2013 MRF Challenge

[Formulahistory]

The Indian MRF Challenge opens this season to support the Indian Grand Prix. There will be four rounds with two races. Are there any driver known yet who will drive there? Last season there were some popular drivers there like Conor Daly, Jordan King, Luciano Bacheta and so on.

Are there any other Indian Formula Racing series at the moment?

[Formulahistory]

Are there any other good Formula Racing series in Asia?

Super Formula
Japanese Formula 3
MRF Challenge
Toyota Racing Series
Formula Masters China
Australian Formula 3

Any more?

What's going on in Russia? Is there any series which followed Formula Maruti or something like that?

[sanjeev]

Here is the full list of drivers competing in the MRF Challenge

Parth Ghorpade - talented local driver who competed in Formula Renault Alps

Arthur Pic - Formula Renault 3.5 driver gets a free drive

Harry Tincknell - FIA F3 driver who also gets a free drive

Ryan Cullen - GP3 novice

Tio Elinas - Manor GP3 driver

Rupert Svendsen-Cook - MRF development driver and the only driver with lots of testing under his belt. No match for Pic, Elinas or Tincknell. Off the pace last year.

Sam Brabham - All his family raced, Brabhams and Thackwells. Formula Ford novice.

Salman Al Khalifa - ex British F3 racer

Bar Baruch - no information

Vikash Anand - talented local driver, won several F1600 races this year.

Laura Tillett - Karting ace, but only a history of crashes in single seaters, no Alice Powell.

Sam Dejonghe - One of the stars from last year, better than Jordan King.

Christophe Mariot - no information

Gaurav Gill and Renan Guerra - local legends

Sean Walkinshaw - Euro F3 Open driver

Dylan Young - Quiet Australian driver, another outclassed by more experienced drivers

Parthiva Sureshwaren - ex Formula 2 back marker

Ashwin Sundar - Local hero and Champion, beat King in 2011.

Abdulla Al=Thawadi - no information

Yuudai Jinkawa - Star of 2012 often led races and won once in 2012.

No Jordan King or Tom Gladdis this year. Also Alice Powell, Jon Lancaster and Conor Daly all pulled out over Bahrain on team advice.

20 cars of very mixed ability drivers should throw up a few surprises and thrills!

[sanjeev]

In 2012

M and N Racing entered Luciano Bacheta, Matt Mason and Tom Gladdis

JCR entered Alice Powell, Jon Lancaster and Conor Daly

also no cars entered (as yet) by Team Sidvin

Only 1 car teams from Gold Wolf Racing (Jinkawa) and Walkinshaw Racing (Sean Walkinshaw)

This year's field is mainly made up of journey drivers and the star drivers all have free drives from JA Motorsport.

The MRF series is the only support race at this year's Indian GP. Only 20,000 tickets sold. In fact Renault India are giving tickets away.

Sanjeev

[sanjeev]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

The Indian MRF Challenge opens this season to support the Indian Grand Prix. There will be four rounds with two races. Are there any driver known yet who will drive there? Last season there were some popular drivers there like Conor Daly, Jordan King, Luciano Bacheta and so on.

Are there any other Indian Formula Racing series at the moment?

Yes there are some good Indian series including the JK Tyres National series and the LGB single seaters.

there is even still the MRF F1600 series when the cars do not brake down.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Some interesting names in that line-up. Good to see Ellinas maintaining his single seater career alive. Could be an interesting battle between him and Tincknell and Pic.

[Peat]

Originally Posted by sanjeev

Here is the full list of drivers competing in the MRF Challenge

......

Laura Tillett - Karting ace, but only a history of crashes in single seaters, no Alice Powell.

You know you're in trouble when a driver like Alice Powell can be considered as a benchmark.

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by sanjeev

Yes there are some good Indian series including the JK Tyres National series and the LGB single seaters.

there is even still the MRF F1600 series when the cars do not brake down.

Can you give some more details about this series, what's going on in India? I thinkt it's a good sign, when there are own Racing Series. That shows that there is interest in Racing...

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by Peat

You know you're in trouble when a driver like Alice Powell can be considered as a benchmark.

Ha ha; that's a tad harsh Peat but I have to generally agree. But the fact is there are not that many female racers out there so any at all that have any type of success will naturally attract attention.

Don't misunderstand me; I for one firmly believe that there must be a really good female racer out there waiting to be discovered but having seen Alice (a lot) I sadly don't think she is the one. That said she is considerably more competent than some her male peers. She did of course win a championship in 2011 in BARC FR Renault but that was when all the best UK drivers were competing in the higher UK series which she had already had one season of before stepping back to the BARC championship. One wonders how she would have fared in 2012 when BARC FR was really the only serious show in town (for the UK) and had a considerably higher standard of drivers competing in it.

Oh and as for the description of Laura Tillett as a karting ace I suggest you look up her record and her tally of race wins and titles...................;-)

[PeterY]

Originally Posted by Peat

You know you're in trouble when a driver like Alice Powell can be considered as a benchmark.

Bit of an unfair comment Laura Tillett did one year of BARC Renault straight out of karting with very little testing, how many year of car racing did Alice Powell do before winning a race?

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by PeterY

Bit of an unfair comment Laura Tillett did one year of BARC Renault straight out of karting with very little testing, how many year of car racing did Alice Powell do before winning a race?

Laura raced karts for many years. She is still an ambassador & development driver for the Caterham Karting programme.

However as her results history shows she has never won a single event; not even at club level.

[sanjeev]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Can you give some more details about this series, what's going on in India? I thinkt it's a good sign, when there are own Racing Series. That shows that there is interest in Racing...

In the early days it was an open Formula from Formula Fords to Formula 1. The main track is Madras now called Chennai.

Here are the current Formulas

1 Formula LGB Hyundai is a single seater, open wheel class of motorsport in India launched in 2006 by LGB with Hyundai the engine supplier. The cars are powered by 1.4 liter Indian built Hyundai Accent engines in the entry level JK Road Racing National Championship series. This car along with Formula LGB Swift can be considered as an Indian equivalent of Europe’s Formula Ford series, where it is void of aerodynamic aids like wings. This series is one of the starter formula series to enable karting drivers step into a formula car.

2. Formula LGB Swift is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport in India launched in 2003. The cars are powered by 1.3 liter Maruti Esteem engines (also used in the Suzuki Swift) and are driven by top and upcoming Indian drivers in the National Racing Championship. This car can be considered as an Indian equivalent of Europe’s Formula Ford series, where it is void of aerodynamic aids like wings. From 2006 this car replaced Formula Maruti as an entry level formula car. This series offers the first feel and insights into open wheel racing for an upcoming race driver.

3. Formula Rolon , also known as Formula Rolon Chevrolet and later Formula Rolon 2010 is an open wheel single seater Formula Racing car made and raced in India. They run in the single make championships held in the tracks of Coimbatore and Chennai. The car is similar to Formula Asia, and was powered by 1600cc Chevrolet and later Suzuki engines with a racing gear box. The car was launched in Mumbai December 2005 and made its debut in Coimbatore track on September 2006. The 2010 season was its last season as LG Sports announced that it will not enter Formula Rolon for the 2011 season.

The JK Tyre National Racing Championship also kown as JK-NRC is a track racing championship series consisting of several single make series events of open wheel single seater formula cars and saloon cars in India. This championship series is also considered to be the stepping stone for Indian Racing drivers who want to break into international motorsports. Several drivers have gone on to take part in international events including Formula One and A1 Grand Prix and other premier racing series around the world.

MRF F1600 is a one make series for SCCA type Van Diemen cars built by JA Motorsport. Teams rent the cars which are run on a similar basis to Formula 2. Top teams were N&M Racing, NK Racing, James Crofts Racing, Team Sidvin. Jordan King, Chrissy Palmer and Ashwin Sundar were the main top runners. This year Gold Wolf Racing won races with Shinya Machinni and Yuudai Jinkawa. However the cars are now quite old and unreliable because MRF now have the Dallara F2000 cars.

[sanjeev]

Quote article from the Hindu 24/10/13

Jose Pottamkulam is all set to go full throttle at the Indian Grand Prix this year too. The city-based racing enthusiast and team principal of M&N Racing, perhaps the only team from Kerala in the world of Indian motorsport, will once again try his luck at the support races of the Formula One Championship that is being held at the Buddh International circuit in Noida this weekend. Support races are usually held in the lead up to Formula One weekends. They are an opportunity to showcase local motorsport talent on an international scale. Last year, Jose, or Ootta as he is popularly known, fielded four cars, with one of his drivers, Akshay Luciano Bacheta, coming in third overall.
However, unlike his last two attempts, this time Jose says he will not be racing cars under M&N’s banner. “We decided not to field cars at the event because of the cost; this year you need at least 80,000 USD to run one car, which turned out to be rather prohibitive for a relatively small outfit like ours. So this year we are focussing on providing management support to Parth Ghorpade, who raced for M&N last season,” says Jose.
Jose, who left for Delhi on Wednesday, seems thrilled at being associated with Ghorpade, the reigning Asian Champion Formula Pilota China. “Parth is barely 20 years old and hails from Kolhapur, Maharashtra. He is a rising star on the international motorsport circuit, having won a string of titles beginning with the JK Tyre National Karting Championship (U 12) in 2002. He drove a great ride at last season’s support races and is only one of four Indian drivers of the 16 at the support races this year, the others being Aswin Sunder, Vikas Anand, and Parthiva Sureshwaran. This year they are up against stiff international competition from the likes of Tio Ellinias, Arthur Pic and Harry Ticknell,” says Jose.
Now that F1 is giving the Indian GP a go in 2014, Jose says that it’s all the more important for Indian motorsport to accelerate their game. “In the three years since F1 came to India nothing much has been done for motorsport in terms of infrastructure. We still have only three good circuits – at Buddh, Chennai and Coimbatore – and not enough of go-karting venues to hone talent. Popularity for motorsport is consequently decreasing. And for that to improve we need to get rid of official apathy. That’s why it’s important that youngsters like Parth – and Ashwin, Vikas and Parthiva too – do well at the races.”
NITA SATHYENDRAN

The marketing plan seems to be let the Europeans race free and the locals will pay! How can we showcase our drivers. No wonder why we are loosing our Grand Prix.

Sanjeev

[Formulahistory]

very interesting. Thanks for that.

[PeterY]

Does anyone know if there is an online feed for the race? Or what channel it will be shown on?

[Go_For_Pole]

Pic on pole, Tio a few thousands slower and Tincknell next

1 Arthur Pic 1m55.684s
2 Tio Ellinas +0.061s
3 Harry Tincknell +0.168s
4 Sam Dejonghe +0.397s
5 Yudai Jinkawa +0.898s

[cds_uk]

Crikey, Laura was over 5 seconds off pole!!

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

Crikey, Laura was over 5 seconds off pole!!

Why are you surprised?

[PeterY]

Where do I find the full results and times?

[cds_uk]

Originally Posted by Deemun

Why are you surprised?

Not really surprised Deemun, but five seconds is a hell of a lot, she didn't get any quicker in the race either!

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by PeterY

Where do I find the full results and times?

Race 1 results: http://www.paddockscout.com/pic-hold...in-mrf-opener/
Official timesheet with fastest laps: https://twitter.com/HarryTincknell/s...525376/photo/1

[PeterY]

Having spoken to Laura I'm sure not having a 6th gear didn't help her

[p-matt]

I'm actually a bit surprised how useless Ryan Cullen is out there. He's been awful in GP3 but I didn't expect him to be so poor in a field like that

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I'm actually a bit surprised how useless Ryan Cullen is out there. He's been awful in GP3 but I didn't expect him to be so poor in a field like that

Ryan only started racing in 2012 in Formula Ford EcoBoost. His results there in no way suggest that he was ready for such a big step up to GP3 but that is what he did regardless and his performances and results this season have been as expected pretty poor. Now maybe if he does a 2nd year in GP3 his results may improve but its a very expensive way to learn. Still if you can afford to do so then why not. Max Cilton went straight to F3 remember and spent 3 seasons there delivering just one race victory very near the end of the 3rd season.

Ironic that the other driver that Ryan's father Patrick supported in 2012, Scott Malvern (who was also Ryan's driver coach), who has a far more impressive CV in junior single seaters has been without a full time drive this year. What does that tell us all that we didn't already know?!!

[ivanalesi]

I was impressed by the Jinkawa guy, never heard of him before, but he kept both Pic and Ellinas honest. At one point he was even attacking Tio after his failed attack on Pic! Of course at the end they pulled some gap. There was no place for Tio to overtake Pic, he tried several times, but this track is a bit too wide for junior formulas and you can always cut back to retain position...