Photo: Indian F4
The second Indian Formula 4 season started with a mix of male and female talent at Chennai, and it was Hugh Barter who left as points leader.
A 25-minute practice session on Saturday morning preceded two 10-minute qualifying sessions, with the first setting race one’s grid and the second establishing race three’s grid.
Q1 went the way of established F4 star and former Formula 3 racer Hugh Barter, who set a 1m39.590s to take pole by a huge 0.659 seconds over Aqil Alibhai. Ruhaan Alva and Jaden Pariat were the only other drivers within a second of his pace, with Divy Nandan and Veer Sheth.
Barter then doubled up in Q2, setting a 1m30.512s and this time having an even larger pole advantage of 0.907s. Alibhai was again best of the rest, ahead of Alva and Australian karting graduate Isaac Demellweek.
The day did not end with further success for Barter. A dominant display was ended on the final lap as Barter, who was leading by over 20s, retired due to a broken fuel pump and intead MRF Challenge points leader Pariat was triumphant.
Pariat had got himself in a position to benefit by diving past Alibhai earlier on and then pulling away, and by the finish was four seconds ahead of him. Alva finished third, with Nandan and Sheth several seconds further back in fourth and fifth.
Abhay Mohan, who was second fastest in pre-season testing, failed to qualify for the race.
The top six finishers were reversed to form the front of the grid for race two on Sunday morning, meaning Demellweek started on pole and Barter lined up in 15th place. But his lowly starting position did not prevent him from bouncing back in style from his race one loss, as he charged to victory by a huge 18.724s. He told Formula Scout his winning margin was “down to pace and experience with managing tyres in such hot conditions”.
Demellweek was the very distant runner-up, with Nandan overtaking Sheth to take third by 0.507s and Alva passing Alibhai to finish fifth. Pariat was a subdued seventh, and Mohan was given permission to take part and from the very back managed to finish eighth.
Despite starting on pole, Barter had a far smaller winning margin in race three due to the safety car appearing four laps from the end. He was still able to build it back up to 3.598s by the finish, with Alibhai in second, Alva trailing by 5.013s in third and Pariat was fourth. Mohan was again given permission to race and came sixth, Sheth failed to meet the chequered flag, while Aditya Patnaik missed the race.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Jaden Pariat 27m14.967s
2 Aqil Alibhai +4.460s
3 Ruhaan Alva +4.955s
4 Divy Nandan +8.191s
5 Veer Sheth +8.847s
6 Isaac Demellweek +10.138s
7 Aiva Anagnostiadis +34.459s
8 Shriya Lohia +37.227s
9 Tarun Muthiaiah +37.646s
10 Mira Erda +39.352s
Pole: Barter, 1m39.590s
Fastest lap: Barter, 1m40.113s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Hugh Barter 27m06.573s
2 Demellweek +18.724s
3 Nandan +22.529s
4 Sheth +23.036s
5 Alva +24.190s
6 Alibhai +24.544s
7 Pariat +25.792s
8 Abhay Mohan +42.146s
9 Anagnostiadis +48.853s
10 Lohia +50.396s
FL: Barter, 1m40.358s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Barter 27m06.536s
2 Alibhai +3.598s
3 Alva +5.013s
4 Pariat +6.825s
5 Nandan +7.850s
6 Mohan +10.680s
7 Demellweek +12.521s
8 Muthiaiah +13.767s
9 Lohia +17.370s
10 Alba Hurup Larsen +17.565s
P: Barter, 1m30.512s
FL: Barter, 1m40.3s
Championship standings
1 Barter 42 2 Pariat 41 3 Alibhai 41 4 Alva 36 5 Nandan 30 6 Demellweek 23 7 Sheth 17 8 Mohan 11 9 Anagnostiadis 8 10 Lohia 7