiating a back marker in the closing stages of the race and it allowed Diljith the space to take the lead with Dhruvh in tow. Tijil recovered to come in third.

FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship

Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill began with a bang and cruised into his wonted form to take the lead in navigating the tricky and rough stages in the Blueband Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship at the Special Stages around the Liberty Statue in Shamshabad here on Saturday.

Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar, took the overall lead while the pair of Daraius Shroff and Arjun Dheerendra are leading the INRC3 class and Chetan Shivram and Shivprakash, INRC2 class.

In the final stage, SS4 was red-flagged after only four cars crossed the finish flag as a few cars toppled out. Three top guns, 2021 champion Aditya Thakur, defending champ Arjun Rao Aroor and INRC2 leader Harkishan Wadia, suffered casualties.

Daraius Shroff is leading INRC3 after three stages and Chethan Shivram tops the INRC2 class, also after three stages.

Earlier, Delhi’s speed maestro and 7-time National champion, Gill, clocked the fastest time in the first Special Stage and took a commanding lead of 17 seconds on former champion Chetan Shivram (co-driver Shivaprakash) of Bengaluru with Arnav Pratap Singh and Gulbarga’s Rithesh Guttedar following the top guns in the first stage.

Gill kept his momentum with a combination of caution and aggression in the next three stages to cruise into a comfortable lead after the first day.

Chethan was fastest in JVR2, the second Special Stage, by 6.2 seconds, by Gill bounced back with another 15 second margin on Chethan in the third stage and retained his overall lead.