Photo: Indian F4
Indian Formula 4’s second round took place at Chennai on August 23/24, and only two-and-a-half weeks after that was the season’s status beyond round three finally confirmed.
Pre-event testing at Chennai took place on August 22, with Saishiva Sankaran quickest in the afternoon. Shane Chandaria led the way in practice on Saturday morning, setting a 1m42.426s to pip Sankaran by 0.055 seconds. Ishaan Madesh was 0.351s behind in third, with three others within a second of the pace.
Chandaria remained on top in the first qualifying session on a damp track, a 1m41.049s on his third lap of four comfortably earning him first place by 0.438s. Madesh was his closest rival, and Sachel Rotge was 0.548s off in third. Wian Boshoff was fourth, then just 0.043s split the next three drivers.
A five-place grid penalty for Chandaria meant Madesh started race one from pole. Chandaria got the job done again in Q2 though, improving to 1m41.063s to earn race three pole. Madesh also got faster, setting a 1m41.377s in second, and Sankaran was 0.6s behind in third. Boshoff was a further 0.2s behind and Zakariya Mohammed was 0.94s slower than Chandaria in fifth.
The track was still drying when race one took place at the end of the day, and the action was not clean. An incident involving Madesh contributed to him finishing down in eighth, while Ghazi Motlekar charged from eighth to second.
Rotge was victorious by a sizeable 6.029s, but did not always look on course for domination. Annabel Kennedy and Clara Stiebleichinger followed Motlekar home, with everyone else far behind.
Sunday featured three races and sunny weather. Race two utilised a reversed grid, but Madesh was able to climb his way up from eighth to victory. The vast majority of that progress came on the opening lap as he shot up to second, and once in the lead he was untouchable. Motlekar started from fifth this time, and was in contention to finish second.
He had to overcome Rotge to be runner-up, and in their battle they made contact. As in race one, it was a committed overtake that earned Rotge his finishing position and he was able to put 1.342s between himself and Motlekar before the end.
More domination took place in race three, this time courtesy of Chandaria who finished almost 13s clear of Saishiva Sankaran. Madesh was third, and Rotge made another bold pass to earn fourth place.
In the final race, Rotget went from third to first early on but did not have a huge winning margin. Instead he won by 0.416s over Luviwe Sambudla, who was just 0.183s ahead of Sankaran.
Pre-event points leader Vasilis Apostolidis was unable to take part at Chennai, and dropped to sixth in the standings.
The next Indian F4 round is at Kari Motor Speedway on October 4/5, and since the calendar was announced in July nobody knew where races after that would take place.
Round four of five finally got a venue confirmed on September 11, at a launch event for a new street circuit in Vasco da Gama.
The track will take the name of Goa, the state that Vasco is in, and will host Indian F4 and the sister Indian Racing League for its inaugural event on November 1/2 as part of a three-year deal. Its 12-turn, 1.99-mile layout will go anti-clockwise around the Bogda peninsula, and was chosen after a six-month search for a suitable location in Goa to race.
Indian F4’s season finale is still without a venue.
Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Sachel Rotge 26m50.043s
2 Ghazi Motlekar +6.029s
3 Annabel Kennedy +6.386s
4 Clara Stiebleichinger +6.840s
5 Wian Boshoff +10.338s
6 Mahlori Mabunda +24.441s
7 Kareen Kaur +27.733s
8 Ishaan Madesh +35.080s
9 Zakariya Mohammed +2 laps
10 Ntiyiso Mabunda +2 laps
Pole: Madesh, 1m41.487s
Fastest lap: Madesh, 1m32.054s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Madesh 27m23.740s
2 Rotge +11.983s
3 Motlekar +13.325s
4 Saishiva Sankaran +14.248s
5 N Mabunda +23.891s
6 Luviwe Sambudla +28.779s
7 Shane Chandaria +29.663s
8 Kennedy +35.900s
9 Mohammed +43.766s
10 Kaur +44.191s
FL: Madesh, 1m41.205s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Chandaria 27m13.709s
2 Sankaran +12.917s
3 Madesh +13.404s
4 Rotge +16.275s
5 Sambudla +23.775s
6 Mohammed +27.435s
7 Motlekar +29.068s
8 Boshoff +29.621s
9 Stiebleichinger +30.864s
10 M Mabunda +51.857s
P: Chandaria, 1m41.063s
FL: Chandaria, 1m40.630s
Race 4 (16 laps)
1 Rotge 27m52.384s
2 Sambudla +0.416s
3 Sankaran +0.599s
4 Chandaria +2.770s
5 N Mabunda +9.548s
6 Motlekar +11.816s
7 Stiebleichinger +12.223s
8 Madesh +12.562s
6 Kennedy +19.681s
10 M Mabunda +22.273s
FL: Madesh, 1m42.126s
Championship standings
1 Rotge 77 2 Chandaria 65 3 Madesh 60 4 Motlekar 49 5 Sankaran 39 6 Vasileios Apostolidis 36 7 Boshoff 28 8 Sambudla 25 9 Stiebleichinger 25 10 Kennedy 23