The first-ever racing action of the LGB Formula 4 of the 25th FMSCI National Racing Championship at the FIA-accredited Hyderabad Street Circuit was an eventful one with multiple red flags and ending under yellow flag conditions giving a thrilling experience to viewers on and off-track.
Originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, all three races of LGB Formula 4 had to be rescheduled to Sunday owing to logistical difficulties faced by the organisers of the Indian Racing League (IRL). Unfortunately, the IRL races were cancelled owing to technical issues and it was the LGB Formula 4 races ruling the track.
In a scintillating start to the third round of the 25th FMSCI National Racing Championship, at the very first race of the LGB Formula 4 on the brand-new Hyderabad Street Circuit, Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don Racing) and Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) quickly dispensed with pole sitter Tijil Rao and fought tooth and nail for the first three laps when the drama unfolded and the red flag was brought out due to the failure of championship leader, Ashwin Dutta.
The restart didn’t last long either with Mira Erda crashing and bringing out the red flag again. In the second restart, Saran Vikram (Mars Racing) made the most of it, pulling into the lead. With eight laps to go, another retirement brought out the yellow flags, followed by the safety car. The organisers then decided to bring out the red flag again. So it was back to the grid for the cars remaining in the race for the last three laps, a FMSCI release said.
Saran got off to a good start. Coming into the most crucial right-hander at this track, he made a little mistake and slid away from the apex. Raghul seized the opportunity and the lead. By the end of the lap, Vishwas Vijayaraj slipped past into the lead and Saran got back ahead of Raghul. In a scintillating fight to the finish line, Vishwas held off the challenge by closely placing Saran and Raghul, taking his Ahura Racing car to the top spot.
However, Viswas was unfortunately relegated to second following a post-race penalty, which saw Raghul Rangasamy awarded the win for Race 1. Saran Vikram was disqualified by the stewards post-race, promoting Diljith TS to 3rd to complete the Race 1 podium.
Race 2 was almost similar to the first one, with red flags and restarts galore. The shining stars did not change much either. Saran had tremendous drive from his really well-prepared cracker of a car, only to make small errors which Raghul Rangasamy capitalized on, annexing another podium and in fact stepping up to the top followed closely by Saran Vikram in second place and Ashwin Dutta who inherited the third place from Vishwas Vijayaraj (Ahura Racing) after he spun all on his own, extricating himself from what was a superb 3-way fight for the win.
The third and final race of the day kept the excitement of the day alive with some close overtaking. While Viswas Vijayaraj and Raghul Rangasamy continued to make it to the podium in first and second place respectively, Arya Singh from Dark Don Racing sprung into the top three lead taking third place.
With an action-packed weekend over now, the competing stacks at the championship have definitely gone down to the wire and the season finale scheduled in December in Coimbatore will be nothing short of intense races on the known turf of Kari Motor Speedway. (ANI)
