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Saishiva Sankaran, Bhuvan Bonu, Viswas Vijayaraj, Ritesh Rai, Diljith TS and Pratik Sonawane led a multi-class opening round at Madras International Circuit.
Photograph: Anand PhilarThe first 2026 MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 4W weekend had almost everything a national circuit-racing opener should have. There were last-lap passes, reverse-grid recovery drives, a comeback pole, teenager-versus-veteran battles and three different drivers leaving Chennai with a complete sweep of their class.
Madras International Circuit hosted the opening round from 21 to 23 August, with the racing programme building through the weekend across MRF Formula 2000, MRF Formula 1600, Formula LGB 1300, Indian Super Touring Cars, Super Stock and the Volkswagen Polo Cup. The results below are the provisional classifications reported after the weekend, with the full shape of the meeting told through every class.
The biggest result of the weekend belonged to 18-year-old Saishiva Sankaran. The Pune driver completed a hat-trick in MRF Formula 2000, but the clean record does not mean the races were comfortable. On each occasion he had to recover from a poor start, close on Aditya Patnaik and find a way past the Navi Mumbai driver again.
Race 1 was the clearest example. Patnaik led for much of the nine-lap contest, but the pair met backmarkers in the closing laps. Patnaik lost time negotiating traffic, Sankaran closed the gap and then made the pass on the final lap. The margin at the flag was only 0.664 seconds. Race 2 was closer still, with Sankaran ahead of Patnaik by 2.306 seconds, while Race 3 ended with another Sankaran win and another Patnaik second place.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 9 laps | Saishiva Sankaran · 14:47.457 | Aditya Patnaik · 14:48.121 | Swarnav Das · 14:53.134 |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Saishiva Sankaran · 20:11.403 | Aditya Patnaik · 20:13.709 | Krishay Gutte · 20:15.857 |
| Race 3, 10 laps | Saishiva Sankaran · 16:22.565 | Aditya Patnaik · 16:27.649 | Swarnav Das · 16:33.095 |
Three races, three wins, and three separate occasions where Sankaran had to recover the lead through his own pace.
ViPeople race reportThe Formula 1600 story changed direction between Saturday and Sunday. S. Gyan won the opening nine-lap race after running behind Bhuvan Bonu for much of the contest. Bonu then suffered a drop in power near the finish, allowing Gyan and Priyanka Vijay through while Bonu completed the podium one lap down.
Bonu responded on Sunday with two wins of his own. Race 2 had only two finishers, with Bonu ahead of Evan Shrawan. In Race 3, Bonu took the win again, with Gyan second and Shivansh Bejoy third, both a lap down. The 16-year-old from Visakhapatnam therefore left the weekend with the strongest Sunday score in the class, while Gyan had already shown on Saturday that the pace at the front would not be one-sided.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 9 laps | S. Gyan · 16:28.952 | Priyanka Vijay · 14:52.355 +1 lap | Bhuvan Bonu · 14:59.959 +1 lap |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Bhuvan Bonu · 21:19.141 | Evan Shrawan · 21:47.811 | Only 2 finishers |
| Race 3, 10 laps | Bhuvan Bonu · 18:10.216 | S. Gyan · 16:22.952 +1 lap | Shivansh Bejoy · 16:34.435 +1 lap |
Viswas Vijayaraj was the other driver to leave Chennai with a triple crown. The Nellore driver led a DTS Racing podium sweep in the Formula LGB 1300 Open race on Saturday, then returned on Sunday to win Race 2 from an eighth-place reverse-grid start before taking Race 3 from pole.
That reverse-grid drive gave the class one of the weekend’s most satisfying recoveries. Vijayaraj was already in the front group by the end of the opening lap, moved forward through the traffic and then took control. The final race was a different kind of performance, a lights-to-flag victory that showed both sides of the package: the ability to fight through a field and the ability to control a race from the front.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 10 laps | Viswas Vijayaraj · 18:53.431 | Vinithkumar · 18:58.267 | Liron Jaden Samuels · 19:03.051 |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Viswas Vijayaraj · 22:21.644 | Vinithkumar · 22:24.307 | Liron Jaden Samuels · 22:27.640 |
| Race 3, 7 laps | Viswas Vijayaraj · 13:15.418 | Liron Jaden Samuels · 13:23.756 | Vinithkumar · 13:24.135 |
The Formula LGB 1300 Junior category produced another complete sweep. Sri Lanka’s Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa won all three races for Momentum Motorsports, beating large grids and building a weekend that was as important for experience as it was for silverware.
Rajapaksa described the size of the Indian field as a major part of the appeal. The Junior races gave him repeated starts, traffic, changing positions and the pressure of defending a lead across three different contests. Abhijit Vadavalli and Yash Vikram Singh completed the Race 1 podium, while Aadam Junaid, Shatveer Shetty and Yash took the other Sunday top-three places.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 10 laps | Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa · 19:21.510 | Abhijit Vadavalli · 19:39.205 | Yash Vikram Singh · 19:39.596 |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa · 22:41.719 | Abhijit Vadavalli · 22:51.719 | Aadam Junaid · 22:54.102 |
| Race 3, 7 laps | Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa · 13:36.878 | Shatveer Shetty · 13:43.726 | Yash Vikram Singh · 13:51.885 |
The Indian Super Touring Cars class carried one of the weekend’s most interesting build-ups. Former national champion Arjun Narendran returned to active racing and took pole in an Arka Motorsports-prepared Volkswagen Polo with a 1:49.033 lap. But once the races began, it was Ritesh Rai of Buzzing Hornet Motorsports who stayed unbeaten.
Rai won both touring car races, with Aman Nagdev second and Jeet Jhabakh third in each. The result was helped by misfortune for Narendran, who spun and retired while leading Race 1 and could not start Race 2 after the repairs could not be completed in time. That contrast is what makes a double so valuable in a sprint-style national weekend: the car has to be fast, but it also has to be ready when the next grid forms.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 10 laps | Ritesh Rai · 19:01.310 | Aman Nagdev · 19:15.179 | Jeet Jhabakh · 19:23.583 |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Ritesh Rai · 19:05.125 | Aman Nagdev · 19:18.370 | Jeet Jhabakh · 19:23.919 |
Diljith TS produced the same unbeaten record in Super Stock, winning both races for DTS Racing. Deepa S. John and Lal Kattikulam Bharathan shared the remaining podium places across the two contests, with the opening race including a one-lap gap for the second and third finishers.
In the Volkswagen Polo Cup, Pratik Sonawane also won both races. Neel Shah took second in both, while Hitarth Bhatt finished third in Race 1 and Balaji Raju took third in Race 2. The class had already shown its depth in qualifying, where Shah was quickest, but Sonawane was the driver who converted the weekend into points and wins.
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 10 laps | Diljith TS · 20:58.700 | Deepa S. John · 19:02.465 +1 lap | Lal Kattikulam Bharathan · 19:07.680 +1 lap |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Diljith TS · 20:58.700 | Lal Kattikulam Bharathan · 21:03.047 | Deepa S. John · 19:21.307 +1 lap |
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1, 10 laps | Pratik Sonawane · 19:38.049 | Neel Shah · 19:40.454 | Hitarth Bhatt · 19:43.247 |
| Race 2, 10 laps | Pratik Sonawane · 19:39.604 | Neel Shah · 19:55.514 | Balaji Raju · 20:00.495 |
The value of this MRF 4W weekend extends through the whole field. The meeting put several different routes into Indian circuit racing on the same timing sheet. The Formula classes gave young drivers a high-pressure platform. LGB 1300 showed how reverse grids can change the shape of a race. Touring cars rewarded experience and reliability. The Super Stock and Polo Cup fields gave established teams a direct fight over repeated races.
It also made the national racing ladder feel connected. A teenager can race in a Formula class, a returning champion can take pole in a touring car, a one-make grid can produce a close points fight and a class veteran can still deliver a clean double. That variety is exactly what a national four-wheel championship should bring to a weekend.
Chennai has now set the first reference point for the season. Saishiva Sankaran and Viswas Vijayaraj leave with perfect records in their respective categories. Bhuvan Bonu has the strongest Sunday momentum in Formula 1600. Ritesh Rai, Diljith TS and Pratik Sonawane have shown that experience still counts when the lights go out. The next round will tell us who can repeat the performance when the grid, weather and pressure change.
For ViPeople, this is the start of a new National Racing 4W section. We will keep the archive focused on the people, classes, teams and technical stories that make Indian circuit racing worth following, alongside the final podium photograph.
The importance of the Chennai opener sat in the variety of the grid. Formula cars, touring cars, saloons and one-make machinery shared the same weekend, each bringing a different idea of speed. A young driver could watch a more experienced competitor manage a long race, then take the lesson into the next session. That is how a national championship becomes a place where careers begin and mature at the same time.
The paddock also showed why racing remains a team sport even when the result carries one name. A driver can make the pass, yet the preparation has already happened through setup work, tyre decisions, checks and conversations with the engineers. The close margins at Madras International Circuit gave every one of those choices a visible consequence.
Saishiva Sankaran’s three wins made the headline, while the full weekend belonged to a championship with room for many stories. Bonu’s Sunday response, Vijayaraj’s reverse-grid recovery and the junior sweep from Rajapaksa gave the opener a sense of movement. The season has begun with the field already offering reasons to keep watching.
| Class | Crew | Team |
|---|---|---|
| MRF F2000 | Saishiva Sankaran | 3 wins |
| MRF F1600 | S. Gyan / Bhuvan Bonu | Race wins across the weekend |
| Indian Super Touring Cars | Ritesh Rai | 2 wins |
| Super Stock | Diljith TS | 2 wins |
| Volkswagen Polo Cup | Pratik Sonawane | 2 wins |
| Formula LGB 1300 Open | Viswas Vijayaraj | 3 wins |
| Formula LGB 1300 Junior | Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa | 3 wins |
