INDIA in F1

Author: David Bodapati

  • Gill-Musa score an emphatic win in Nashik: INRC

    Pune, 7 May 2006: Team JK Tyre’s Gaurav Singh Gill, along with co-driver Farooq Ahmed, prefered to let his driving do the talking as he dominated the rally winning the Xtra Premium Overdrive Rally of Pune, in four minutes, 22 seconds ahead of the second-placed Karandip Singh of Team MRF here on Sunday.

    The 24-year-old driver from Delhi, in only his second rally after a gap of six years, routed a field of tried and tested names to finish the 13-stage event in 1 hour, 15 minutes and 46 seconds, leading a trio of drivers from the North to the first three spots, creating a record of sorts in Indian rallying. Karandip  with co-driver Jaidas Menon of Team MRF finished in second place, coming home in 1: 19.08 while Sunny Sidhu and co-driver Vivek Anandan of Team JK Tyre takfing the third place in a time of 1:19.13.

    Arjun Rao Aroor and navigator Chandramouli of Team MRF, who were in second place overnight, also had to pull out of the race after their car went off the road in the 12th stage while the jinx of flat tyres continued to dog defending champion Naren Kumar and co-driver Ramkumar of Team JK Tyre, and they had to settle for fourth place with 1:19.22. Lohit Urs of Mysore and co-driverMusa Sherief came home in 1:20.04 to take the fifth slot.

    The 1400cc category was witnessing a tough battle between overnight leader Girijashankar Joshy and Shrikanth GM and Chetan Shivram and co-driver Rupresh Kholay with just four seconds separating the two, before the latter had to withdraw from the fray in the 12 th stage. Joshy clocked 1:22.19.

    Also making a successful comeback after a gap of one year was Rajesh Gadakh (Paritosh Kohok) won the Rally Star Cup with a timing of 1: 26.04. The Gypsy Cup saw the father-son duo of Sanket Shanbagh and Ramesh Shanbagh win the top spot with a time of 1:29.27.

    Gill, who was leading Aroor by 2 minutes, 5 seconds overnight, said he took it easy on the final four stages of the second day, but even the cautious driving was good enough to finish fastest on two of the stages.

    “The going was great for me on both the days. I had two flats on the first day, but since they both were soft punctures, I could drive through and did not lose too much time,” said Gill, who had now proved his skills on dirt as well as tarmac.

    The 2004-2005 Formula Maruti champion, who made no specific preparations before his re-entry into rallying, hopes to carry his brilliant beginning into the rest of the rallying season. “I am going to concentrate 100 per cent on rallying now,” said Gill, who has been racing on bikes and cars in the past.

    Gill also came in from praise from Naren Kumar, who said, “He drove an excellent rally and had done very well for himself.”

    Karandip Singh was also pleased with his performance on the second day that saw him leapfrog from overnight fifth position into second. “I did some smart times today and was very happy with my setup,” said the genial Sardar.

    Provisional unaudited results:

    Overall: Gaurav Singh Gill/Farooq Ahmed (Team JK) 1:15.46; Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) 1:19.08; Sunny Sidhu/Vivek Anandan (Team JK) 1: 19.13; Naren Kumar/Ram Kumar (Team JK) 1:19.22; Lohit Urs/Moosa Sherief (Team MRF) 1:20.04.

    1600cc: Gauravsingh Gill/Farooq Ahmed; Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon; Sunny Sidhu/Vivek Anandan.

    1400cc: Girijashankar Joshy/Srikanth GM 1:22.19; Domnic Prithvi/T Arumugam 1:42.06; Arindam Ghosh/Sourabh 1:54.48.

    Rally Star Cup: Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok 1:26.04; Vatcha Mazdayar/Kaushik Shinde 1:27.56; Amanpreet Ahluwalia/Manoj Shadija 1:27.58.

    Gypsy Cup: Sanket Shanbagh/Ramesh Shanbagh 1:29.27.

  • Naren Kumar-Ram win Sujana MRF Deccan Rally

    Hyderabad, 11 Dec 2005: Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar won the three-day Sujana MRF Deccan Rally 2005, the seventh and final round of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) which concluded here on Sunday.

    Leading by just two points before the start of the Rally, Naren Kumar and Ramkumar wrested the National Championship by a convincing margin after winning the Deccan Rally. They left beyond doubt, who the winners are, despite having the advantage of bagging the title even without winning the rally as Arjun Balu, the main contender, had crashed out on Saturday. Thus Naren Kumar won his fifth National title to become the celebrated driver in the 18-year history of INRC in this format. He just needs one more title to overtake Coimbatore star N Leelakrishnan, who has six titles.

    Speed master Gaurav Gill of Delhi finished second ahead of Mysore star Lohith Urs. Girijashankar JOshy won the Rally Star Cup while Sandeep Sharma clinched the Gypsy Cup. Sanjay Aggarwal beat Ravi Aggarwal to second place and bagged the 1400cc class and local lad Ramaraj, ignited the celebration at home, taking the final place on the podium in this calss. Rayna Aranhya won the Ladies Class.

    Before the start of the rally, the championship standings were nail-bitingly poised as Naren Kumar with 42 points is leading by just two points on Arjun Balu, who garnered 40 points. In the 1400cc class,Sanjay Agarwal is leading Prithveen Rajan by two points.

    The last rally of the INRC 2005 season got underway on Friday with the Recce being completed in time by all 26 entries. The number of entries makes it the second-highest this year. As usual, the competition will be in all the three classes, namely 1600cc, 1400cc and Rally Star Cup (RSC). The top names that will be vying for honours are strong contenders Naren Kumar and talented Arjun Balu in the Overall and 1600cc classes. Both belong to team MRF. Pritveen Rajan and Sanjay Aggarwal in 1400cc and Chetan and Joshi in RSC category are the other drivers to watch out for.

    The Rally will be flagged off at 12.15 pm from Fortune Katriya Hotel and the Super Special Stage (SSS) will be held at NTR Stadium. The SSS covering a distance of 4km will be run twice. The Rally Special Stages on Friday and Saturday will be run in the picturesque locations on the Karimnagar Road, about 45km from the city. The three Special Stages will be run thrice in the forward direction and once in Reverse direction totalling for 12 Special Stages on Day I and will be repeated on Sunday. The Stages were smooth gravel with tight and twisty corners.

    Unofficial OVERALL RESULTS: 1. Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar; 2. Gaurav Gill; 3.Lohit Urs; 4. Sanjay Agarwal; 5. Rajith Ballal.

    1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal; 2. Ravi Agarwal; 3. Ramaraju.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Girijashankar Joshy; 2. Anil Wadia; 3. Thirtha Patil.

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma; 2. Sanket Shanbhag.

    Ladies Class: 1. Rayna Aranhya;

    Best Local Entry: 1. Ramaraju.

    (Note: The results compiled are from unofficial sources)

    SSS timings :
    1. Naren Kumar 4m 07s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    2. Arjun Balu 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    3. Arjun Aroor 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    4. Karandip Singh 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    5. Lohit Urs 4m 15s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    6. Pritveen Rajan 4m 19s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

    7. Gaurav Gill 4m 20s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    8. Jiby 4m 21s (Team Gulf Oil, Honda city Vtec);

    9. Sanjay Agarwal 4m 23s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

    10. Phillipose 4m 24s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

    11. Ranjith 4m 24s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    12. Rahul 4m 25s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    13. Joshi 4m 26s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    14. Shresta 4m 28s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

    15. Sandeep 4m 31s (Maruti Suzuki Gypsy);

    16. Sanket 4m 31s (Maruti Suzuki Gypsy);

    17. Ravi 4m 32s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    18. Anil Wadia 4m 34s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

    19. Chetan 4m 35s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    20. TT Patil 4m 40s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

    21. Prithvi 4m 41s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    22. Kiran 4m 45s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    23. Zubin 4m 45s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    24. Anita 5m 04s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    25. Ramaraju 5m 10s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

    26. Rayna Aranhya 5m 49s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC).

    List of retirements: Day 1: Phillipose Mathai; 2. Arjun Aroor Rao; 3. Prithveen Rajan; 4. Arjun Balu; 5. Karandip Singh; 6. Anita Kholay; 7. Prithvi; 8. Shresta Patil; 9. Rahul Kanthraj; 10. Chetan; 11. Kiran. DAY 2: None (Arjun Aroor Rao rejoined in Super Rally format).

  • CS Santosh excels at MRF Supercross Nationals

    CS Santosh of TVS Racing excels at MRF National Supercross Round 4 in Chandigarh; Santosh named ‘Best Rider of The Day’

    Chandigarh, 20 Nov 2005: TVS Racing team once again dominated the proceedings at MRF National Supercross Championship by taking top honours at the fourth round held in Chandigarh, today. The reigning champion C Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing once again fell behind his fellow rider CS Santosh who edged the former by taking top honours in the second moto of the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’ which made him earn ‘The Best Rider of the Day’ title. Vijaykumar, having taken top honors in the first moto shared the tally with Santosh with 37 points however, latter’s supremacy in the second moto ensured him the winner title by virtue of being number one in the second moto.

    The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing shot into lead and managing to keep up the momentum in spite of C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing’s aggressive attempts to overtake the former. The Second Moto was where Santosh went all guns blazing with his daredevil skills as he managed to overcome Vijaykumar in the 3rd lap. Both the motos were well-fought encounters between the two with Santosh eventually taking the limelight of the day. Pradeep H. K of TVS Racing took the third spot in this class

    The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke title seems destined for C. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing as he emerged at the top repeating the previous round performance held at Vadodara. His teammate C. S. Santosh was the only one who posed to be a threat during the race. A privateer from Jaipur, Abhishek Mishra came 3rd.

    In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; the experienced C. D . Jinan of  TVS Racing proved his class by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor. Jinan’s dominance continued even in the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC where he sealed top honours on his TVS Fiero F2.

    In the Novice class upto 150 cc; Dilip Talekar of TVS Racing with a huge lead took the first spot. Abishek Mishra and Abhijit Zavade took the second and third spot respectively.

  • Arjun Rao Aroor- Chandramouli win Rally of the North

    New Delhi, 14 Nov 2005: Aroor Arjun Rao along with co-driver M Chandramouli of Team MRF, showing maturity beyond his 22 years, kept his nerves to finish overall first in his Baleno in the MRF Rally of the North, the fifth round of MAI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) that concluded at Surajkund, near here,on Sunday.

    Aroor, a 22-year old from Mangalore, spared six seconds to former national champion VR Naren Kumar (co-driver D Ram Kumar) of Team JK Tyre, also in a Baleno, for his first success of the 2005 championship.

    Naren drove as hard as he could, but could not make up the overnight deficit of 14 seconds.

    In the process, Aroor also set-up a three-way battle for the championship along with Naren and team-mate Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy.

    Provisional classification:

    Overall-1600cc: 1. Aroor Arjun Rao-M Chandramouli (Team MRF, Baleno) 1hr, 29mins, 48secs; 2. VR Naren Kumar-D Ram Kumar (Team JK Tyre, Baleno) 1:29:54; 3. Arjun Balu-Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:31:04; 4. Lohit V Urs-Moosa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:32:15; Rahul Kantharaj-Vivek Bhatt (Baleno) 1:37:26.

    Note: This article is manually migrated from the archives of old website.

  • CS Santosh hogs limelight winning ‘Best Rider’

    Chandigarh, 20 Nov 2005: TVS Racing team once again dominated the proceedings at MRF National Supercross Championship by taking top honours at the fourth round held in Chandigarh, today. The reigning champion C Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing once again fell behind his fellow rider C. S. Santosh who edged the former by taking top honours in the second moto of the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’ which made him earn ‘The Best Rider of the Day’ title. Vijaykumar, having taken top honors in the first moto shared the tally with Santosh with 37 points however, latter’s supremacy in the second moto ensured him the winner title by virtue of being number one in the second moto.

    The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing shot into lead and managing to keep up the momentum in spite of C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing’s aggressive attempts to overtake the former. The Second Moto was where Santosh went all guns blazing with his daredevil skills as he managed to overcome Vijaykumar in the 3rd lap. Both the motos were well-fought encounters between the two with Santosh eventually taking the limelight of the day. Pradeep H. K of TVS Racing took the third spot in this class

    The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke title seems destined for C. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing as he emerged at the top repeating the previous round performance held at Vadodara. His teammate C. S. Santosh was the only one who posed to be a threat during the race. A privateer from Jaipur, Abhishek Mishra came 3rd.

    In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; the experienced C. D . Jinan of  TVS Racing proved his class by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor. Jinan’s dominance continued even in the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC where he sealed top honours on his TVS Fiero F2.

    In the Novice class upto 150 cc; Dilip Talekar of TVS Racing with a huge lead took the first spot. Abishek Mishra and Abhijit Zavade took the second and third spot respectively.

    Note: Updated the archives on 16 Sept. 2021

  • Arjun Rao Aroor’s dream punctured; Naren lifts title

    Chandigarh, 23 October 2005: Arjun Rao Aroor and trusted co-driver Chandramouli were on the verge of winning the Rally de North before a puncture, destroyed their dream of winning the rally. With just 5km to the end of the last stage, the Karnataka pair had a flat tyre and the Team MRF’s duo, lost not just 41 seconds but the overall title. Celebrated champion VR Naren Kumar of Team JK Tyre was not the one to miss a chance and the Coimbatore speed diva clinched the the HPCL Power M1 Challenge Rally, the fourth round of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI)’s Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded at Kalagram on Sunday.

    Naren, despite suffering from a viral infection, did everything along with co-driver Ramkumar to clinch the issue as he had to did deep into his reserves and rely on his considerable experience of Ram, to emerge the winner. Aroor and Chandramouli had the consolation of bagging the overall third place.

    Trailing Aroor and co-driver Chandramouli overnight by 10 seconds, Naren Kumar and co-driver Ramkumar made six seconds on the first special stage of the day, over 10.14-km run at Kanda in the Shivalik Hills. Aroor was also docked a penalty of 90 minutes for reporting to service park, nine minutes late after the last stage. This meant team-mate Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy leapfrog into the second position, ahead of Aroor. Naren completed the rally in 2 hours 7 minutes and 20 seconds, while Balu came home in 2:9.13 and Aroor in 2:9.22.

    Earlier, Team MRF’s Karandip Singh and Jaidas Menon were excluded from the competition for a technical violation, and were not permitted to start on the second day.

    Both Arjun Balu and Arjun Rao Aroor maintained their momentum in the super special stage, the concluding stage of the rally in Kalagram, finishing first and second, with timings of 2.18 and 2.19 minutes, respectively. Naren could only manage 2.23 minutes.

    The 1400 cc saw Prithveen Rajan and PVS Murthy winning the title with a timing of 2:13.09, followed by Philipose Mathai and Ashwyn Naik in second place.

    Local driver Sunny Siddhu drove away with the honours in the Gypsy Class with a timing of 2:12.16, which also placed him in fifth place overall, a creditable showing that earned him much applause from the home crowd at the podium finish.

    The Rally Star Cup also saw the emergence of new talent in Chetan Shivram and Rupesh Kholay, who finished on top in their category with a timing of 2:13.11.

    Provisional Final results: Overall: 1. Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar (Team JK, Baleno) (2hour, 7min, 20sec,); 2. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Baleno) (2:9.13); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Chandramouli (2:9.22); 4. Vikram Mathais/ Sujith Kumar (Team MRF, Baleno) (2:10.16); 5. Sunny Siddhu/HS Bawa (Gypsy) (2:12.16); 6. Prithveen Rajan/ PVS Murthy (Esteem) (2:13.09).

    1400cc class: 1. Prithveen Rajan/ PVS Murthy (2:13.09); 2. Philipose Mathai/ Ashwyn Naik (2:13.11); 3. Ravi Agarwal/Prakash D’Souza (Esteem) (2:27.38).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Sunny Siddhu/ HS Bawa (2:12.16); 2, Sandeep Sharma/Kulbir Singh (2:13.38); Kanwar/ Vijay Vir Singh 2:16.38.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Chetan Shivram /Rupesh Kholay (2:13.11); 2. Girishankar Joshy/ Srikanth GM (2:14.28); 3. Anil Wadia / CK Chinappa (2:19.04).

  • Vijaykumar falls to CS Santosh; Bengalurean wins both motos

    Vadodara, 23 October 2005: TVS Racing team dominated the 3rd round of the MRF National Supercross Championship by taking top honours in all of the Six Championship classes of the races held in Vadodra’s Akota Stadium, on Sunday. For once the reigning champion C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing fell behind his fellow rider C. S. Santosh who proved supreme by taking top honours in both motos of the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’. He collected the maximum 40 points and earned ‘The Best Rider of the Day’ title.

    The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing managed to take an early lead till C. S. Santosh of  TVS Racing with great dexterity overtook the former to emerge top in a thrilling finish. The 15 year old Karan Kadam who is riding for the first time this season for TVS Racing came a close 3rd. The second moto too saw a similar fight till Vijaykumar taking a fall, which put him in 3rd behind Santosh and Karan Kadam.

    The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke was no battle for C. Vijaykumar of  TVS Racing except for the strong performance by C. S. Santosh of  TVS Racing who closely came behind the former. Veteran motocross expert, Rustom Patel came a distant 3rd.

    In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; Syed Zubair of  TVS Racing proved his class by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor. TVS Racing dominated this class with all the three podium positions going to the team. Deepak John of TVS Racing took top honours in the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC in his TVS Fiero F2.

  • Karun Chandhok makes debut as F1 commentator

    Bangalore, 16 October 2005: Top Indian international racer and the Formula 1 aspirant Karun Chandhok made his debut as a commentator of F1 races with his commentary on the Chinese Grand Prix today.

    The Chennai-born racer, with a racing pedigree and huge knowledge of motorsports history and experience in current racing scenario, came out sparkling as a commentator today on Star Sports channel which has rights to broadcast the live F1 Grand Prix races in India.

  • HPCL Power M1 Challenge, INRC Round 4, from Oct 21

    Chandigarh, 14 October 2005: All eyes will be on top rallyists and National-level drivers from the city, Karandip Singh and Sunny Sidhu, as the cream of talent in motorsports field descends on the city for the three-day 3rd HPCL Power M1 Challenge 2005 rally, a round of the Indian National Rally Championship here next week-end. This is the only national event to be held in the city and the rally will be flagged off from Fun Republic in Mani Majra at 3 pm on October 21.

    Leading the pack will be Asia Zone rally champion and four-time Indian national champion Naren Kumar, current championship leader Arjun Balu and defending champion Vikram Mathais. The speed devils will showcase thier machines and test their skills on narrow and treacherous gravel mountain tracks of Garkhal, Subathu, Vatnaghat and Solan.

    Aiming to participate in Asia Pacific Rally Championship, MRF driver Karandip, the national champion of 2000, will participate in 1600 cc class while member of J K Tyres team with Jaidas Menon as navigatore while Sunny Sidhu will compete in Gypsy class. The entries for the rally, would be capped at 30 and the last date is October 17, said an organiser. The Super Special Stage (SSS) will be at Kalagram grounds after flag-off. After that the rally cars would compete on a two-km long challenging track in front of local crowd from close quarters as part of SSS. The event will conclude on October 23 at Kalagram.

  • Naren Kumar- Ramkumar win Bosch 31st K1000 Rally

    Bangalore, 14 Aug 2005: Four-time National champion Naren Kumar with talented navigator Ramkumar conquered the Mico Bosch 31st K1000 Rally, the 3rd round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded here on Sunday.

    The duo now under the colours of Team JK Tyre stole the thunder once again leaving behind the disappointment of a disqualification in the previous Mysore round and proved their talent to take the overall top honours. The JK Team’s reentry into the national rally scene after a gap of over five years has rekindled considerable excitement bringing back the memories of big fights with the Reds in the late nineties.

    After trailing overnight by 13 seconds, Naren Kumar stepped up the gas going all out in aggressive fashion to overtake overnight leaders Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon of MRF, and won the rally with a comfotable margin of 17 seconds.

    (Results not available)