Saishiva Sankaran and S. Gyan win opening-day races at MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 4W
Saishiva Sankaran won the MRF Formula 2000 race and S. Gyan took the MRF Formula 1600 victory on the opening day of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 4W at the Madras International Circuit on Saturday, August 22, 2026. The results came from the Race-1 programmes held at MIC.
The event featured multiple categories across the opening-day schedule, including MRF F2000, MRF F1600 and Formula LGB 1300. Viswas Vijayaraj led a DTS Racing one-two in the Formula LGB 1300 Open class, and Sri Lankan Kaveen Divyan Rajapaksa of Momentum Motorsports topped the Junior class. Former National champion Arjun Narendran took pole position in the Indian Super Touring Cars class, while Neel Shah was quickest in Volkswagen Polo Cup qualifying.
MRF F2000 Race-1 was contested over nine laps and produced a podium of Saishiva Sankaran, Aditya Patnaik and Swarnav Das with times of 14:47.457, 14:48.121 and 14:53.134 respectively. The published listing carried a provisional tag. Saishiva secured the win after leader Aditya Patnaik encountered difficulties with backmarkers in the closing laps.
In MRF F1600 Race-1, run over nine laps, S. Gyan was declared the winner with a time of 16:28.952. The classified second and third places were Priyanka Vijay at 14:52.355+1 lap and Bhuvan Bonu at 14:59.959+1 lap. Gyan had been running second for much of the race and moved into the lead after Bhuvan Bonu suffered a drop in power towards the finish.
Formula LGB 1300 Race-1 Open produced a DTS Racing one-two with Viswas Vijayaraj first in 18:53.431 and Vinithkumar second in 18:58.267; Liron Jaden Samuels completed the Open podium in 19:03.051. In the Junior category the provisional times listed Kaveen Diyyan Rajapaksa (Momentum Motorsports) first in 19:21.510, Abhijit Vadavalli (Momentum Motorsports) second in 19:39.205 and Yash Vikram Singh (Delta Speeds) third in 19:39596.
The published results were marked provisional and relate to the opening-day programme of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 4W at Madras International Circuit on Saturday, August 22, 2026.