Close finishes mark national racing championship opener
COIMBATORE: The opening day of the second round of the FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2026 delivered exciting finishes, close battles and remarkable comebacks at Kari Motor Speedway on Saturday. Augustine Boby secured a narrow victory over Shatveer Shetty by just 0.032 seconds in the F1300 Novice Cup, while Mehul Agarwal and Deepak Ravikumar won their respective races through late overtakes.
In the LGB Formula 4 category, Dark Don Racing’s Mehul Agarwal defeated teammate Arya Singh by 0.237 seconds after a dramatic final-lap battle. Agarwal made his decisive move with two laps remaining in the 15-lap race. Dhruvh Goswami finished third, while rookie Aditya Patnaik secured fifth place overall and topped the rookie category. Agarwal also recorded the fastest lap of 1:16.944.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup Amateur race witnessed two red-flag interruptions and a thrilling finish. Kabir Sahoch defeated Saurav Sanjay Dey by 0.979 seconds, while Brandon Dsouza recovered from ninth on the starting grid to finish third. In the Pro category, Bengaluru’s Anish Shetty secured a comfortable victory ahead of Senthil Kumar and Navaneeth Kumar. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Pratik Sonawane dominated both races in the Gentleman category of the JK Tyre Levitas Cup, completing a double victory.
In the Super Saloon categories, Arjun Narendran won the Indian Super Touring Cars race by 7.288 seconds, while Balaprasath A finished first in Indian Touring Cars. The Indian Junior Touring Cars category produced another exciting contest, with Deepak Ravikumar recovering from 15th position to win the second race by 0.308 seconds after a last-lap overtake against Srinivas Teja. Diljith T S also secured two victories in Super Stock.
The second round will conclude on Sunday at Kari Motor Speedway, where the early winners will look to maintain their momentum as competitors prepare for another day of racing action.
