Tarun Reddy consolidates his position at the top

Coimbatore: Tarun Reddy consolidated his position at the top of the MRF Formula 1600 class with a brilliant come-from-behind victory in the final race of the third round of the MMSC-National Racing Championship here at the Kari Motor Speedway on Sunday.

After a disastrous performance in the second race in which he crashed out trying an erratic move, Tarun rediscovered his supreme form in race three. Though he had qualified on pole, the 16-year-old Tarun had to start race three from sixth position as a result of his five-place grid penalty for colliding with Gautham Parekh in the previous race on Sunday morning. He, however, made a swift getaway when the lights went off and jumped to third spot. Tarun stormed to the lead with brilliant overtaking manoeuvres on Advait Deodhar and Vikash Anand. With two more rounds (six races) remaining, Tarun is leading the championship by six points ahead of Advait. Vikash, who won the incident-filled race two, is in third place with 101 points.

With heavy rain lashing the circuit, Sunday morning’s Formula 1600 race was red-flagged after the first lap and the sleeks made way for grooved wet tyres. The race was stopped again, in the fourth lap, after Tarun collided with Gautham leaving both cars stranded at the first corner.