Chennai: Hyderabad businessman Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) ended a four-year wait for a pole position as he topped the qualifying session in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category to kickstart his campaign in the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Friday.
Later, riding under dark rain clouds, Bengaluru’s Savion Sabu (Mad Rabbit Racing) put the hammer down to qualify for pole position in the debut class, the Pro-Stock 165-200cc. The 17-year-old clocked an impressive hot lap of 01:57.898 to outpace the 12-rider field, all on factory-supported GP 200R based on Apache RTR 200 4V that is specially crafted for racing. In P2 was the experienced Coimbatore challenger Senthil Kumar (01:58.862) of RDX Torque Racing, ahead of Chennai’s Venkatesan Iyappan (01:58.992) of Rookies Racing.
Equally impressive was Aizawl’s 22-year-old Lal Nunsanga (Motul Sparks Racing) who grabbed pole position in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class. It was his first pole in six years, the last being in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup.
Mohamed Mikhail (Mad Rabbit Racing) from Thiruvallur, a graduate from the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup, also qualified for the pole position in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) class.
A beaming Pillarisetty attributed his pole position to his Yamaha R3 and switching team to RACR after four seasons with Gusto Racing where he rode a KTM. “I am not surprised by the pole position. I have always practiced on a Yamaha R3 though with Gusto I was on a KTM. But I am happy with my performance today and expect an exciting race tomorrow,” said the 27-year-old Hyderabadi.
In fact, Pillarisetty finished ahead of Hosur-based Alwin Sundar (Petronas TVS Racing), a former Novice National champion, who nudged out team-mate and reigning National champion Sarthak Chavan from Pune who had to be content with P3. The race is expected to be close as just 1.2 seconds cover the top six qualifiers.
Nunsanga, who hails from a modest background and manages to participate in the championship courtesy local sponsors (airfare) and his team (accommodation). “It is because of their help that I can take part. My father is unable to work due to an accident some years ago and we are a family of five (now four after he lost his elder brother). We somehow survive. I also do some odd jobs and earn prize money, very small amounts, from local races. Anyway, I am very happy with the pole position after six years and hope to do well in the races this weekend,” he said.
Ranged behind Nunsanga are Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani (MAI Racing) and Yashwant Varma (Motul Sparks Racing) from Visakhapatnam.
Petronas TVS One-Make Championship
Chennai riders dominated the qualifying session in the Expert (Apache RR 310) class as Manoj Yesuadiyan managed to keep his nose in front to qualify for the pole position ahead of last year’s Stock 301-400cc champion Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan and Mohan Babu, all three covered by less than one second.
Local rider Elakiya Ravi snatched pole position in the Girls (Apache RTR 200) category, pushing National champion Jagathishree Kumaresan to P2 while Bengaluru’s Shuriya SP completed the front row.
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup
The front row in the Honda CB 300F class was taken up by Chennai riders, R Solomon, former multiple National girls champion Ann Jennifer and Deepak Kumar, in that order ahead of Saturday’s race will see a grid of 12.
The results (Qualifying – top 3):
National Championship – Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open: 1. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad, RACR Castrol Power1) (01min, 49.184sec); 2. Alwin Sundar (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (01:49.669); 3. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (01:49.674).
Pro-Stock 165-200cc Open: 1. Savion Babu (Bengaluru, MadRabbit Racing) 01:57.898); 2. Senthilkumar (Coimbatore, RDX Torque Racing) (01:58.862); 3. Venkatesan Iyappan (Chennai, Rookies Racing) (01:58.992).
Stock 301-400cc (Novice): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, Mad Rabbit Racing) (02:01.197); 2. Arjun Kanwar (Delhi, RACR Castrol Power1) (02:01.477); 3. Varun Patil (Bengaluru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (02:01.493).
Stock 165cc (Novice): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal, Motul Sparks Racing) (02:09.397); 2. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad, MAI Racing) (02:09.581); 3. Yashwant Varma (Visakhapatnam, Motul Sparks Racing) (02:09.950).
One-Make Championship:
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CB 300F): 1. Solomon R (Chennai) (02:08.297); 2. Ann Jennifer (Chennai) (02:09.806); 3. Deepak Kumar (Chennai)
TVS Expert (Apache RR310): 1. Manoj Yesuadiyan (Chennai) (01:56.031); 2. Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai) (01:56.228); 3. Mohan Babu (Chennai) (01:56.233).
TVS Girls (Apache RTR 200): 1. Elakiya Ravi (Chennai) (02:13.431); 2. Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai) (02:13.897); 3. Shuriya SP (Bengaluru) (02:14.289).