Your basket is currently empty!
Category: Indians Abroad
News about Indians racing in different motorsports events abroad
-
Kyle Kumaran to start P4 for Pre-finals; Ruhaan, Aditya Kamat begin well
Sakhir (Bahrain), 16 Dec 2021: Senior National Rotax Max Indian champion from Peregrine Racing, Kyle Aditya Kumaran, began his campaign at the World Finals on the right note finishing third in the DD2 category here on Thursday. Ruhaan Alva of MSport in Junior class and Aditya Suresh Kamat of Birel Art India in Mini Max are the other two who are flying the Indian flag at the World championship, and they too managed to do well in the heats and qualifiers.
You can watch the finals live here from 7pm IST on Friday starting with the 10-lap Mini Max class. The 11-lap Juniors pre-final A is at 7.48 pm and Pre-final B at 8.01 pm. The 14-lap DD2 live will be from 9.30pm IST (pre-final A) and 9.53pm IST (Pre-final B).
Kumaran, from Trichy, is representing Team India for the first time but the senior champion in India is clubbed in the higher DD2 category. He races with Peregrine in India and with team DOJOMOTO internationally and is managed by Anjum Shaikh. Another Junior champion Ruhaan Alva, also from Bengaluru, is donning the Team India colours again in the Junior section while Rotax Micro Max Indian champion for 2021 Aditya Kamat, also in his maiden Worlds, is pitted against many experienced karters though he is placed in the Mini Max class for the World finals at the famed F1 circuit here. The final race will be on Saturday.
You can watch the finals live on Saturday here.
DD2 Class
Kyle Kumaran who began with a bang coming out in the top-3 in Heat 1 clocking a 52.792sec but faced some issues but still managed to finish fifth in the second heat. Heat 3 did not go as expected but still the talented karter salvaged a P8 despite his best lap of 56.762. Overall he qualified P3 in the combined standings but will start on Row 2 (P4) for the Pre-finals on Friday.
Juniors Class
Meanwhile, Ruhaan Alva found himself up with a talented bunch of youngsters from all over the world but did his best to qualify 25th in his group for an overall 50th place out of 72 drivers in Rotax World Finals junior category. Heat 1 also was a bit tricky on the Sodi chassis he got but without any seat time except the practice sessions, he managed to avoid a couple of crashes in the chaotic run but was bumped and damaged his nose. Thus he was awarded a 5-second penalty for ‘front fairing drop’ following a contact with another driver, and ended up 31st.
Ruhaan fought back in the second heat and went on from 25th to 8th and set the fastest lap of the race. In the 3rd heat, he again dashed from 25th to take a well-deserved 7th. In the Pre-final, he will start from 15th place. Since only a limited number will take the finals, Ruhaan hopes to make the top-10 in the Pre-Finals.
File photo of the three Indian champions. From left: Kyle Kumaran, Aditya Suresh Kamat, Ruhaan Alva taken after the Indian championship finals at Bengaluru in November.
Photo by David Bodapati.Mini Max
Aditya Suresh Kamat, the Indian National champion in Micro Max, was placed in the Mini Max category as he is too young. The 5th Standard student of Sudarshan Vidya Mandir in Bengaluru, who celebrated his birthday at the start of the Worlds on Dec 11, completed 11 years. The Birel Art India karter, racing a Praga chassis, qualified 29th among 72 best karters in the world clocking a time of 58.575seconds. In Heat 1 he came 24th but recovered to 20th in Heat 2. His best came in Heat 3, as he made up four places clocking 4.328 to finish P11. He will take part in the pre-finals today and of the 72 karters, only half of them will qualify for finals in all the classes.
Grand Finals begin on Dec 11
A lot of our drivers took the opportunity for the early sporting check-in on Friday Dec 10. After the registration at the main entrance for the access to the event, they found their way to the big dome at the Formula 1 area, which is really impressive from in- and outside. Nearly the half of the competitors already were checked-in on Friday and the rest followed on Saturday and then enjoyed their time in the paddock area, checked out the huge drivers tent or had some fun with the rental cars at the track.
As soon as the sun set at 05:00 pm on Saturday, the set up and alignment of the Karts started. And they made an appearance the next day to impress everyone in attendance. This amazing line-up causes goosebumps even on long-term RMC Grand Finals participants and although the worlds are happening for so many years, all at the circuit are truly overwhelmed.
Aditya Suresh Kamat with team members at Sakhir on Thursday. INDIAinF1 photo by Special Arrangment The kart raffle draw took place on Dec 12 and is one of the starting highlights of the RMC Grand Finals, where all drivers will be given equal machinery to compete with, promoting their skills to their very best.
A total of 378 karts provided by the official chassis partners, BirelART, Praga from IPK and SodiKart, were handed out under the Bahrain sun high in the sky, ahead of preparations for the first free practice sessions that get underway on Dec 13 morning.
The raffle for picking up the karts made the show of the happy faces of all the drivers of the seven categories as the shiny new karts sparkled.
-
Jehan Daruvala tops post-season testing in Prema colours
Yas Marina, 16 Dec 2021: Jehan Daruvala finished as the fastest driver on Day 1 of post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit, beating MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich and Virtuosi rookie Jack Doohan, with a time of 1:35.793.
The Red Bull junior was making his return to PREMA Racing, the team he challenged for the Formula 3 title with in 2019. Having finished second fastest to Drugovich in the morning session, Daruvala edged out the Brazilian in the afternoon by more than three tenths. F3 vice-champion Doohan finished third in both sessions to continue his impressive start to life in Formula 2.
MORNING
On his return to MP Motorsport, after a season with Virtuosi, Drugovich set the benchmark during the opening 30 minutes, posting a 1:35.577. The Brazilian headed Daruvala on a cool morning in Yas Marina, with the Indian swapping Carlin for PREMA.
There were several Red Flags during the opening session, with Clément Novalak, Amaury Cordeel, Frederick Vesti and Théo Pourchaire all stopping on track at various points, as well as a coming together between Jüri Vips and Dennis Hauger.
Vips had briefly set the third fastest time, but fell to sixth following the collision, as Virtuosi’s Doohan jumped to third, ahead of Carlin’s Liam Lawson. Ralph Boschung completed the top five with Campos Racing, while also running the most laps of the morning, punching in a total of 47.
The second Carlin of Logan Sargeant finished seventh, with DAMS’ Roy Nissany, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes and Virtuosi’s Marino Sato completing the top 10.
AFTERNOON
There were two stoppages in the early stages of the afternoon, with Cordeel and Vips both requiring red flags, but overall, a lot more running time for the field. Sixteen drivers broke the 40-lap barrier, six set more than 50, and Carlin duo Sargeant and Lawson posted more than a 120 between them.
Olli Caldwell was the early pacesetter for Campos with a 1:40.217, before getting replaced by the Daruvala at the top of the order. ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti took the times below 1m 38s for the first time, before seeing Daruvala drop a 1:36.063 to return to P1.
Drugovich and Pourchaire briefly bumped the PREMA down to second, but Daruvala managed to find a further three tenths to return to the top of the leaderboard. Doohan muscled his way into third to finish as the quickest rookie for the second session in a row.
Pourchaire held on to fourth, ahead of Boschung. Calan Williams was the second-highest rookie, running just under a second off the pace for Trident in P6.
A late lap from Nissany put him in seventh, ahead of Juan Manuel Correa, who was making his F2 return with Charouz Racing System.
Vesti finished in eighth, despite stopping on track at the end of the session. He beat out 2021 F3 champion Dennis Hauger.
Testing will resume at 9am local time on Friday.
2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – YAS MARINA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS 1 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1:35.577 31 2 Jehan Daruvala PREMA Racing 1:35.622 26 3 Jack Doohan UNI-Virtuosi 1:36.055 41 4 Liam Lawson Carlin 1:36.208 29 5 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:36.482 47 6 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:36.571 19 7 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1:36.599 30 8 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:36.643 35 9 Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 1:36.708 23 10 Marino Sato UNI-Virtuosi 1:36.718 34 11 Marcus Armstrong Hitech Grand Prix 1:36.733 33 12 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1:37.018 42 13 Dennis Hauger PREMA Racing 1:37.023 20 14 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing 1:37.033 27 15 Clément Novalak MP Motorsport 1:37.069 26 16 Calan Williams Trident 1:37.070 26 17 Teppei Natori Trident 1:37.387 27 18 Juan Manuel Correa Charouz Racing System 1:37.472 37 19 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:37.566 27 20 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:37.677 12 21 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1:38.887 28 22 Frederik Vesti DAMS 1:39.694 13 2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – YAS MARINA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION
DRIVER TEAM LAPTIME LAPS Jehan Daruvala PREMA Racing 1:35.435 46 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1:35.793 44 Jack Doohan Virtuosi 1:35.851 44 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:35.981 46 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:36.340 33 Calan Williams Trident 1:36.705 48 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:36.859 41 Juan Manuel Correa Charouz Racing System 1:36.886 34 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1:36.912 45 Dennis Hauger PREMA Racing 1:36.960 44 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing 1:37.031 44 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:37.073 40 Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 1:37.077 52 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1:37.547 38 Teppei Natori Trident 1:37.660 51 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:38.464 28 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1:38.709 63 Liam Lawson Carlin 1:38.908 64 Clément Novalak MP Motorsport 1:39.096 36 Marcus Armstrong Hitech Grand Prix 1:39.344 52 Marino Sato Virtuosi 1:39.451 53 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1:40.973 13 -
Guanyu Zhou wins 2nd Sprint; Jehan Daruvala 7th: F2
Abu Dhabi(UAE), 11 Dec. 2021: After his sensational victory in the first Sprint race, ace Indain driver Jehan Daruvala managed a creditable 7th place in the second Sprint race. In the last week-end of the F2 races held along with the Formula 1 race in the Abu Dhabi circuit, the Red Bull Junior driver made up some places early on but later managed his tyres and the car did not have the required pace as he retained his points position.
“P7 in Race 2. I had a decent start and was running P5 but just didn’t have the pace to hold on. Anyway we will work hard tonight to try and move up the field for the Feature Race tomorrow,” the Mumbaikar promised.
Meanwhile, UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou returned to the top step of the podium for the first time since Silverstone in his penultimate Formula 2 race, beating PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung in a frenetic Sprint Race 2 at Yas Marina.
Zhou’s fourth win of the season strengthens his bid to finish in the top three of the Drivers’ Championship, with his closest rival Dan Ticktum in fourth.
On Saturday morning, Oscar Piastri had been crowned champion after finishing on the podium in the opening race at Abu Dhabi, but the Australian suffered a race to forget in the evening, getting served a five-second time penalty for an incident on the opening lap, before retiring from the race after a collision with Jüri Vips and Roy Nissany.
Felipe Drugovich took his second successive top-five finish, ahead of Liam Lawson in sixth and Jehan Daruvala in seventh. MP Motorsport rookie Jack Doohan claimed the final place in the points. Reverse polesitter Marcus Armstrong was unfortunate not to score his second win of the season after retiring from first with mechanical issues.
AS IT HAPPENED
A frenetic race start played out under the lights in Yas Marina, but not for reverse polesitter Armstrong, who had dashed off into the distance and kept well clear of the trouble playing out behind him.
Boschung and Zhou held their positions as well, but everyone from Ticktum to Daruvala was involved in a mass brawl behind them. Piastri had launched his PREMA down the outside from P8 and was almost shovelled into the wall as those around him went four-wide.
Despite missing the wall, the Australian still came away with minor damage after banging wheels with Liam Lawson. The PREMA fell to 13th and the Hitech down to eighth as Piastri was found to be at fault and handed a five-second penalty.
The second PREMA of Shwartzman was involved as well, but he came out of it in fourth, three places up from where he’d lined up, while Ticktum retained his starting position of fifth. Daruvala had also gained places, jumping to sixth in front of Drugovich.
As the chaos subsided, the grid were given a chance to breathe by the Safety Car, which arrived following contact between Alessio Deledda and Olli Caldwell at Turn 9. Caldwell managed to soldier on, but the Italian was forced to retire his HWA RACELAB.
Racing resumed and Piastri’s charge back through the field began, the Champion gaining two spots in quick succession as he passed Roy Nissany and Jüri Vips in one fell swoop.
But Nissany and Vips both came back at him and the trio clipped wheels, which spun Piastri to a stop. Nissany managed to retain control of his DAMS, but Vips was sent wide and joined Piastri in clambering out of his car, resulting in a second Safety Car.
Zhou had skipped ahead of Boschung prior to the Safety Car and was promoted to first when the Aston Martin headed back into the pits, as Armstrong suffered a mechanical issue at the restart and pulled to a stop on the side of the road.
Only a Virtual Safety Car was required this time and Shwartzman jumped in front of Boschung when racing resumed, with Zhou holding onto first directly ahead of him.
After nearly losing his DAMS during the battle with Vips and Piastri, Nissany was hoping to steer clear of further trouble, but Doohan’s MP showed up in his rear-view mirror and forced the Israeli to get his elbows out once again.
After two successful attempts to keep Doohan behind, the Formula 3 vice-champion eventually got his way and launched ahead of the DAMS for the final points’ position.
Zhou managed to hold onto first at the flag, ahead of Shwartzman, while Boschung clinched his second podium in as many rounds. Ticktum and Drugovich completed the top five as Daruvala fell to seventh behind Lawson. Doohan completed the top eight and took the final point on offer.
KEY QUOTE – GUANYU ZHOU (UNI-VIRTUOSI)
“Victory in Sprint Race 2 is very important for me at the end of my F2 career. I have one more race left tomorrow and I want to thank the team, we made a huge improvement from the first race to the second.
“I am super happy with what we have achieved, it is a huge relief, and I am happy to be on the top step again.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW
In the Drivers’ Championship, Piastri is first with 227.5 points, ahead of Shwartzman on 182 and Zhou on 165. Ticktum is fourth with 151.5 and Théo Pourchaire fifth with 126.
In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 409.5 points, ahead of Carlin on 264.5 and UNI-Virtuosi on 255. Hitech Grand Prix are fourth with 219 and ART Grand Prix fifth with 176.
Action from FIA Formula 2 – Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi – Feature Race will LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 14:30 Hrs (02:30 pm IST) onwards on Sunday, 12th December, 2021. Eurosport channel can now be streamed on the discovery+ app.
-
Jehan Daruvala’s victory shows mastery in defence
Abu Dhabi(UAE), December 11, 2021: Ace Indian racer Jehan Daruvala of Carlin Racing pulled off a sensational victory in Formula 2 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday.
Watch the Indian National Anthem being sung at Abu Dhabi, video courtesy ChequeredFlag on twitter @CFmagIndia
Watch a brilliant defensive move here from Jehan Daruvala Twitter handle.
The main support race for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw Jehan start on Pole (first), soak up immense pressure and eventually script his second victory and fifth podium in Formula 2 this year.
Jehan, part of the Red Bull Racing Junior Team, got off to an excellent start and held his lead in the short run down to Corner 1 of the 5.281km circuit. Behind, Dan Tictum slipped to fourth while Felipe Drugovich, starting third, gained a position to get into second.
Drugovich, then, started piling the pressure on Jehan. Twice on the first lap, the Brazilian managed to pull alongside Jehan, but the Indian held him at bay with some clever positioning of his car.
“After struggling in the early part of the weekend, it is fantastic to win here. I was under a lot of pressure in the first few laps as well as later on. But I remained confident and really enjoyed the racing. It’s a good result for the team, so thank you to everyone who has worked hard to make this happen. Starting tenth in the next race is going to be tough, but I will do my best,” said Jehan after his third win in Formula 2 races in two years.
Midway through the race, Drugovich again started piling on the pressure. He lunged down the inside of Jehan and almost shot ahead too. But Jehan stayed by his side till the corner, where he emerged ahead once again.
Initially, it seemed like Jehan had pushed his car and tyres too hard too early in the race to break the DRS opportunity for the drivers behind. But Jehan had, in fact, managed to absorb the immense pressure and repeated attacks while also preserving his tyre life. Towards the end of the race, Jehan opened up a small gap to Drugovich and kept increasing it.
Jehan comfortably won the race with a 2-second margin over Drugovich to earn his fifth podium of the season. Championship leader Oscar Piastri climbed up the order and finished third to win the 2021 Formula 2 title comfortably. The top ten from this race will be reversed for the start of Race 2, which means that Jehan will have to start tenth.
After showing tremendous pace and overtaking skills in Jeddah last weekend on the fastest street circuit on the F1 calendar, due to penalties in races, Jehan had missed out on a podium last weekend. This race was a strong comeback from the Indian star.
The Red Bull Junior driver, Daruvala, got a great launch when the lights went out, and he zoomed into the lead heading into Turn 1 and Drugovich followed behind him. “Yes, P1. I am really happy with the victory after a pretty tough race what with all the pressure behind,” said the Mumbai-born Indian.
Oscar Piastri completed a historic hat-trick in Sprint Race 1 at Yas Marina, running a superb race from 10th to third to seal the Formula 2 crown with a podium and add it to a collection that also includes the 2020 Formula 3 Championship and the 2019 Formula Renault trophy.
Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala beat UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich to take victory on track, but all eyes were locked on Piastri to see if he could wrap up the Championship. And the PREMA driver’s stylish performance was a fitting end to a phenomenal campaign, which includes five wins, 10 podiums and five poles.
Finishing fourth, Robert Shwartzman led Piastri for the majority of the 23 laps and put up a strong fight, but was unable to delay his teammate’s coronation, who joined Charles Leclerc and George Russell as rookie champions.
Liam Lawson, Dan Ticktum, Théo Pourchaire and Guanyu Zhou took the remaining points off offer, with tyre wear proving particular challenging in 38-degree track temperatures, which made overtaking difficult in the second half of the race.
AS IT HAPPENED
Daruvala, who started on pole in the reverse grid, following his 10th in the quualies, shot ahead with Drugovich in tow. The second Carlin of Dan Ticktum struggled offthe line, sinking to fourth, with Liam Lawson also getting the jump on him.Looking to wrap up the title at the earliest opportunity, Piastri was rapid at the start, lunging from 10th to sixth and putting himself directly behind his teammate Shwartzman, the one driver who could prevent him from clinching the crown.
The PREMAs were in fantastic form as the pair of them scampered ahead of Ticktum for a spot in the top five, before Shwartzman put some daylight between himself and Piastri, taking the final podium position from Lawson and putting the Hitech between himself and his teammate.
But Piastri swiftly responded, getting past Lawson on the following lap and returning to the tyre tracks of Shwartzman.
Daruvala and Drugovich were continuing their battle at the front of the field, as the Red Bull junior fought to ditch the UNI-Virtuosi and rid him of DRS.
All the while, Shwartzman was gaining on the pair of them, the PREMA driver cutting the gap from 3s to 1.5s within a lap, as Virtuosi pressured Drugovich to get the move done on team radio.
Shwartzman appeared in his mirrors, and this gave Drugovich the nudge he needed to make a move on Daruvala, but the Brazilian couldn’t make it stick. Initially getting in front at Turn 8, the Carlin responded and pulled back ahead at Turn 9 to retain P1.
There wasn’t too much going on behind them, with the majority of the field in a battle with their heavily degrading Pirelli, as Lawson led Ticktum, Pourchaire, Zhou, Ralph Boschung and Marcus Armstrong in the remainder of the top 10.
Piastri and Shwartzman had looked pretty settled in third and fourth, gently managing their tyres, but Piastri spotted a late opportunity and decided to take it, firing his PREMA down the inside of Shwartzman at Turn 9. The Russian attempted to fight back as Piastri locked up, but he was unable to reclaim the position as the champion-in-waiting began to pull away.
The Australian had one eye on second place but ran out of laps with just one to go. Daruvala led Drugovich and Piastri across the line for his second win of the season. Shwartzman finished fourth ahead of Lawson, with Ticktum, Pourchaire and Zhou finishing in the final points’ positions.
“Back on the top step after a disappointing weekend in Jeddah where I didn’t take many points, so it is good to start off the weekend with a victory. We weren’t too strong in Quali, but our race pace looked pretty strong.
“I had a great battle with Felipe (Drugovich) at one point and we were side-by-side for a couple of corners, but I managed to stick it out in front. The car felt good, and I just took it to the chequered flag.
“Congratulations to Oscar (Piastri), I didn’t think that I would see him on the podium from 10th, but a big well done to him, he has dominated the whole year.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW
Piastri clinches the Championship with a tally of 227.5 points, with Shwartzman in second on 170 and Zhou third with 150. Ticktum is fourth with 143.6 points and Pourchaire fifth on 126.
In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA Racing are champions with 397.5 points, ahead of Carlin on 254.5 and UNI-Virtuosi on 234. Hitech are fourth with 215 points, ahead of ART Grand Prix on 176.
WHAT’S NEXT?
After finishing 10th, Marcus Armstrong will be bidding to take his second victory in as many rounds when he lines up from reverse grid pole in Sprint Race 2. Ralph Boschung will join the DAMS’ driver on the front row of the reverse grid at 6.45pm local time.
Action from FIA Formula 2 – Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi – Sprint Race 2 will LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 20:15 Hrs (08:15 pm IST) onwards on Saturday, 11th December, 2021. Eurosport channel can now be streamed on the discovery+ app.
-
Athira Murali, the Kerala vlogger, dreams about McLaren GT4 races in UK
By Bodapati David
Bengaluru, 14 Nov 2021: Athira Murali, a Malayalam Vlogger and a National rally driver is looking forward to speed in Touring cars as well, a big road-racing event. She is selected for the India trials to race in ‘Formula Woman’ that will be held in Vadodara from Nov 22 to 24.
“Formula Woman UK has tied up with AutoGuru India to give women drivers in the country an opportunity to win McLaren driving seats next year and help them make a career in motorsport.”
“The two-day event, to be held at Erda’s Speedway in Vadodara, will see women drivers being assessed on five parameters — driving, go-karting, physical fitness, media, and written test. Three winners from India will progress to the UK leg where they will compete with 47 other women from across 28 participating countries,” according to Socialnews.xyz
Formula Woman, which was officially known as the Privilege Insurance Formula Woman Championship, is a female-only one-make racing series started in 2004 in the UK. It was inspired by the lack of female drivers in other series and was created, amongst other reasons, to boost the female audience of the sport. After an absence of 17 years, in March 2021 it was announced that The New Televised Formula Woman Competition prize will offer the finalists the opportunity to race a McLaren GT4 Race car in The British GT Cup Championship
INRC – Rally debut
Earlier, on 31st January this year, Athira Murali, 27, made her debut in the FMSCI motorsports rally Nationals at Coimbatore in INRC4 category for the delayed 2020 season third round of the Indian National Rally Championship for cars. The Kerala girl from Pampady, Kottayam district, exhibited rich driving skills to clock good timings and beat many male counterparts at the Windmill farms of Kethanoor.
Inspired and supported by her father, VN Muraleedharan, she fell in love with cars and took up the sport at a late stage but made an impressive debut and looks forward to continue her passion. Sponsored by JK Tyre for this season, the popular Malayalam vlogger is looking forward to the 2021 Rally calendar, which was announced last week. She is preparing for Round 1, a high-speed tarmac rally that will suit her style, in Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh, on the beaches of Bay of Bengal from Dec 17 to 19.
But before that she will be looking to take part and follow a dream of getting into McLaren GT4 races in UK. The India selection trials will be held at Vadodara from November 21 to 24.
Athira Murali is also a URF and India book of Records holder and a journalist with Kaumudy, with her popular weekly Automobile show aired on Tuesday at 8pm prime time in Malayalam. The ever-smiling Vblogger in Malayalam, commands a following of one lakh on YouTube, 25,000 on Instagram and more than 1.5 lakh followers on Facebook. Follow your dreams like her, on YouTube @AthiraMuraliOfficial.
You can contact Athira Murali from Kottayam, Kerala at athiramuraliwheelzflyer@gmail.com
-
Advait Deodhar, the man on a mission, wants to redeem himself in 2022
By Advait Deodhar
Mumbai, 2 Nov 2021: I went into the weekend with a strong chance of finishing 3rd overall in the Championship. We were off to a great start, finishing Practice in P3. However, it went downhill straight after.
Qualifying : Due to a clutch issue, I didn’t manage to put in a lap with full power. I had to bring the car into the pits after 4 troubled laps.
Race 1 : After having to start down in 13th, I was rapidly making may way through the field with some overtaking moves i’m extremely proud of!
However, mid-way through the race, after overtaking (on the outside with two wheels on the grass) my main rival for P3 in the Championship, I engaged a wrong gear, threw the car into a dramatic spin and had to retire the car . I am still unsure if it was my fault or a mechanical issue for which the wrong gear was selected.Race 2 : I was off to another lightning start and made some brave overtaking moves. However, I had a clutch issue once again from lap 3 and had to retire the car.
End of the most difficult racing season I’ve ever had.
It’s been a year full of unfortunate events at the circuit and in my personal life.I had 5 DNFs out of 12 races in which 2 of them were at the final where each race is double points.
Mechanical issues and incidents on track were out of my control.There were some big positives though, with 2 pole positions, 1 win and 2 more podiums. Proof of what what could have been this year…!
Overall, it’s been a very difficult year which I can only learn from but also one which I hope to forget.
Big thanks to everyone that’s been part of it.
I’m a man on a mission and want my redemption next year!
With a strong package, I have no doubt we will be Championship
contenders in 2022. -
Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton finish fifth for MRF: ERC Rally Hungary
Nyíregyháza (Hungary), 25 October 2021:Team MRF Tyres successfully completed the data and development exercise at the FIA European Rally Championship at Rally Hungary.
The day’s action saw seven stages and 78.83km of action on the unique tarmac roads in north-east Hungary that took in forest and farming paths.
Simone Campedelli and Tania Canton were flying the flag for Team MRF Tyres in their Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo and started the day in eighth position.
The aim of this rally was to gain data for the development of the tyres, as MRF Tyres looks forward to further tarmac developments into 2022.
The rapid development of the MRF Tyres tarmac product is aimed to pay dividends into next year.
The Sunday action in Hungary saw high speeds with, the MRF Tyres duo pushing on the super-fast stages, clocking average speeds of more than 120km/h over a stage.
Throughout the rally, the MRF Tyres ran faultlessly with the tarmac tyres proving to be more than a match for the rough tarmac and gravel sections that this rally provides.
Campedelli and Canton were consistent throughout the day and were able to move up the field, moving into fifth place by the end of the rally.
Nil Solans and Marc Marti did not start the day.
The FIA European Rally Championship now has just one round to go, on the tarmac surface of the Rally Islas Canarias.
The Spanish Island offers yet another different type of tarmac surface with smooth and flowing tarmac on offer.
In the meantime, Team MRF Tyres will not rest with the aggressive testing regime and the final round of the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT) with the 12th Liburna Terra where Paolo Andreucci and Rudy Briani have an outside chance of becoming champions.
The final round of the FIA ERC will take place from 18-20 November.
Quotes
Simone Campedelli, Driver, Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
“Rally Hungary was a challenging rally. The speeds were very high and the tarmac was unique. We tried many things with the tyres to get the data we needed.”“I also pushed a lot through the rally and particularly on stage 12, I enjoyed the drive and my performance with the MRF Tyres. In the dark, I was on the limit. The long straights on the limiter and into a tight corner, there was no margin for error.”
“It is my first time in Hungary, it is a beautiful rally. Warm, people, warm fans. I would like to thank everyone at Team MRF Tyres for their work at this rally and I am looking forward to the final rounds of the season with the Liburna Terra and Rally Islas Canarias. I am happy to bring the car home and for now, I am happy.”
-
Yacht Rara Avis to sponsor Advait Deodhar’s final round
Vallelunga (Italy), 20 Oct 2021: The exploits of Ace Indian racer Advait Deodhar finally attracts a new associate sponsor for the final round of the Championship to be held here on October 30 and 31. The Mumbai-born London-based Yacthsman won a round and is currently in 5th position with an outside chance to win due to the double points in the final round.
“I’m delighted to confirm Yacht Rara Avis as associate sponsor for the final round of my 2021 EuroNascar championship. Through my work as a Yacht broker at TJB Superyachts, I have done a lot of charters with luxury-gulet RARA AVIS in Croatia,” Deodhar said.
The owner is an American muscle-car and Motorsport enthusiast and wanted to use Deodhar’s race car and the series as a platform to promote RARA AVIS further. “RARA AVIS is a 33-metre custom made luxury-gulet that’s based in Croatia and available for charter,” Deodhar added.
The yacht can accommodate 12 people in 6 cabins and has a very professional team onboard, to deliver a high standard of service. All charters onboard have been hugely successful and clients have nothing but praise for the yacht and crew. -
Harith Noah successfully completes Rally of Morocco
Zagora, 13 October 2021: Ace Indian rider KN Harith Noah successfully completed the tough Rallye du Maroc after finishing the last stage 23rd, for a creditable overall 20th to brush aside his rustiness and start preparations for Dakar 2022 in right earnest. The Kerala rider, who became the top-Indian finisher in Dakar, is backed by Sherco TVS factory team. Noah clocked 19hours, 05minutes and 31seconds for the overall timing with a 1:52:11sec in the shortened fifth stage, just 12:59sec off the leader P Quintanilla of Monster Energy Honda team.
Meanwhile, despite this last stage being shortened for logistical reasons, it was no stroll in park ! The profile of this final loop resembled that of the first stage with the same start and finishing point. However the route through the Chegaga Erg was all new. Warned rally boss David Castera: “The rally’s not over yet. Save some strength for the end”.
ROAD BOOK
Stage 5
Distances : L1: 142 / SS: 166 / L2 : 143 – Total : 412
ON TRACK
In the bikes, the last 166 kms of the 2021 Rallye du Maroc went more or less as anticipated. Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) started third on the road this morning to win the special and with it the rally, second time out with his new team. Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory) started 2nd kept his podium position and win the FIM World Championship. And opening the piste this morning Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas Factory) managed to limit the damage to an absolute minimum to finish third on the special and overall. All of course much easier said than done, when you have riders of the calibre of Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) ready to pounce at the slightest opportunity. In Rally2 Bradley Cox (BAS Dakar KTM) confirmed all the promise he has shown this week by winning his first ever rally raid special just 1:20 ahead of fellow rookie Mason Klein (BAS Dakar KTM) who wins the class by a more than comfortable 54:58 ahead of the Italian Paolo Lucci. In Enduro Cup Afriquia the Moroccan Amine Echiguer (KTM OCP) took yet another stage victory to win is class. Fastest Rally2 quad was Manuel Andújar (Team 7240) while in Enduro Cup Afriquia it was Axel Dutrie (Yamaha Drag’on) who takes the honours.
In the cars Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) took his 6th Rallye du Maroc victory and with it the lead in the FIA World Cup Championship. In the T3 class for lightweight prototypes the win went to the Russian Pavel Lebedev (Moscow Rally Team). In T4, contender Michal Goczal (Energylandia) woke up to a surprise this morning, rival Aron Domzala’s CanAm (Monster Energy Can-Am) stripped down to its bare bones. Psychological warfare that appears to have paid off with, Goczal breaking his rear suspension and ‘gifting’ Domzala the class win (7th overall at 2h20:02). In Open Patrick Prot (Revival Aventures) takes the top spot while in the trucks victory goes to Gerrit Zuumond (Man TGA).
RADIO BIVOUAC
The Toyota Auto Body entered the Open class for this edition of the Rallye du Maroc to prepare for the future and carry out tyre tests under race conditions before the next Dakar. This will be the last appearance in Morocco for the two diesel powered Land Cruiser VDJ 200 Auto Body cars. They will race in T2 in Saudi Arabia in a few week’s time before retiring and giving way to the new Land Cruiser 300. Farewell to the V8 diesel.
STAT OF THE DAY : 1506
That’s the number of special stage kilometres that the FIM and FIA drivers covered on this edition of the Rallye du Maroc. In all those kilometres the new Toyota Hilux Gazoo Racing T1+ that was being tested by Erik Van Loon suffered zero puintures! Equipped with new 37-inch wheels, the four future official Toyota Gazoo Racing cars for the next Dakar should spend much less time stopped by the side of the track.
THE RALLY DU MAROC AND ME
Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda)
Where ?
“It was here in Zagora.”
When ?
“2015, my first season with KTM, it was my 5th rally-raid. I was doing all the world championship rounds.”
How ?
“I broke my wrist on the last special. It was my second crash in my rally-raid career, my first in the world championship, Since then I’ve come here every year. My best result up until today was 2nd in 2019.”
QUOTES
Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) : 1st
“It feels really nice to win. It was a tough race for everybody with difficult navigation. This is my second race with the Monster Energy Honda team and I’d like to thank them for doing a great job. We know we are in a good way for the Dakar in January.”
Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory) : 2nd and FIM World Champion
“Feels amazing to win the world championship. I always liked racing here. The track is good and the organisation is super cool. It is a tough and tricky rally so to finish 2nd here and win the world championship is super cool. As you get old you think more about the danger but you compensate with navigation and I think the key is I really like to be on the bike.”
Mason Klein (BAS Dakar KTM) : 1st overall in Rally2
“Coming out here for my first rally I didn’t have big expectations. That changed a little after day 1 and there was a bit more pressure to do good. It has definitely been hard but I’ve been learning patience, to take your time. Slow and steady wins the race and that’s what I’ve been doing this whole week and its worked out pretty good.”
Bradley Cox (BAS Dakar KTM) : 3rd overall Rally3
“To finish off the week with a stage win on my first rally is just awesome. So excited now for Dakar. I learnt so much. The most important lesson was it doesn’t matter how fast you go if you can’t navigate you lose so much time. Great to have my Dad here. He’s so knowledgeable.”
Amine Echiguer (KTM OCP) : 1st Enduro Cup Afriquia
“It’s thanks to my mental attitude that I made it to the end. From the second stage onwards I thought about quitting. Cyril Despres had warned us, but I didn’t think it would be so hard. Yet I do sport: cycling, swimming, I often go running in the morning before going to work and in the afternoon. What reassures me is that I heard the pro riders also complain about the difficulty of this edition. But despite that, I found myself thinking that now I would like to be a Dakar finisher !”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) : 1st
“Toyota Gazoo Racing have done an amazing job. We was winning the race since the beginning. Today I enjoy a lot this 166 kms because we take really good time from everybody and now we are the leaders of the championship. This is our last race in the T1. It has been an amazing car and we’ve won a lot of races with it including the 2019 Dakar. Now we’re looking forward to racing the T1+ and I think the team have built us an amazing car.”
-
Harith Noah successfully completes the tough SS4
Zagora, 12 October 2021: Ace Indian rider Harith Noah from Sherco TVS team, astride an 450RTR, continued to progress successfully in Rallye du Maroc as he finished the tough Stage 4 in the FIM Group 1, in the Moto-Rally World Championship upto 450cc bikes in 20th position on Tuesday. Noah took 15minutes penalty for a total time of 17 hours, 13 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the Selective Section (SS) about 2:26min behind leader Mathias Walkner.
The ace Indian from Kerala, who finished the Dakar 2021 successfully to become the highest ranked Indian in Dakar and only third to complete the toughest cross-country rally in the world, had injured himself in one of the stages where another CS Santosh met with a bad accident that took him months to recover. Unlike Santosh, Noah was off to training in a couple of months and overcame the COVID19 travel restrictions to arrive here early and start his first and only preparation for Dakar 2022. Thus his target at Rally of Morocco is to get into the groove, fine-tune his navigation and complete the course. Thus, he is on course and has come to the final phase of the six-day competition consisting of
No major sand sections on the menu for this fourth stage. While there were a few small ergs to cross, David Castera’s team were more focused on linking new tracks to historic Dakar pistes from times gone by. This was especially the case for last 50 kilometres of the track to Foum Zguid. As Ricky Brabec discovered to his cost, navigation played a central role in today’s result.
Watch sample video here. (This rider in the video is not Harith Noah.)
ROAD BOOK
Stage 4: A mix of old and new
Distances :
L1: 118 / SS: 367 / L2 : 61 – Total : 546 (Moto FIM / Auto FIA)
L1: 118 / SS: 337 / L2 : 75 – Total : 530 (Enduro Cup / Quad / SSV / Open)
ON TRACK
At yesterday evening’s briefing David Castera warned competitors to take care today with the navigation when coming across rally tracks from previous days. And inevitably it was the man who opened this morning, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) who paid the highest price. His overall lead this morning of 10:27, has this evening been transformed into a 07:34 deficit. Ricky is of course still in with a chance, but not as big a one as teammate Pablo Quintanilla. Second overall this morning at 10:27, this evening the Chilean is just 37 seconds behind leader Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory) and will start the last day third on the road just behind the ex-Dakar winner. The Austrian will also be fighting hard for the podium, while taking care of his world championship ambitions. Winning his first stage today on his Rallye du Maroc debut, the young Australian Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas Factory Racing) will also be pushing hard to keep his podium place, his chances possibly increased by the organisers decision to shorten tomorrow’s special from 291 km to 166. Slightly less suspense in Rally2 thanks to the domination of the category by the rookie American Mason Klein (BAS Dakar KTM) who celebrates his 20th birthday today. He again won the day 6:54 ahead of Bradley Cox (BAS Dakar KTM) with Benji Melot (Esprit KTM) third at 16:30.
In the cars, for the first time since the start of the rally, someone other than Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) won a stage, with honours going to Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive) and his co-driver Michael Orr. Third was Jakub Przygonski (X-Raid Mini) at 02:30. It means that Nasser will start second tomorrow, perfectly positioned to keep an eye on his closest rival and protect his 11:21 lead. In T3 the overall leader Cristina Gutierrez ran into transmission problems and pulled out of the special accompanied by her Red Bull Off-Road Junior teammate Seth Quintero. T3 victory on the stage went to Pavel Lebedev (Moscow Rally Team). In T4 no less than 7 SSVs between 12th and 18th place on today’s special separated by just over 4 minutes ! And it was the rookie Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska (South Racing) who won to take his first rally raid special, just 25 seconds ahead of teammate Michal Goczal.
RADIO BIVOUAC
Back in 2014 Vanessa Ruck got knocked off her bicycle and ended up having 7 operations to rebuild her shoulder and hip. Her initial goal was to ‘get better’ and ‘pain free’. Eventually she was forced into the realisation that she’d have to lower her expectations and learn to live with the pain. By her own admission ‘it’s been a rollercoaster’, both physically and mentally. In her search for tools to help her come to terms with her new reality motorcycling turned out to be one of the most useful distractions. Like many before her she initially started on road bikes before being seduced by the adrenaline rush of riding off-road. This summer she successfully completed the Iron class of the Romaniacs. Two weeks ago she completed her first desert race, the Qatar International Baja. This week she’s racing her first rally-raid…. Something else that has helped her come to grips with her life changing injuries is visiting schools and talking to the pupils alongside her Project Dakar teammate Tim Bradshaw. Together they have tried to pass on some of the strategies they have come up with to overcome adversity #becauseican.
STAT OF THE DAY : 6
Is the record number of victories on the Rally du Maroc… and it is held by a co-driver. Frenchman Mathieu Baumel has one more victory than his team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing). If Nasser can hope to equal this record tomorrow by winning his 6th crown in Morocco, Mathieu will inevitably receive his 7th. Unless the Gazoo Racing driver pushes him out of the cockpit before the finish line ! For Mathieu, who won in 2011 with Bernhard Ten Brinke (Mitsubishi), it will be the 10th anniversary of his first victory. Among the drivers, Nasser is the most capped in the Rallye du Maroc with 5 titles in a row from 2014 to 2018. Giniel De Villiers and Cyril Despres have won 4 times while Peterhansel, Schlesser and Coma have each won 3 times.
THE RALLY DU MAROC AND ME
Jakub Przygonski (X-Raid Mini)
When?
“Oh a long time ago – 2009. I was 25 years old.”
Where?
“Zagora.”
How?
“It was one of my first cross country rallies. When it is your first time in the desert it is a shock, the terrain, the road book, everything is new. But I really enjoyed it because there’s a lot of different types of terrain, stones, sand, camel grass. I was riding a KTM 690 in the Orlen Team but we had support from the factory. Before that I had been riding moto-x and enduro. In total I raced bikes for 16 years and I’ve been racing cars for 6 years.”
QUOTES
Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) : 3rd at 02:55 and 2nd overall at 00:37
“Today was a really good stage for me. I felt confident with my speed all day, really focused on the road book and didn’t make any mistakes. Every day the feeling is better. This is the first race I do in open desert with the bike. Now I have a good position for tomorrow and I’m feeling motivated.”
Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) : 17th at 20:19 and 4th overall at 07:34
“I opened more of less the whole day and I didn’t have any teammates close to me to help. We crossed many tracks from the last two days which made the navigation really tricky and I made two big errors. Now I’m 7 minutes down going into the last day. Hopefully the guys opening tomorrow will make a little mistake or go a little bit slow. Tomorrow we’re going to try and do our best and get on the podium.”
Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas Factory Racing) : 1st and 3rd overall at 05:46
“I started back in 14th but you still had to be really precise with the navigation and keep the mistakes to the minimum. When I could push I pushed. I’ll be opening tomorrow so a lot of pressure but I’m excited to see how it works out.”
Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory) : 2nd at 00:36 and 1st overall
“Another super long day. I tried from the beginning to push really hard. The Rallye du Maroc is one of my favourite races. A really nice mix of navigation, some off-piste, some dunes, fast piste. Tomorrow is the show down and I’ll be happy if I can stay on the podium, make some good points (for the championship) and don’t take too many risks.”
Mathieu Baumel (Toyota Gazoo Racing) : 2nd at 1 :39 and 1st overall
“We didn’t want to open on the last day so this morning we started off gently. And then we made a small navigation error that cost us a minute or two. At 224 km we were able to work out the times and saw that Yazeed had pulled back almost 5 minutes and Kuba 2 so over the last part of the special we decided to up the pace a little. All in all perfect for tomorrow. The plan will be to come up to Yazeed’s dust and stay behind him.”
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive) : 1st and 2nd overall at 11:21
“Sure very happy. We win today’s stage. Lucky day for us, not any punctures not any problem and also Michael did a great job. When the car works well and everything work well we can win stages. We have the speed and we have the experience. Just need some luck.”
Jakub Przygonski (X-Raid Mini) : 3rd at 02:30 and 30th overall at 4h43:42
“It was good day. We caught Nasser in the middle of the stage and then drove with Nasser and Yazeed. Then a little in moto-x mode. It was quite a hard stage but we enjoyed it.”
Rokas Baciuska (South Racing) : 1st T3 and 17th overall at 2h56:03
“Actually I didn’t expect to win a stage here in Morocco. This is the first time I see the dunes. I come from Rallycross. Here it is really crazy, really close between the top 3 guys. You do 300 kms and you’re separated by 20 seconds. But we managed to get up there with them and we’re really happy. The plan for tomorrow is full attack.”
TOMORROW’S PROGRAMME
For logistical reasons the 291 km special initially scheduled for tomorrow has been cut to 166 kms.
Distances : L1: 142 / SS: 166 / L2 : 143 – Total : 412
