Indian Racing Festival: Mohammed Ryan's First IRL Win Secures Double For Chennai Turbo Riders

It was a delight for Chennai Turbo Riders as Mohammed Ryan converted his pole position start to his maiden success, securing a double for the city-based franchise in the third round of the Indian Racing Festival in Chennai on Sunday. (More Motorsport News)

The 22-year-old Ryan’s triumph came on the back of teammate Jon Lancaster’s conquest in Race-1 on Saturday.

Ryan, the 2019 Rotax Karting champion, raced on the home circuit and started brightly, putting in uniform fast laps for his opening win in the IRL.

As Ryan disappeared into the distance at the start, Sohil Shah (Goa Aces JA Racing) rode aggressively past Jaden Pariat (Bangalore Speedsters) heading into Turn-1.

Pariat then dropped a spot more after teammate Rishon Rajeev jumped on him later in the opening lap.

The top three then maintained their positions, while behind them, others scrapped for points.

An elated Ryan sounded: "I had a good start and kept my focus to put some consistent laps. I am happy that my team, Chennai Turbo Riders, won both the IRL races this weekend and picked up some big points."

Formula 4 Indian Championship sees 3 winners

Meanwhile, in the Formula 4 Indian Championship, three races produced three different winners, as Ruhaan Alva (Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers), Veer Sheth (Ahmedabad Apex Racers) moved up from P2 to P1 after original racer winner Jaden Pariat (Bangalore Speedsters) was docked a 20-second penalty, along with South African Aqil Alibhai (Black Birds Hyderabad).

The day’s first race saw Alva in a league of his own once he moved to the front in the very first lap and was simply unstoppable.

In the subsequent race, Jaden Pariat dominated after having survived a contact with Alibhai while trying to regain his track position.

As the incident pushed Alibhai to P16, he finished P4 eventually, while Pariat was docked a post-race 20-second penalty "for causing avoidable collision", dropping to eighth in the final standings.

Consequently, Veer Sheth, Ruhaan Alva and Abhay Mohan (Bangalore Speedsters) moved up a spot to finish on top, second and third, respectively.

In the final race, Alibhai built a winning lead after moving from P3 to P1 before Turn-1 in the very first lap and enjoyed a trouble-free run to spare nearly 19 seconds to second-placed Divy Nandan (Ahmedabad Apex Racers) and Ruhaan Alva, who did well to hold off an aggressive Pariat in the latter half of the race.

Round 4 of the Indian Racing Festival takes place on October 19 and 20 in Coimbatore.