Arjun Chheda, Ishaan Madesh shine; Sai Shiva Sankaran wins triple in National Racing Championship

Teen racers Arjun Chheda, Ishaan Madesh and Sai Shiva Sankaran starred in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 at Chennai. Sankaran won three races in Formula 1600, while Chheda and Madesh triumphed in Formula 2000

Chennai: Three 17-year-olds — Pune’s Arjun Chheda and Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran, and Bengaluru’s Ishaan Madesh — were in the spotlight with victories in the MRF single-seater categories as the third and penultimate round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 concluded at the Madras International Circuit here on Monday.

Arjun Chheda and Ishaan Madesh, the reigning National karting champion, won a race apiece in the MRF Formula 2000 category, while Sai Shiva Sankaran dominated the MRF Formula 1600 class, winning all three races this round for a total of five victories this season, which will conclude at the same venue later this month.

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The results saw Arjun Chheda, with five wins to his credit, retain his top spot in the provisional championship standings, just five points ahead of Ishaan Madesh, while Sai Shiva Sankaran enjoys a 24-point advantage over Bengaluru’s Arjun Nair.

The big story of the weekend was scripted by the mechanics of Arka Motorsports, who worked late into the night to ready their cars for two races in the Indian Touring Cars class. Their efforts paid off as Chennai’s Ritesh Rai (Buzzing Hornet), whose car was tuned by Arka Motorsports, clinched a double.

Multiple National Rally champion Karna Kadur (Arka Motorsports), who missed Sunday’s Race-1, notched one podium finish to mark his one-off return. The eight-time National rally champion returned to racing after a gap of 20 years.

Amidst the chaos in the garages, former National champion and points leader going into the round, Coimbatore’s Arjun Balu (Race Concepts), suffered three retirements due to car issues.

At the end of the round, Lonavla’s Dhruv Chavan, a private entry, remained the only competitor in the ITC Class to finish all nine races so far and thus leads the championship, albeit just three points ahead of Pithawalla, with Ritesh Rai moving to P3 ahead of Arjun Balu in the provisional standings.

Thrissur’s Dilijith TS (DTS Racing) notched his sixth win in a row in the Super Stock class to keep himself in title contention, while Sri Lanka’s Kesara Godage (Performance Racing), with three P2 finishes, continues to lead the points table in this category. Nellore’s Viswas Vijayaraj (Performance Racing) enjoyed a successful Monday with a double in the Indian Junior Touring Cars category.

Ernakulam’s Joel Joseph (DTS Racing) completed a successful round, winning both races on Monday, the first of which was marred by multiple stoppages due to on-track incidents. He moved to the top of the points table in both Open and Junior classes of the Formula LGB 1300 category.

In the MRF Saloons (Toyota Etios) category, Coimbatore’s Akshay Muralidharan and local challenger Mohamed Arfath won a race apiece. Muralidharan leads the championship in this category.