Schumacher and Newey Names Return as Chennai All Set to Host MRF Challenge 2016 Finale

Chennai will play host to the final round of the MRF Challenge 2016 as the F2000 cars head to the MMRT. Joey Mawson heads to the 4^th and final round as the favourite as he enjoys a 27 point lead over Harrison Newey and a 40 point lead over Mick Schumacher. However with 100+ points available, the championship will certainly go down to the wire. The MRF 1600 will also be in action for with Round 2 of the series take place this weekend.

Mr. Arun Mammen, Managing Director, MRF Tyres, commented, “The final round in Chennai always brings a lot of excitement and this time will be no different. The Championship has been closely contested featuring some of the best young drivers from across the world. The cars have been 3-4 seconds faster this year and we expect the MMRT to witness even faster times. We eagerly await to see who will be crowned the MRF Challenge 2016 Champion and look forward to a thrilling weekend ahead.”

Mawson currently leads the Championship on 211 points with Newey on 184 points. Schumacher is on 171 points with Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich on 135 points after a costly double DNF in the last Round in New Delhi. Mawson is the only driver to have finished in the points in all races this season. While Schumacher and Newey have showed tremendous pace all season, the former has had 3 DNFs while the latter has had 2 DNFs. Mawson has showed that consistency is the key to winning a championship.

This weekend will once again see the leading young drivers from across the globe competing against each other. Joining the MRF Challenge for this weekend will be Red Bull Junior and F3 driver Dan Ticktum. He will joined by 2015 Italian F4 Champion and F3 race winner Ralf Aron returns along with Japanese F3 Champion (National Class) Yoshiaki Katayama and Manuel Maldonado, cousin of former F1 race winner Pastor Maldonado.

In its fifth year, the MRF Challenge will feature MRF Formula 2000 race cars, which have been made in India by Coimbatore based JA Motorsport. The Formula 3 style car has been built by JA Motorsport in technical collaboration with Dallara, and is considered to be the fastest of its kind in Asia. The new car is powered by a 2 litre Mountune Duratec engine with max power of 230 bhp and shod on MRF Z.L.O. tyres. The car will also feature advanced aerodynamics with underbody diffuser and a Hewland 6-speed sequential gearbox.

Joining the MRF Challenge 2016 cars this weekend will be the MRF 1600 series. Round 1 lived up to its excitement with Ananth Shanmugam and Nayan Chaterjee both winning to be joint leaders at the top of the championship. Anindith Reddy is also clearly in the reckoning and just behind the leaders. Also joining them will be former champion Karthik Tharani Singh, Chetan Korada and Siddharth Trivellore.

Also in action will be a special MRF stunt bike show. Free Practice 1&2 will take place on Friday, February 17. Qualifying and Races 1&2 will take place on Saturday, February 18, with Races 3&4 taking place on Sunday, February 19. All the action will be streamed live this weekend and can be seen at www.mrfracing.in