Revisiting the new era MRF Challenge champions of Chennai

Photos: MRF Motorsports

India’s MRF Challenge was a popular series for foreign drivers and also had races overseas prior to its 2020 demise. Last year it was revived as a Chennai-based series where local talents get to develop and shine

Run as the MRF Challenge from 2012 to 2020, the India-based series with title sponsorship from its tyre supplier was revived in late 2022 as MRF Formula 2000 with the same two-litre cars of old (comparable to the Formula Renault chassis found previously in Europe) and a repeat of its old multi-year structure, which you can read about here.

A year ago it then began its 2023 season, with three rounds consisting of three races each and all taking place at Chennai. A grid of five F2000 cars was attracted for the opening round, with a secondary grid of MRF Formula 1600 entrants starting further behind as their races were held concurrently with F2000’s. Arya Singh took pole, but Sandeep Kumar came from third to win the eight-lap season opener by a slim 0.39 seconds. Aditya Swaminathan and Singh completed the podium.

Overnight rain made for tricky conditions in the 10-lap race two, and the ultra experienced Chetan Korada – who races with prosthetic feet – won by 0.623s over Kumar. Rohaan Madesh was a further 0.494s behind in third.

Kumar doubled up in race three, with Singh 0.259s behind and Korada completing the podium.

Rain led to rescheduling of races during round two, which attracted six F2000 cars, and in qualifying Swaminathan took pole. He converted that into race one success by 0.499s, chased all the way by Madesh while Korada was a distant third.

Swaminathan won again in race two, growing his margin of victory to 0.754s. Singh was second, and Kumar was third.

Race three was another close one, and Singh missed out on victory yet again. This time Kumar denied him by 0.417s, and he only finished 0.342s ahead of Madesh.

Kumar entered December’s final round with 25 points in hand over Singh, who was two points ahead of Korada and seven ahead of title outsider Swaminathan.

2023 MRF F2000

Although Kumar took pole, he ended up having the worst weekend of the quartet with no podium finishes. Three fourth places was still enough to claim the title though as the F2000 field reverted to five cars.

Singh finally became a winner in race one, pipping the debuting Jaden Pariat by 0.206s. Korada and Kumar were left in their dust, both over five seconds behind, and Swaminathan retired. Kumar’s championship lead was cut to 12 points, and it remained a four-way fight.

Swaminathan was the man to beat on the final day of the season, winning both races. He triumphed in race two by 0.571s over Singh, who was now Kumar’s sole title rival, as Pariat made the podium again in third.

Pariat pushed Swaminathan hard in the title decider, the pair split by 0.27s at the finish, and a distant third place for Singh meant Kumar became champion by three points.

2023 championship standings
1 Kumar 154   2 Singh 151   3 Swaminathan 136   4 Korada 126   5 Madesh 66   6 Pariat 51   7 Arjun Chheda 28

The calendar expanded to four rounds for 2024, all at Chennai, with two events in February followed by a five-month break before a return to action in July. There was then gap of a month before the August finale.

Only three F2000 drivers attended the season opener, and Pariat kicked off his campaign with pole. He was set to win race one before engine issues struck and he lost the lead on the last lap to reigning MRF F1600 champion Chetan Surineni.

He bounced back to dominate the next two races, winning them by 17.989s and 14.366s respectively, with Surineni second both times. Tarun Muthiaiah was disqualified from race two, and a very distant third – and also last – in race three.

2024 MRF F2000

Pariat went unbeaten in round two, taking pole and then victory and fastest lap in all three races. After lights-to-flag success in race one, he overtook his only two rivals to win the reversed-grid race two by 8.985s and led from the front again in race three to triumph by 12.762s.

The F2000 grid grew to five cars for round three, and Pariat once again took pole. His start to race one wasn’t the best, but he didn’t lose the lead and pulled away over the course of the opening lap. It was another utterly dominant drive, but the race ended with Pariat being disqualified and victory was handed to the debuting Akhil Agarwal who had got ahead of Surineni for second on-the-road with a few laps to go.

Pariat sought redemption in race two, which began with reversed-grid polesitter Shirya Lohia being slow off the line and Muthiaiah streaking into the lead. It was four-wide for second briefly and Pariat took the position, with Surineni third.

By the end of lap one there was already a big gap between Pariat in first and the rest of the field, with Surineni attacking Muthiaiah. Repeatedly going wide out of the last corner meant Surineni didn’t overtake Muthiaiah when he had the pace advantage in the race’s first half, but he took second on the final lap after Muthiaiah went off under pressure and stalling. He got going again, but finished fourth behind Agarwal.

Pariat won and had pole position again for race three. Surineni was almost able to get down the inside of him at turn one on the opening lap but has held off, and thereon it was like previous races as Pariat streaked away for victory. Agarwal tried to stick with Surineni but by mid-race had been gapped and finished a lonely third.

In the final round, Pariat was fastest in qualifying but lost the lead to sole title rival Surineni – who had a new car after issues with his original one – at the opening corner of race one. At turn two he was back ahead and soon untouchable. Muthiaiah was a very distant third, and on the last lap Agarwal dropped behind Lohia.

Surineni went from fourth to first at the start of race two, ahead of reversed-grid poleman Agarwal and a relaxed Pariat who was on old tyres. By the time Pariat got into second, Surineni had a gap and after several laps of managing it he then pulled away for his second win and just about stay in title contention.

After many laps of being on his gearbox, Lohia was able to pass Muthiaiah for fourth with three laps to go.

The only way Pariat could be denied the title in an incredibly humid finale was if he retired and Surineni won, but being points leader meant Pariat got to start on pole. Surineni squeezed to the inside of him at turn one and got ahead, and this time Pariat wasn’t able to stay alongside into turn two and had to slot in behind.

Pariat locked up a few times as he sat in Surineni’s dirty air through the first two laps before the saety car came out due to an F1600 spinner. Racing resumed with two laps to go, and the top two sprinted away while Lohia took third at turn one. Moments later red flags waved, and after a half-hour break the field was sent back on track for three laps of racing.

Lohia was put back to fourth, and she was gapped by the top three on the rolling start. While she worked on closing back in on Muthiaiah, Pariat was pushing to stay with Surineni and on the last lap had another lock-up and a grassy moment as he got right onto the leader’s gearbox. They got to the chequered flag a second apart, and Pariat was crowned champion.

“I mean most of the job was done on Friday [with pole and race one victory], it took a lot of pressure off my shoulders,” Pariat said as he signed autographs afterwards. “It was fun. I really enjoyed this last one.”

“Second in my debut season, who wouldn’t want that?” Surineni commented. “But still, I want to see more competition in this category, simply because it’s the fastest [junior single-seater] cars in India, it’s the best cars in India. I don’t really know why there’s not so many competitors in this category right now, but it was absolutely fantastic driving this car.”

2024 championship standings
1 Pariat 254   2 Surineni 237   3 Muthiaiah 154   4 Agarwal 90   5 Lohia 68