Buddh MRF F1600: Shanmugam takes season's first pole
Ananth Shanmugam claimed pole position for the MRF F1600 season-opener in Greater Noida, beating Anindith Reddy in a close fight during qualifying.
Ananth Shanmugsm
MRF Racing
Shanmugam and Reddy were in a class of their own, trading the top spot for much of the session, following from their practice performance.
While Reddy was first to lay the benchmark, it was Shanmugam who eventually topped qualifying, taking pole position with a blistering laptime of 2m05.898s.
Reddy had to settle for second place after failing to replicate the Singapore-based driver’s final flyer. The Hyderabad-based driver lapped the circuit in 2m06.727s, eighth tenths down on Shanmugam’s pace.
Nayan Chatterjee ran near the back of the top two runners for much of qualifying, but a technical issue brought his session to an early halt.
Considering the troubles, the Mumbai-based driver was still lucky to qualify on the second row of the grid, ahead of seasoned racer Anshul Shah.
Alex Bora and Angad Matharoo were classified fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Chetan Korada, Vibhav Parkar and Antony George.
Reigning Volkswagen Vento Cup champion Ishaan Dodhiwala endured a troubled day with 10th, while Arya Singh crashed early on - an incident that led to a lengthy red flag period.
Qualifying Results:
Pos |
Driver |
Time |
---|---|---|
1 |
Ananth Shanmugam |
2m05.898s |
2 |
Anindith Reddy |
2m06.727s |
3 |
Nayan Chatterjee |
2m08.199s |
4 |
Anshul Shah |
2m09.037s |
5 |
Alex Bora |
2m09.942s |
6 |
Angad Matharoo |
2m11.268s |
7 |
Chetan Korada |
2m12.151s |
8 |
Vibhav Parker |
2m19.616s |
9 |
Antony George |
2m23.074s |
10 |
Ishaan Dodhiwala |
3m34.146s |
- |
Arya Singh |
- |
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