Amendola, Arjun Balu shine

Eighteen-year-old Belgian Michelangelo Amendola scored a fine double to consolidate his position at the top of the championship in the MRF Challenge at the MMRT at nearby Sriperumbudur on Saturday. Meanwhile, Jordann teenager Manaf Hijjawi scored the maiden single-seater win of his fledgling racing career. Amendola won the day's first and third races to take his tally of wins to five from 12 starts while 18-year-old Hijjawi, in just his first full season in single-seaters, took the honours in Race-2 to provide a twist to the championship stakes.

With three more races to be run on Sunday in this final round of Indias only FIA-approved international championship, Amendola leads the table with 209 points, followed by Australian Dylan Young (175) who had two podiums on Saturday, Britain's Joshua Mason (160) and Hijjawi (130). Earlier, Coimbatore's Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) notched up a fluent win in the Indian Touring Cars class of the MRF MMSC-FMSCI National Car Racing Championship (Round-1), not facing any challenge through the 10-lap race. Balu's team-mate from Bengaluru, Rithvik Thomas was placed first in the Super Stock class of the National championship. The saloon car race had a combined 28-car grid of various categories  ITC, Super Stock and the support event Volkswagen Ameo Super Race. Thane's Saurav Bandyopadhyay topped in the VW Ameo category.