Pune’s Sarthak Chavan celebrated his 20th birthday by securing pole position with a record lap in the premier Super Sport 301-400cc Open category on the opening day of the third round of the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 2W 2026 at the Madras International Circuit on Friday.
Sarthak, who leads the championship standings with three wins from four starts, clocked 1 minute 47.251 seconds, bettering the previous best of 1:47.291 set by his Petronas TVS Racing team-mate Chiranth Vishwanath during free practice. Sarthak led a 1-2 finish for his team, with veteran KY Ahmed taking second place, followed by Mohamed Mikail of MadRabbit Racing. Chiranth will start Saturday’s Race 1 from eighth position following a penalty.
In other categories, Chennai’s Ann Jennifer AS secured pole position in the Super Stock 165cc Intermediate class with a time of 2:04.928, while veteran Mathana Kumar S topped the Super Stock 301-400cc Open category in 1:53.691. Kavicholaiarasan of Trichy led the Stock 301-400cc Novice category, while Vijayawada’s Akarsh Jangam topped the Stock 165cc Novice class. Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani secured pole position in the Pro-Stock 200cc Open category.
In the Petronas TVS One-Make Championship, Beedani also claimed pole position in the Expert category (Apache RR 310), clocking 1:53.745. Coimbatore’s R. Hari Haran finished second, followed by Bengaluru’s A.S. James. Poojitha Anil Kumar of Bengaluru topped the Women’s category (Apache RTR 200) with a time of 2:14.269, ahead of Drishya Nair of Pune and Hannah Akkineni Joshitha of Hyderabad.
