Trailing championship leader Chirag Ghorpade (Bengaluru) by 13 points, the 17-year old Shahan , eyeing the title in the MRF F1600 category, clocked a best lap of 01 minute, 39.541seconds in FP-1 and then bettered it with a 01:39.340 in the second session.

Overall second quickest in this premier category was Bengaluru’s Rishon Rajeev in 01:39.378.

Pune’s Pratik Sonawane, lying ninth in the championship and trailing leader Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) by 100 points, topped the combined practice sessions in the Volkswagen Polo category with a hot lap of 01:56.625. It bettered Sandeep Kumar’s best of 01:56.806 posted in FP-1.

Defending champion in the premier Indian Touring Cars category, Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) from Coimbatore, posted the fastest lap of 01:50.074 in the morning’s FP-1 and followed it up with a 01:50.762 in the second outing later in the day.

Also topping the time charts was Bengaluru’s Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport) who clocked a best lap of 01:51.909 over two sessions in the Formula LGB 1300 where he heads the championship.

Chennai’s RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) was the quickest overall in the Super Stock category (01:57.643) as was Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class (01:56.868).

Chennai’s Anand Prasad, returning to active racing after a break, was the quickest in the MRF Saloon Cars (Toyota Etios) category with a best lap of 02:03.423 which he clocked in FP-2 to improve on Delhi-based Justin Singh’s 02:04.932 in FP-1.

The races this weekend promise to be high on thrill and excitement as the top seven drivers were covered by less than a second in the two practice sessions.