CHENNAI, AUG 31 :  After day long legal wrangles, the first ever Chennai Night Racing was flagged on Saturday night, but with only practice rounds, as qualifying and other races were shifted to Sunday.

The racing events were scheduled to begin in the afternoon, but due to non receipt of FIA approval for the races, the Madras High Court, hearing on a petition, granted time till 8.00 PM tonight to get the approvals.

However, the organisers, after hectic arguments in the court, managed to get the FIA nod following which the event was flagged off by Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin at the Island Grounds.

However, the qualifying rounds and the races were deferred to tomorrow and only practice rounds were held tonight as F4 vehicles and INR cars vroomed and zoomed past the Chennai roads providing a visual delight for the motorsport afficiandos.

Organisers announced a revised scheduled because of the delay and that all qualifying and races would be held tomorrow and the event was expected to start earlier than the scheduled time.

The practice sessions gave an opportunity to feel the surface of the Chennai roads all along the 3.5 km distance.

Earlier, as the some of the routes on the roads were water logged due to heavy rains last night and early this morning, an emergency plea was filed in the HIgh Court seeking to defer the event.

The First bench of thecourt directed the organisers, Racing Promotion Private Limited, (RPPL) not to hold the event without obtaining the mandatory certification from the governing body FIA.

This is South Asia’s inaugural night street race which was set for a grand opening at the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit, saw a five-hour delayed start due to the proceedings pertaining to the changes suggested by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) on the track.

The first practice session, which was scheduled to start at 1:45 pm was cancelled by the organisers due to the changes suggested by the FIA on turn 19 of the circuit, which is the last corner coming to the Napier Bridge.

The RPPL was supposed to submit the track approval document to the court by 12 noon, but later they requested the High Court for an extension to submit the certification. With the Bench of Justices R Suresh Kumar and PB Balaji extending the time till 8pm, the track got the FIA Grade 3 licence at the right time which is valid till 2027.(UNI)