Indian Racing Festival 2024, Round 4: Raoul Hyman secures second race win, Alibhai achieves triple crown
Raoul Hyman secured a second race win in this edition of the Indian Racing League (IRL) with a comfortable lights-to-flag victory as the fourth round of the Indian Racing Festival (IRF) concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on Sunday.
Hyman picked up the full quota of points — pole position, race win and best lap of the race — and his success followed his teammate Sohil Shah’s P3 finish on Saturday in the first race.
Finishing second was Ruhaan Alva of Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers and Portugal’s Alvaro Parente for Speed Demons Delhi. Alva, starting from P2 dropped a couple of places at the very start before recovering to regain his second spot, but behind Hyman by a significant margin.
Formula 4 Indian Open
Aqil Alibhai of Black Birds Hyderabad, Ruhaan Alva of Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers and Jaden Pariat of Bangalore Speedsters extended their domination of the Formula 4 Indian Open Championship (F4IC) by finishing on the podium in all three races this weekend.
Alibhai achieved a historic triple crown, finishing P1 in all races. Alibhai capitalised on his pole position start while Alva recovered from a poor start to get back to P2, ahead of Pariat.
Earlier, Alibhai won his second race of the weekend comfortably despite starting P6 on the reverse grid, while Pariat and Alva, who both made places immediately after the start, came in second and third respectively.
27th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship – Bengaluru trio sweep podium
Abhay Mohan (MSPORT), championship leader Tiljil Rao (Dark Don Racing) and Chetan Surineni (Ahura Racing), who started from P23, swept the podium spots in that order in the fiercely contested LGB Formula 4 race.
Starting from pole position on the reverse grid, teenager Abhay Mohan pulled away from the pack and continued to extend his lead while track positions were trading behind him. There was a four-way tussle between veteran Raghul Rangasamy (MSPORT) and the Dark Don trio of Bala Prasath, Tijil and Diljith TS.
Eventually, Tijil moved to P2 after getting past Bala Prasath, whose car lost the front cone following contact with another vehicle, and Rangasamy. Surineni benefitted from a timely Safely Car after he started from the back row of the 23-car grid.
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup
Rohan R (Coimbatore) and Navaneeth Kumar S (Puducherry) won a race apiece in the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup after surviving close battles. Rohan, after winning today’s first race, looked set for a double, but Navaneeth Kumar denied him a double with a late burst in the second outing.
The results (Provisional):
Indian Racing League Race-2, Driver-B: 1. Raoul Hyman (UK, Goa Aces JA Racing) (23mins, 40.164secs); 2. Ruhaan Alva (India, Shrachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) (23:52.434); 3. Alvaro Parente (Portugal, Speed Demons Delhi) (23:54.337). Best Lap: Raoul Hyman (01:03.917).
Formula 4 Indian Open Race-2: 1. Aqil Alibhai (South Africa, Hyderabad Blackbirds) (26:16.904); 2. Jaden Pariat (India, Bangalore Speedsters) (26:18.991); 3. Ruhaan Alva (India, Srachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) (26:19.996). Best Lap: Alibhai (01:06.693).
Race-3: 1. Aqil Alibhai (South Africa, Black Birds Hyderabad) (26:54.554); 2. Ruhaan Alva (India, Srachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) (27:03.942); 3. Jaden Pariat (India, Bangalore Speedsters) (27:09.106); 3. Ruhaan Alva (India, Srachi Rarh Royal Bengal Tigers) (26:19.996). Best Lap: Alibhai (01:06.615).
27th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship:
LGB Formula 4 (Race-2, 20 laps): 1. Abhay Mohan (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (27:37.914); 2. Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, Dark Don Racing) (27:38.085); 3. Chetan Surineni (Bengaluru, Ahura Racing) (27:38.162). Rookie: 1. Abhay Mohan (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (27:37.914); 2. Dhruvh Goswami (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (27:39.889); 3. Monith Kumaran Srinivasan (Chennai, Ahura Racing) (27:43.006).
Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup
Race-2 (5 laps): 1. Rohan R (Coimbatore) (06:39.768); 2. Kayan Patel (Mumbai) (06:40.124); 3. Navaneeth Kumar S (Puducherry) (06:40.214). Race-3 (10 laps) – Professionals: 1. Navaneeth Kumar S (Puducherry) (13:04.139); 2. Rohan R (Coimbatore) (13:04.620); 3. Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Bengaluru) (13:07.724). Amateurs: 1. Yogesh P (Bengaluru) (13:31.365); 2. Johring Warisa (Umrangso) (13:54.196); 3. Prashant C (Chennai) (14:03.400).