Photo: Tio Ellinas left with Rupert Svendson – Cook
Tio Ellinas has been crowned MRF Challenge champion as the season came to an end at the Madras Motor Race Track in India after an enthralling race on Sunday. Going into the final race on Sunday, nothing separated the title contenders Ellinas and Rupert Svendsen-Cook in terms of points. After his impressive achievements in the GP3 series, where he finished in fourth place in the overall drivers’ standings, Ellinas was invited to the tournament last autumn as one of the big name attractions, and based on his weekend showing he certainly lived up to the bill.
The Cypriot had to put up a strong fight against Britain’s Rupert Svendsen-Cook, with both reaching the fifth and final race of the tournament on the same points. Cook finished the race ahead of Ellinas but his celebrations were cut short as stewards deemed Cook to have forced his opponent off the track on the first lap during the final race, making Ellinas the provisional champion despite Cook’s protests.
Cook finished the 15-lap race ahead of Ellinas. However, the Brit’s joy was shortlived as the stewards declared Ellinas as the provisional champion after the latter protested over Cook forcing him off the track on the first lap during the final race. The Brit was hit with a 30-second penalty for pushing Ellinas off the track and as a result was demoted to 12th position in the race classification.
Ellinas’ win has once again put Cyprus on the map while the 22-year old continues to receive offers to compete in the GP2 series.
Results
The shake-up elevated Belgian Sam Dejonghe to the top step of the podium with Ellinas and Dylan Young taking second and third spots respectively. Earlier in the day, Narain Karthikeyan enthralled the packed holiday crowd as he won the first race of the day. Sam Dejonghe went on to win the second race.
In the last race of the day, Svendsen-Cook had a good start was on third position on Lap 2 with Ellinas still stuck in 5th place. The Safety Car had to be employed with eight laps to go after Karthikeyan was hit by Harry Tincknell. Karthikeyan recovered to get back on track. Sam Dejonghe took the lead when leader Ben Anderson (on reverse grid) was given a drive-thru penalty with Svendsen-Cook in second and Ellinas in third.
They finished the race in the same order, thereby, handing Cook the title ahead of Ellinas.
results: MRF Challenge: F2000: Rd 4: Race 4: 1. Narain Karthikeyan 00:26:47.015, 2. Tio Ellinas (Cyp) 00:26:48.706, 3. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (UK) 00:26:49.071. Race 5: 1. Sam Dejonghe (Bel) 00:26:57.825, 2. Tio Ellinas 00:27:09.499, 3. Dylan Young (Aus) 00:27:12.207.
Final placings: 1. Tio Ellinas (215 pts), 2. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (203), 3. Sam Dejonghe (142).
MRF FF1600cc: Rd 4: Race 2: 1. Tarun Reddy, 2. Vikash Anand, 3. Advait Deodhar.
Two-wheeler National championship: Rd6: Race 2: Group C 165cc Open: 1. K. Jagan, 2. Mathana Kumar, 3. Harry Sylcvester; Group D 165c Open: 1. Ankit Gupta, 2. Rajiv, 3. U. Deva.