Photo: Indian F4
The Indian Formula 4 championship managed to hold its third round this weekend, fitting in five races at Chennai.
Extreme weather led to the races on Chennai’s new street circuit being relocated to the permanent track that all other Indian F4 rounds have taken place at, and extra races were then added to make up for the ones that were supposed to take place at the track a few days ago but got cancelled due to the weather.
There were two qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, with Q1 setting the race one grid and Q2 setting the race three grid. Cooper Webster set a 56.461s to take race one pole by just 0.015 seconds over Rishon Rajeev, and with Akshay Bohra 0.022s behind in third. Webster also topped Q2, and this time a 56.409s earned him pole by 0.021s over Bohra.
An hour-and-a-half later was the opening race, and Webster dominated. Not only did he win by 7.251s, but he also lapped two drivers as the circuit’s short rather than full layout was used. Rajeev finished second, 1.64s ahead of Bohra.
Shahan Ali Mohsin earned reversed-grid pole for race two by finishing sixth, and he made the most of it as he took his second win of the season. Rajeev was only 0.802s behind, and was chased closely by Bohra and Webster.
Race three took place on Sunday morning, and the top four on the grid held their positions. Webster won by 0.917s, with Rajeev and Jack Taylor finishing third and fourth.
Alex Sawer started race four from reversed-grid pole and was able to hold on to the lead the whole race for his first win. Ali Mohsin finished 1.062s behind, and Bohra climbed two places to third and set the fastest lap.
Webster returned to dominating in race five, winning by a huge 20.03s. The battle for second was settled by just 0.846s in comparision, with Rajeev beating Bohra. Sawer was a further 12s behind in fourth.
Four drivers head into next weekend’s season finale in title contention, but Webster has a big gap at the top of the standings.
Results round-up
Race 1 (28 laps)
1 Cooper Webster 26m39.430s
2 Rishon Rajeev +7.251s
3 Akshay Bohra +8.891s
4 Alex Sawer +17.099s
5 Rohaan Madesh +22.822s
6 Shahan Ali Mohsin +26.520s
7 Rishab Jain +28.015s
8 Nooris Gafoor +38.617s
9 Jack Taylor +1 lap
10 Shriya Lohia +4 laps
Pole: Webster, 56.461s
Fastest lap: Webster, 56.556s
Race 2 (27 laps)
1 Ali Mohsin 26m00.417s
2 Rajeev +0.802s
3 Bohra +1.015s
4 Webster +1.271s
5 Sawer +13.070s
6 Madesh +13.528s
7 Gafoor +18.090s
8 Taylor +20.398s
9 Lohia +3 laps
Ret Jain
FL: Webster, 56.432s
Race 3 (25 laps)
1 Webster 26m49.426s
2 Bohra +0.917s
3 Rajeev +1.709s
4 Taylor +3.606s
5 Ali Mohsin +3.826s
6 Sawer +4.114s
7 Jain +4.555s
8 Gafoor +5.297s
P: Webster, 56.409s
FL: Webster, 56.348s
Race 4 (28 laps)
1 Sawer 26m53.276s
2 Ali Mohsin +1.062s
3 Bohra +1.620s
4 Webster +1.957s
5 Taylor +2.455s
6 Rajeev +4.072s
7 Jain +7.348s
8 Gafoor +21.657s
9 Madesh +22.172s
FL: Bohra, 56.636s
Race 5 (28 laps)
1 Webster 26m28.511s
2 Rajeev +20.030s
3 Bohra +20.876s
4 Sawer +33.235s
5 Ali Mohsin +33.981s
6 Madesh +36.680s
7 Gafoor +38.946s
8 Taylor +41.815s
9 Jain +6 laps
FL: Webster, 56.257s
Championship standings
1 Webster 208.5 2 Bohra 168 3 Rajeev 156 4 Ali Mohsin 153 5 Sawer 123 6 Madesh 61 7 Taylor 51 8 Gafoor 47 9 Jain 44 10 Dion Gowda 25.5