Augustine Boby Wins F1300 Novice Cup by 0.032 Seconds in Coimbatore

Photo finish, last-lap battles, dramatic comebacks mark opening day of Round 2 of FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2026

Coimbatore, November 14

Augustine Boby edged Shatveer Shetty by just 0.032 seconds in the F1300 Novice Cup, while Mehul Agarwal and Deepak Ravikumar pulled off late overtakes to claim victories in LGB Formula 4 and Indian Junior Touring Cars, respectively. Multiple restarts and a last-lap collision also marked an eventful Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup Amateur race, as per a press release.

LGB Formula 4: Dark Don Racing's Mehul Agarwal snatched victory from teammate Arya Singh by just 0.237 seconds with a late overtake in a closely fought 15-lap race. Singh had taken the lead from pole-sitter Agarwal on the opening lap, while Meco Racing's Dhruvh Goswami moved into second soon after. A collision involving two Ahura Racing cars brought out the safety car, wiping out Singh's early advantage. After the restart, Singh held off Goswami and rebuilt his lead before Agarwal fought his way back into second. The battle for third intensified as Dark Don rookie Aditya Patnaik passed Goswami and kept him behind for several laps, helping teammates Singh and Agarwal pull clear. Agarwal eventually overtook Singh with two laps remaining, while Goswami recovered third ahead of Raghul Rangasamy. Patnaik finished fifth overall and first among the Rookies, ahead of Ashok Lal and Vikram Moodigere. Agarwal also set the fastest lap of 1:16.944.

Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup: Vadodara's Kabir Sahoch continued his winning run in the Amateur class, surviving two red-flag interruptions and a six-lap restart to finish 0.979 seconds ahead of Saurav Sanjay Dey. Sahoch briefly lost the lead to Dey before reclaiming it with an inside overtake, while a last-lap collision between Paramjeet Singh and Pushpendra Kumar Markandey allowed Brandon Dsouza to take third from ninth on the grid. Dey set the fastest lap of 1:19.396. In the Pro class, Bengaluru's Anish Shetty completed a comfortable pole-to-flag win by 3.089 seconds over Senthil Kumar, with Navaneeth Kumar third. Allwin Xavier climbed from ninth to fourth, while Shetty recorded the fastest lap of 1:16.372.

JK Tyre Levitas Cup: Mumbai's Pratik Sonawane completed a double in the Gentleman class with two pole-to-flag victories. In the opening race, Sonawane built an early lead as Rookie rivals Kaveen Rajapaksa and Aadam Junaid fought for second overall. Junaid crashed into the barriers while attempting an overtake on lap seven, bringing out the safety car. Sonawane won ahead of Chetan Korada and Ashwin Pugalagiri in Gentleman, while Rajapaksa took the Rookie win ahead of Shreyans Mittal and Ajay Sankar. Sonawane set the fastest lap of 1:24.059. In the second race,

Sonawane again dominated from pole, winning by 1.418 seconds over Rajapaksa, who completed a Rookie double. Pugalagiri and Korada finished second and third in Gentleman, while Junaid recovered from his earlier crash to take second in Rookie ahead of Mittal. Sonawane clocked the fastest lap of 1:24.529.

Super Saloon categories: Arka Motorsports' Arjun Narendran won the Indian Super Touring Cars race by 7.288 seconds after holding off an early challenge from Arjun Balu, while Team N1 Intervalve's Biren Pithawalla snatched second from Balu in the closing moments. Narendran also set the fastest lap of 1:13.485. In the Indian Touring Cars, Team Performance Racing's Balaprasath A won ahead of Ramcharan Chandran and Vidyaprakash Damodaran.

In the Indian Junior Touring Cars, Team Performance Racing's Srinivas Teja won the first race by 2.727 seconds after regaining the lead from teammate Anirudha Arvind following an early mistake, with Deepak Ravikumar recovering from 15th after a stall at the start to finish third. The teammates then fought a thrilling second race, with Ravikumar leading for much of it before Teja passed him on lap nine. Ravikumar struck back on the final lap after slight contact to win by 0.308 seconds, with Arvind third.

In Super Stock, DTS Racing's Diljith T S completed a double, winning the opening race ahead of Deepa S John and Krishanu Dutta Bhuyan, and the second ahead of Lal Kattikulam Bharathan and John.

F1300 Novice Cup: DTS Racing's Augustine Boby edged Meco Racing's Shatveer Shetty by just 0.032 seconds after a late safety-car restart set up a frantic finish. Pranav Ramasamy grabbed the early lead, but Boby worked his way to the front from fifth on the grid. Shetty, who had slipped down the order from pole, recovered before passing Ramasamy on the inside in the closing stages to take second. Ramasamy finished third, while Boby set the fastest lap of 1:16.953.

Action resumes on Sunday at the Kari Motor Speedway for the final day of Round 2, as early winners look to build on their performances and rivals fight back.

— ANI