Philippos Matthai of Delhi tops INAC Rd 2 with four wins, Double for Mysuru's Syed Salman
and undoubted driving skills to win outright in four categories in the Vamcy Merla Channai Gravel
Fest which doubled up as the second round of Octane Pits FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship 2025 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.
Matthai, driving his INRC 2 Polo car, blitzed quality fields in the premier INAC 1 and INAC 2 categories in both of which he won the Open and 2000 classes to stamp his authority on the event
as he also put in the fastest time of one minute, 38.880 seconds over the 1.8 Kms track which was
a mix of dirt, gravel and tarmac.
The Delhi ace was in a league of his own as he held off his arch-rivals who included top guns Syed Salman (Mysuru), Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram), former National Rally champion Chetan Shivram (Bengaluru) and Vaibhav Marathe (Ponda) all of whom finished on podium in the four classes.
Reflecting on his performance, Matthai said: 'I am very happy to have won in four classes. We achieved what we had set out to do. The track was a bit tricky in the early part with water puddles
in some of the corners after overnight rains. However, the track dried up and became a bit rough
in the latter half of the day. I didn't participate in the first round in Chikmagaluru last month. So, it
was a good result here. I now look forward to the next round in Coimbatore.'
Meanwhile, Syed Salman also enjoyed a fruitful outing as he topped the INAC 2 Up to 1650cc
and Up to 1450cc classes for a fine double.
Davangere's Shivani Pruthvi won in the Ladies class ahead of Chennai's Nivetha Jessica and
Anusha NS from Bengaluru, while Gowtham CP (Chikmagaluru) topped the INAC 3 Open category.
Hyderabad's Sundeep K, who finished eighth in the INAC 1 Unrestricted Open category, was adjudged 'Best Novice' driver.
The results:
INAC 1:
Unrestricted Open: 1. Philippos Matthai (New Delhi) (01min, 38.880secs); 2. Syed Salman (Mysuru) (01:39.627); 3. Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram) (01:42.572). Best Novice: Sundeep K (Hyderabad).
Up to 2000cc: 1. Philippos Matthai (New Delhi) (01:38.950); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram) (01:43.786); 3. Chetan Shivram (Bengaluru) (01:48.132).
INAC 2:
Open: Philippos Matthai (New Delhi) (01:39.249); 2. Syed Salman (Mysuru) (01:40.525); 3. Chetan Shivram (Bengaluru) (01.42.883).
Up to 2000cc: 1. Philippos Matthai (Delhi) (01:40.192); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram) (01:41.873); 3. Vaibhav Marathe (Ponda) (01:41.882).
Up to 1650cc: 1. Syed Salman (Mysuru) (01:41.434); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh (Gurugram) (01:42.253); 3. Vaibhav Marathe (Ponda) (01:42.811).
Up to 1450cc: 1. Syed Salman (Mysuru) (01:51.693); 2. Dhanush CP (Chikmagaluru) (02:01.521);
3. Anusha NS (Bengaluru) (02:25.406).
INAC 3:
Open: 1. Gowtham CP (Chikmagaluru) (01:55.470); 2. Tarushi Vikram (Chikmagaluru) (01:58.763);
3. Ishan Ray Chowdhury (Kolkata) (01:59.159).
Ladies :
1. Shivani Pruthvi (Davangere) (01:52.271); 2. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (02:06.899); 3. Anusha
NS (Bengaluru) (02:25.849).
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