The son of former Formula 1 driver Derek Daly, Conor Daly, was crowned the champion of the MRF Formula Challenge 2012 after winning the final race of the championship at the Irungattukotai racing track in Sriperumbudur.
The driver seemed to have luck on his side for the final race as his main rival, Jordan King, ran off the track soon after the start of the race and had to carve his way up the field to get himself back into contention.
Starting sixth on the grid, Jordan King had to finish in fourth place to win the championship. But things started to go wrong right from the first turn of the 20-lap final race. Pole-position holder Alice Powell spun, resulting in second-place-man Sam Dejonghe from Belgium taking the lead and Conor Daly moving into second position. Soon after, Jordan King ran off the track, lost a lot of positions and eventually rejoined in 11th place.
But far from giving up, Jordan King continued to fight and slowly started moving up the ranks. By lap 8, he had recovered to eighth position and was looking good to recover more lost time. Just then, Sam Dejonghe spun out from the lead and Daly pounced to take advantage of the Belgian driver’s error. Thereafter, Daly pulled a big enough gap to second placed Jon Lancaster from UK and drove a sublime race to the end.
| Position | Total Time | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|
| 1.Conor Daly | 00:31:51.117 | 1:34.547 |
| 2.Jon Lancaster | 00:31:52.494 | 1:34.317 |
3.Josh Hill | 00:31:52.998 | 1:34.423 |
| 4.Shinya Michimi | 00:31:54.056 | 1:34.521 |
| 5.Vicky Piria | 00:32:10.528 | 1:35.258 |
| 6.Luciano Bacheta | 00:32:11.286 | 1:34.654 |
| 7.Jordan King | 00:32:12.014 | 1:34.283 |
| 8.Sebastian Balthesar | 00:32:13.983 | 1:34.904 |
| 9.Yudai Jinkawa | 00:32:15.122 | 1:34.257 |
| 10.Alice Powell | 00:32:21.215 | 1:34.489 |