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2022–23 MRF Formula 2000 season

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The 2022–23 MRF Formula 2000 season was the eighth running of a Formula 2000-level single-seater championship in India. Previously known as the MRF Challenge, it was last held up until early 2020, before being cancelled for two seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 2022–23 season, it was restarted without support of the FIA and simply called MRF Formula 2000, with the field consisting of domestic drivers rather than foreign racers competing over the European and Northern American off-season.[1]

The season began on 8 October 2022 and was run over four weekends until January of 2023.[2] Sai Sanjay won the championship after taking eight podiums in twelve races.

Drivers

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The following drivers contested the championship:

No. Driver Rounds
1 India Chetan Korada 2–4
10 India Arya Singh 3–4
11 India Shahan Ali Mohsin 1
17 India Yash Aradhya 1
24 India Sohil Shah 3–4
26 India Rishon Rajeev 1
33 India Sai Sanjay All
36 India Chirag Ghorpade All
43 India Dillion Zachariah 2
54 1, 3–4
45 India Mohamed Ryan All
55 India Divy Nandan All
70 United Arab Emirates Kyle Kumaran 1–2
Source:[3][4][5][6]

Calendar and results

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After a two-year hiatus, the calendar featured no events abroad India and consisted only of races held at Madras Motor Race Track.[2] The second race of each weekend saw the top eight finishers of race one start in reverse order. As the last race of the first event had to be cancelled because of heavy rain, a fourth race was added to the second round.[7] This fourth race, however, was postponed to the third round when the race weekend was stopped out of respect after a crash during a Saloon Car race resulted in the death of a competitor.[8] The original calendar was supposed to consist of three events, but a fourth event was added later on.[9]

Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Support bill
2022
1 R1 India Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai 8 October India Rishon Rajeev India Sai Sanjay India Sai Sanjay Formula LGB 1300
Indian Touring Car National Championship
MRF Saloon Cars
MRF Super Stock Cars
R2 9 October India Chirag Ghorpade India Chirag Ghorpade
R3 cancelled due to heavy rain
2023
2 R1 India Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai 7 January India Sai Sanjay India Mohamed Ryan India Divy Nandan Formula LGB 1300
Indian Touring Car National Championship
MRF Saloon Cars
MRF Super Stock Cars
R2 India Sai Sanjay India Sai Sanjay
R3 8 January India Chirag Ghorpade India Chirag Ghorpade
R4 cancelled due to a fatal crash in another race
3 R1 India Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai 21 January India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah Formula LGB 1300
Indian Touring Car National Championship
MRF Saloon Cars
MRF Super Stock Cars
VW Polo Cup
R2 22 January India Sohil Shah India Dillon Zachariah
R3 India Sohil Shah India Mohammed Ryan
R4 India Sohil Shah India Sai Sanjay
4 R1 India Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai 28 January India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah Formula LGB 1300
Indian Touring Car National Championship
MRF Saloon Cars
MRF Super Stock Cars
VW Polo Cup
R2 29 January India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah
R3 India Sohil Shah India Sohil Shah

Season report

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After the 2019–20 MRF Challenge ended in February of 2020, there was practically no communication by any promoter or governing body about the future of the category in India for over two years. This changed when it made a surprising return as part of the Indian National Car Racing Championship in early October of 2022, albeit without FIA support and not under the MRF Challenge moniker.[10][11]

Nine drivers took part in the opening round of the series simply called MRF F2000. Rishon Rajeev claimed pole for the first race, but he had a bad start and was overtaken by eventual race winner Sai Sanjay, as well as Shahan Ali Mohsin and Yash Aradhya, who formed the rest of the podium. Reverse-grid polesitter Mohamed Ryan also struggled at the start of race two, allowing Chirag Ghorpade to claim the lead. Divy Nandan then made a mistake in third, bringing out a safety car. Ryan came under attack from behind him at the restart, eventually losing out to multiple drivers in the final stages of the race. He ended up finishing sixth, with Rishon Rajeev and Dillion Zachariah claiming the podium spots behind Gorpade. Race three was cancelled when a heavy rain storm hit the circuit, ending the weekend with Sanjay four points ahead of Ghorpade.[12][13][11]

Championship leader Sanjay topped qualifying this time, but once again pole was not the place to be, as he fell behind Divy Nandan and Ryan. This order would stay the same until the end of the race. The reversed grid for race two saw Ghorpade on pole, but he stalled. This gifted Chetan Korada the lead, before he got a drive-through penalty and Sanjay, who had fought his way up the order after starting fourth, inherited first place. He won the race, ahead of Ghorpade and Nandan. Sanjay was then on pole for the third race, while Nandan mistakenly lined up at the back of the grid instead of next to him. Still, Sanjay could not hold the lead, as he was passed by Ghorpade and had to be content with second place. Ryan completed the podium. The second round then also came to an early end, when the final race was cancelled after saloon driver K.E. Kumar died after a crash in another race. Sanjay remained in the lead of the championship, growing his advantage to eleven points.[11][14][15]

Round three saw newcomer Sohil Shah qualify on pole, and this time pole was finally converted to victory as he led Ryan and Sanjay home in a lights-to-flag drive. Zachariah started the reversed grid race two from the front, and once again no one was able to get past the poleman. Ghorpade alongside him was less fortunate and dropped back during the race, leaving Nandan and Ryan to pick up the remaining two podium places. Shah was then on pole for race three, courtesy of the fastest second-best qualifying lap, but Ryan had a brilliant start that catapulted him from fourth into the lead by turn one. A safety car and subsequent restart also could not trouble him, as he led home Shah and Nandan to win. Finally, a race to replace the washed out third race of round one could be held, and Sanjay won that race by over seven seconds ahead of Shah and Zachariah. With Ghorpade off the pace all weekend, Sanjay was able to grow his points lead to 28 points, now ahead of Ryan and Zachariah.[11][16][17]

Shah continued his one-lap pace into the final round, that was only announced to happen after the third round had finished. Race one was rather reminiscent of the round before, with Shah converting another pole into an unchallenged victory. Sanjay came home second ahead of Nandan. The reversed grid race was where Shah showed all of his prowess, starting in seventh and last place and climbing through the field to win the race. Ryan and Zachariah completed the podium, while Sanjay cruised to a fourth place that was enough to secure his championship title. The last race was another lights-to-flag win by Shah, completing a clean weekend sweep and also securing third in the standings. Sanjay and Korada closed their seasons with another podium finish.[11][18][19]

Sai Sanjay won three races but was consistent enough to win the title. The championship picture might have looked very different had Shah done the whole season or maybe not. With the organizers stating that there are plans to revive the MRF Challenge in the next years, a return to an official FIA series will hopefully bring back the interest of international entries and races at multiple venues.

Championship standings

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Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
Drivers' standings
Pos. Driver CHE1
India 		CHE2
India 		CHE3
India 		CHE4
India 		Points
1 India Sai Sanjay 1 5 C 3 1 2 C 3 6 4 1 2 4 2 201
2 India Mohamed Ryan 8 6 C 2 5 3 C 2 3 1 4 4 2 5 165
3 India Sohil Shah 1 4 2 2 1 1 1 148
4 India Divy Nandan 5 Ret C 1 3 5 C 4 2 3 6 3 6 4 148
5 India Dillion Zachariah 6 3 C 4 4 4 C 6 1 5 3 7 3 Ret 138
6 India Chirag Ghorpade 7 1 C 6 2 1 C 5 5 Ret 5 5 DNS DNS 122
7 India Chetan Korada 5 DSQ 6 C WD WD WD WD 6 5 3 51
8 India Rishon Rajeev 4 2 C 30
9 India Yash Aradhya 3 4 C 27
10 India Shahan Ali Mohsin 2 7 C 24
11 United Arab Emirates Kyle Kumaran 9 Ret C WD WD WD C 2
— India Arya Singh WD WD WD WD WD WD WD —
Pos. Driver CHE1
India 		CHE2
India 		CHE3
India 		CHE4
India 		Points

References

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  1. ^ FMSCI India (7 October 2022). "MRF MMSC #FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2022 - Round 1". Facebook. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b F1 Feeder Series (8 October 2022). "After almost three years, the MRF Challenge has made a return as MRF Formula 2000!". Twitter. Retrieved 8 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ JA Motorsport (8 October 2022). "That's how our Race 1 start grid looks like!". Facebook. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. ^ "JA Motorsport - Start Order for Race 1 | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  5. ^ "JA Motorsport - Start Grid - Race 1 | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  6. ^ "JA Motorsport - Sohil Shah takes pole again in Round 4!". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  7. ^ "National 4W Racing Championship resumes at MIC". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  8. ^ "Racer Kumar succumbs to injuries". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-08. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  9. ^ "Originally cancelled, the final round of MRF F2000 will finally take place next weekend at Madras". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  10. ^ Wood, Ida (2022-11-03). "India's FRegional and F4 series called off, IRL and MRF Challenge return". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  11. ^ a b c d e Wood, Ida (2023-01-29). "Sai Sanjay wins MRF Challenge-based series at Chennai". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  12. ^ "Salem's Sai Sanjay tops in MRF F2000 race". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  13. ^ "Bengaluru's Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000 Race". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2022-10-09. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  14. ^ "Divy Nandan, Sai Sanjay share honours in MRF F2000". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-08. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  15. ^ "Chirag Ghorpade tops MRF F2000 race". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-08. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  16. ^ "Pole position for Sohil Shah, Sandeep Kumar". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-20. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  17. ^ "Big wins for Sohil Shah, Arjun Narendran". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-22. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  18. ^ "Sohil Shah, Arjun Balu win comfortably". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  19. ^ "Salem's Sai Sanjay clinches MRF F2000 crown". Madras Motor Sports Club. 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
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