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Category: Indians Abroad
News about Indians racing in different motorsports events abroad
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Gill creates history as he becomes first Indian to win APRC Title
Longyou (China), 2 Nov 2013: Indian driver Gaurav Gill created history by becoming the first Indian to win the top class in the 2013 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title after finishing Day 1 of the Rally of China at the wheel of his Team MRF ŠKODA Fabia S2000 here on Saturday.
According to Adrenna Communications’ release, title rival and team-mate Esapekka Lappi was leading at the end of Day 1 with Gill in second place. Gill, with Australian co-driver, Glenn Macneall, only had to finish the rally to secure his first APRC title, while Lappi is in a position to move up to second in the championship, having finished second in the S2000 category at the recent Sanremo Rally in Italy.
Gill’s team-mate lads Esapekka Lappi from Finland leads the event by 4 minutes. There’s still one day to go, before the finish when Gill and the team can celebrate on the APRC podium. Gill suffered a puncture which cost him 2-3 minutes but managed to get back in the rally.
Team MRF Driver Gaurav Gill (India), 2013 FIA APRC Champion commented “This is definitely the high-light of my career so far, we’ve come close on several other occasions and this year wasn’t easy either. I have to thank the team, my co-driver Glenn (Macneall), Skoda and a big thank you to MRF tyres too as they’ve stuck with me all these years and so it’s nice to reward them and my country. We stopped and changed tyre losing 2-3 minutes, but the main thing is to get the car back here.”
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Gaurav Gill of India pilots the MRF Skoda to finish Day 1 and take the APRC titles in the China leg on Saturday. An Adrenna Communications photo -
Akhil wins place in FIA Institute Young Driver’s Excellence Academy
31 Oct 2013: After an intensive three days of tests and evaluations at the FIA Institute Asia-Pacific Selection Event hosted by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), India’s Akhil Rabindra won himself a place in the FIA Institute Young Drivers Excellence Academy. Rabindra, 17, who races in the JK Racing India Series (Formula BMW) won his place on the fully-funded Academy program after demonstrating his ability not just on the track but also in terms of fitness and understanding of safety and vehicle dynamics.
There were three judges on the selection panel with the Gus Glover from the FIA Institute, Academy Instructor Dr. Tony Turner and Lead Driving Instructor Cameron McConville . In the end it was a tough decision, but all three felt Rabindra was a worthy winner, and he was naturally thrilled to have been chosen with the announcement made by FIA Institute Deputy President Garry Connelly.
“I am honoured to have been selected I would like to thank the FIA Institute, CAMS and my ASN The FMSCI for making this possible. I am looking forward to taking on the other drivers from across the world. The Academy should be great and I hope to lean a lot,” Rabindra said.
Rabindra now has the opportunity to follow i
Akhil Rabindran who won the Young Driver Excellence Award. An Adrenna Photo n the footsteps of previous participants in the Academy who have gone on to drive in Formula One and the World Rally Championship.
All the young drivers, who had been nominated by the national motor sport authorities in their own countries, gained invaluable knowledge and experience to help them in their careers.
Andrew Papadopoulos, President of CAMS, which hosted the event on behalf of the FIA Institute, congratulated the winner and all those involved.
“It has been fantastic to host this event we would like to thank the New South Wales Institute of Sport and Sydney Motorsport Park and Mazda for their support. Driver development is important in the Asia Pacific region and we are happy to have helped raise the standard in this part of the world.” said Papadopoulos.
FMSCI President Vicky Chandhok commented, “This is a great initiative by the FIA to develop young drivers across the world. On behalf of the FMSCI, I would like to congratulate Akhil on winning the APAC selection, and wish him all the best in the Academy. There are so many young drivers with so much potential that the future of Indian motorsport looks promising.”
On the final day of the selection event the 12 drivers were whittled down to three, Rabindra, Petr Borodin from Kazakhstan and Mark Gibson from New Zealand.
Ultimately, the choice of Rabindra as the regional winner was based not only on the shoot-out result but on all-round skills displayed over the three days.
He now joins Venezuelan Diego Ferreira who won the Americas region selection event, South Africa’s Kelvin Van der Linde as the winner of the African regional event, Lithuania’s Ignas Gelzinis, the winner of the European regional event, and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Bamogaddam, winner of the Middle East and Mediterranean event, on the Academy programme. They in turn will join three additional wild card entries to form the eight of the Academy.
Beginning in December, the next Academy provides a fully-funded training programme which aims to help drivers develop their motor sport careers, whilst increasing safety skills and actively promoting the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility on and off the track.
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The FMSCI President, Vicky Chandhok speaks!
Vickey Chandhok (left), Karun Chandhok (2nd from left) and Vijay Mallya (right) at the British GP. File photo by Adrenna Communications. Letter from the President
Chennai, 18 October 2013:
We are in the midst of one of the busiest months in the year for motorsport in the country and it is great to see everything moving in the right direction. The entire motorsports industry is buzzing with excitement as we are less than a week away from India’s biggest sporting event. As I write this the team cargo is just arriving at the Buddh International Circuit. So let the games begin!!
FIA
Attending the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Dubrovnik provided a great insight in to all the great work that is being done by the FIA across the world. This might get repetitive but I never get tired of saying how proud the entire Federation is of the Indian representations on the world bodies. It is fantastic to see how far we have come in the world of motorsport with so much presence in the various commissions. Shivu Shivappa represents the FMSCI on the FIA Rally Commission, Farhan Vohra on the Circuits Commission, Prabha Shankar on the Volunteers & Officials commission, B Vijayakumar, Balakrishnan & Anand Jayachandran on the Single Seater commission, Manjeev Bhalla on the Cross Country rally commission, Karun Chandhok on the Drivers commission, J Balamurugan on the Drag Racing commission, Anand Sashidharan on the FIM Legal commission, Roop Kumar on the FIM tech commission, Shyam Kothari the FIM representative and of course Vijay Mallya on the world council.
With unconditional support from the FMSCI members and governing council the team is doing India proud! Personally, it’s a wonderful feeling. FIA also gives special focus to developing ASNs across the globe. It is structured around four key building blocks for the establishment and running of a successful ASN, highlighting the need for competent structure and event organization, solid licensing, training and sport development. The FMSCI will also work closely with the FIA in growing grassroots motorsports and making it more affordable for young driver.
We were fortunate to have an informal international observer at the AVT South India Rally earlier this year. Based on this, the Head of our Rallying Commission Ashwin Pandit, at the Rallycom meeting in Johor Bahru, discussed the possibility of having an official observer for one of our rallies this year. I am glad to say that due to the efforts of the Rallycom, the Chikmagalur Rally will be officially observed so that our Indian events will now have the opportunity to be part of the FIA Asia Cup next year.
The Technical commission led by K Krishnamurthy and Kamlesh Patel has been exceedingly busy in drafting and monitoring the technical regulations. Your FMSCI has now invested over Rs. 15 lakhs on the import and local purchase of equipment that will aid the technical delegates and scrutineers.
It is with great pleasure that I announce 17 year old Akhil Rabindra as the Indian driver being chosen as the candidate for the FIA Institute Academy. Drivers from 11 countries across the Asia-Pacific region are set to take part in their regional selection event for the 2013/14 Young Driver Excellence Academy. Each FIA National Sporting Authority (ASN) in the region was asked to put forward their nomination, which was then assessed by the FIA Institute. To qualify, drivers had to meet a set of minimum criteria, as well as having demonstrated strong performance in competition so far. On the final shortlist are some of the top young drivers in motor racing and rallying across the Asia-Pacific region, including competitors from Australian Formula Ford, the Sri Lankan Supercross Championship, JK Tyre Racing Championship and the V8 Challenge Cup Championship.
Rallying
The K-1000 rally had to be postponed due to operational reasons but am glad to see everything is shaping up well for one of India’s oldest rallies. At the Rallycom meeting earlier this month we announced changes to the 2014 championship. There will be only 3 categories next year and most importantly we encourage the participation of foreign entrants. We hope to expand the grid and manufacturer list in the upcoming years. The 15th Raid de Himalaya was a success yet again and congratulations to Suresh Rana for emerging victorious for a record 9th time along with his co-driver Ashwin Naik. It is one of the most popular rallies in India and people have nothing but great things to say about the unique event. We were glad to finally kick off the 2013 Indian National TSD Rally Championship with the first round being held in Nashik. TSD rallying is picking up and next year looks good for the championship with ten rounds already being confirmed.
4W Racing
The BIC has been bustling with activity over the last month as the Indian GP approaches. The turnout for the 17th MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship & JK Tyre Racing Championship I must admit surprised me and is a clear sign that Indian motorsport is doing just fine. Both championships witnessed record numbers with over 20000 fans, which featured the top talent from the country.
This year there will only be one support race for the Indian GP with the MRF Formula 2000 kicking off its championship at the BIC. All these cars have been made in India by an Indian team and is probably one of the fastest in the region. The grid will include top drivers from all across the globe.
This weekend will also witness the final round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship in New Delhi with titles on the line in the Micro Max, Junior Max and Senior Max categories. This year we have had more than 10 young drivers moving up from Karting to Single-Seaters action and more importantly they have all made the transition with ease. This definitely means that our karting program is on the right track.
2W Racing
Round 3 of the FMSCI-MMSC took place at the BIC and created history of sorts as it was the first time that motorcycles had raced around the grand prix circuit. It was good to see full manufacturer support in the form of TVS, Honda and Yamaha blasting around the BIC.
FMSCI team India rider K.Jagan was invited to particpate in the Asia Cup and did the country proud with a 3rd placed podium finish in Round 1. I am also personally thankful to Nasser at the QMMF for agreeing so spontaneously to a request to upgrade Rajni from the 600cc to a 1000cc bike at Losail for the weekend of the 5th October.
International Drivers
Gaurav Gill’s brilliant win in the Rally of Japan in his MRF Skoda Fabia means he is the favourite to win the APRC title with one more round to go. It was a fantastic effort in the Rally of Hokkaido by Gaurav Gill to take a comfortable win. Behind him Sanjay Takale won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Production Cup title.
Narain Karthikeyan continued his great form in the final round of Auto GP Championship to take his fifth win of the season. Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ebrahim did not have the best outing at the FIA GT Series with both drivers having to retire their cars. Another great achievement for Narain and Karun is that they have both been invited to represent India at the season ending Race of Champions. This is an invite only event for top drivers including Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Ogier, Sebastian Vettel, Jamie Whincup etc and it is a proud moment for Indian talent to be recognized with these great names.
Aditya Patel had yet another top ten finish in the Audi R8 in the ADAC GT Masters. Young Indian racer Parth Ghorpade continues to be a top 10 finisher in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship with a 6th place finish in Imola. Lastly and quite importantly a big congratulations to Jehan Daruvala as he became the first ever Indian to win the British Karting Championship albeit on a MSA licence. The young Indian driver, backed by Sahara Force India, had two podium finishes in the final round to seal the title.
Motorsport has always been an unforgiving sport and I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest sympathies to the families of Maria De Villota and Sean Edwards, who both passed away over the last week. Maria was doing a lot of work for women in motorsport with the FIA and will be sorely missed. Sean was close to wrapping up the Porsche Supercup Championship and is a great loss to the motorsport world.
All members of the FMSCI have been working on overtime in order to try to better the sport in India and I would like to thank them all for making my task easier. Hope everyone has a great time at the Indian GP!
Yours sincerely,
Vicky Chandhok
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Narain, Karun re-unite as Team India for Race of Champions 2013
Chennai, 14 Oct 2013: India will be represented in the Race Of Champions for the second time after Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan signed up for ROC 2013, to be held at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on the weekend of December 14-15. 2012 marked the first year that Team India made an appearance at the ROC and this was backed by a solid performance by both drivers which saw India being crowned ROC Asia Champions, an Adrenna release said.
The two drivers joined forces for Team India at last year’s inaugural ROC Asia. They duly topped the group stages with four wins out of six against their competitors from China, Japan and host nation Thailand before defeating the Japanese duo in the final to take the title. That performance has now earned Chandhok and Karthikeyan an invitation to return to the scene of their triumph in Bangkok for ROC 2013.
Narain Karthikeyan was excited at the prospect of going head-to-head with elite list of world champions that compete in the ROC. He added: “It will be a great privilege to represent India again at the Race Of Champions. We had a great time at our first attempt when we won ROC Asia but it is always a challenge to jump into different cars and adapt quickly. However, with the experience of the 2012 event behind us, we feel more confident and better prepared this time. As always, going head to head with world champions like Michael Schumacher and Sébastian Ogier is something we’re looking forward to.”
Karun Chandhok was excited to return to the ROC and his happy to be back with more experience in hand. He said: “I’m very excited to be going back to Bangkok for the Race Of Champions. Narain and I had a great time together last year and it was fantastic to be the first ROC Asia winners. ROC is a unique event from a competitive and social perspective and it’s something that every driver looks forward to. It was really nice to drive such a variety of cars and we both have more experience this year and know a bit more about how it all works. The chance to spend time with such a great mix of drivers from a huge variety of championships around the world is a lot of fun and I hope we once again get a good crowd at the stadium.”
Chandhok and Karthikeyan are the only Indian drivers ever to have competed in F1 and both have extensive racing pedigrees elsewhere too. Chandhok is a race-winner in GP2 and has since turned his hand to endurance racing with strong finishes in the last two Le Mans 24-Hour races. Karthikeyan has taken victories in everything from British F3 to A1GP and Superleague Formula before enjoying considerable success this year in AutoGP including a haul of five wins.
Held every year since 1988, the Race Of Champions brings together the world’s greatest drivers from motor sport’s main disciplines – including Formula 1, world rally, Le Mans, MotoGP, Nascar, IndyCar, touring cars and the X-Games – and sets them free to battle head-to-head in identical machinery.
ROC 2013 will take place on a specially constructed tarmac track with two parallel lanes winding their way round Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium. Drivers pair up for the ROC Nations Cup, this year scheduled for Saturday 14 December, ahead of the individual Race Of Champions on Sunday 15 December.
ROC features stars from all over the world: seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and newly-crowned World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier have already signed up and the rest of the 2013 field will be announced in the run-up to December’s event.
Race organiser Fredrik Johnsson said: “We’re really happy to have Karun and Narain back at the Race Of Champions again. They raced very well last year on their way to victory in ROC Asia and their performance generated plenty of headlines among the burgeoning ranks of motor sport fans in India. So we hope to see many of their fellow countrymen making the short trip to Bangkok this time to cheer them on.”
Ticket details will be released shortly. For further information, media accreditation and access to high-resolution imagery please visit www.raceofchampions.com. Sign up for all the latest updates at www.raceofchampions.com, via Race Of Champions on Facebook or @raceofchampions and the hashtag #BangROC on Twitter.
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Difficult qualifying session for Sailesh Bolisetti at Le Mans
Le Mans (France), 12 Oct 2013: Indian driver Sailesh Bolisetti’s NASCAR Whelen Euro Series weekend at the iconic Bugatti Le Mans circuit got off to a difficult start after an untimely off during qualifying left him 14th on the grid.
The venue is hosting the season finale of the 2013 season of the European Stock Car championship, and uncharacteristically bad weather has thrown a spanner in the works for all drivers, a release said.
With no mechanical issues to hamper his progress unlike the last couple of rounds, progress was on cards in the initial sessions but the fickle weather proved challenging during the first practice session.
“We went out on dry tyres as it had just stopped raining before the session but two minutes in, it started pouring again so we had to switch to wets.”, said Sailesh.
“The car was still set up for semi-wet conditions so I didn’t get a good feel of the limit but it was still good to have the track time and learn the circuit at least”, he added.
The second practice turned out to be more of the same, but Sailesh managed to get himself up to speed although it was clear that the final outcome of qualifying and race result would be determined by the accuracy of weather forecasts.
Earlier on Friday, the forecast for qualifying stated that it would be dry, but Saturday morning it was clear that it wasn’t going to be the case.
The sun was out but the track remained soaking wet as low ambient temperatures didn’t allow it to dry out completely. Like all other drivers on the grid, Sailesh ventured out on wet tyres but it was clear from the outset that the last man across the line would be the quickest.
After doing a couple of sighting laps to adjust to the treacherous conditions, which required manhandling the 400 bhp stock car to counter the massive oversteer – Sailesh managed to set progressively quick lap times each time he crossed the line.
But on his third flyer while approaching the Le Musée hairpin, he encountered a slow moving car on the racing line at corner entry and in a bid to avoid rear-ending it, spun out and beached himself in the gravel.
He couldn’t wriggle the car out of the deep, wet gravel and by the time he eventually managed to get back on the track, the chequered flag was out.
“It was a real disappointment, I was confident, going faster with every passing lap and had top 10 pace for sure”, rued Sailesh.
“The race should be better we are out of position so hopefully we’ll get some overtaking done tomorrow and get a good result”, he signed off.
2013 Euro Racecar Series calendar
Round 1 31 March Nogaro, France
Round 2 11 May Dijon, France
Round 3 8 June Brands Hatch, UK
Round 4 6 July Tours, France
Round 6 28 Sep Monza, Italy
Round 7 12 October Le Mans, France
Scorpus Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS Specs
ENGINE: 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated Chevrolet V8
POWER: 400bhp
TORQUE: 550Nm
FUEL: Bioethanol E10
DRIVETRAIN: Four-speed sequential, Detroit locker rear differential, triple-disc competition clutch
WEIGHT: 1200kg
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Sanjay Takale, Sean Gregory lift Asia Pacific Rally Production Cup
Pune, 1 Oct 2013: Braving the unforgiving conditions in Rally Hokkaido, Sanjay Takale came up trumps and won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Production Cup title taking an unbeatable lead after an incident-filled weekend in Rekibetsu Island.Driving his Subaru Impreza Dreams India car, Takale and his navigator Sean Gregory put up a solid show after having crashed out in the last round in Malaysia, to finish second behind Gaurav Gill of Team MRF. The penultimate round of APRC, however, was last for Takale as he had notified to skip season-ending China Rally at the start of the season, he told this website from Pune after returning from the rally.In the five rounds, Takale came out empty-handed only from Malaysia, but scored points at every other rounds—Whangarei in New Zealand to New Caledonia, Queensland and Hokkaido in Japan—for an aggregate of 151.5. He needed to at least finish second in his class to steer clear of his main challenger Hiroshi Asakura as the Japan round was his final fling on the 2013 APRC.Takale was home in 2 hours 56 minutes 50.8 seconds in his MRU Motorsports-backed Subaru. Gill was much faster and finished in 2:26.26.2. Though there were 10 more drivers between Gill and Takale, but all were either Asia Cup drivers or Japanese National championship competitors.Asakura earned 30 points from Japan and now has a total of 74 and will be competing in the season-ending China Rally after having skipped the Round 2 in New Caledonia. But maximum he can earn there is 39 points, while the gap between him and Takale now stands at staggering 77.5. Hypothetically speaking, it would require two more rounds with full points to surpass Takale by half-a-point.“It was a fight fair and square. We won the Production Cup title beating Asakura on his own home ground,” said an elated Takale after winning the title.In the super special stage Takale beat Asakura by 6 seconds and then kept the Japanese under leash by constantly winning all stages ahead of him.“We were well-prepared for the Rally Hokkaido and decided not to commit Hara Kiri in Japan,” said Takale, who leapfrogged one place to No 2 in the APRC overall championship title race.How it happenedTakale began the Stage 1 by beating Young and Asakura by half-a-minute when he completed the 29.11-km New Ashoro Long stage in 20 minutes 36.5 seconds. This was a riposte to Young who had beaten Takale in the Super Special stage, SS1, on Friday.The SS3 at Yam Waka saw Takale extend his lead by over a minute taking the tricky Rikubetsu Long in 4 minutes 10.7 seconds. The contest went on so with Takale (2:12:47.4) extending his lead slowly but steadily to end Saturday being second behind Gill and roughly two minutes ahead of Young (2:14:38.1). Asakura (2:21:21.5) was further down by 9 minutes.Sunday saw an ominous sign for Takale as Young went all out and won six stages ahead of Takale, but the Pune driver had enough gap to stay ahead in the overall classification. Two short stages remained and Takale decided to take on Young and won the penultimate SS17 and the final SS18 through the Satsunai river to stamp his class.APRC Podium in sightIndia’s Gaurav Gill lead the APRC overall race after he won the Rally Hokkaido. Gill has 117.5 points while Takale is second at 104 points after earning 29 points from Japan. New Zealand’s young driver Michael Young is No 3 at 92, while Gill’s teammate Esapekka Lappi, who crashed out in Japan after he broke suspension of his car in the SS9, is at No 4 with 78 points.Having won Production Cup title, Takale will now keep an eye on how others are doing in China as he will not be in action there. Being No 2 being Gill means Takale has a mathematical chance of making it to the podium in the APRC Championship.He leads Young by 12 points and Lappi by 26 points. The Team MRF’s Gill sits atop with 117.5 points and Takale’s podium entirely depends on Team MRF’s strategy. They are winning the overall championship after Gaurav Gill’s stupendous show. If Gill gets team orders to allow Lappi to win in China then the Finn would be able to surpass Takale.Michael Young is also there in contention. With 92 points he is the only one who can overtake Gill, but the Kiwi driver will have to win and Gill to take no points, which is an unlikely situation.Also, according to the APRC website, “Young is unlikely to take part in the China rally.” Though no reasons have been put forward,Back in Asia CupAfter drawing a blank in Malaysia, Takale earned 23 points to be back in contention for the Asia Cup title. He is currently fifth overall in Asia Cup with two drivers tied for the second place. Defending champion Yuya Sumiyama (46) and Young (46) are tied for second place behind Shuhei Muta (68). The third and final round of Asia Cup will be Rally Thailand set to be held onDecember 7-8 in north of Bangkok.Championship standings after Round 5
Drivers: 1. Gaurav Gill (Ind) 117.5, 2. Sanjay Takale (Ind) 104, 3. Michael Young (Nzl) 92, 4. Esapekka Lappi (Fin) 78, 5. Hiroshi Asakura (Jpn) 53.Production Cup Championship:Drivers: 1. Sanjay Takale 151.5, 2. Hiroshi Asakura 74.Co-drivers: 1. Sean Gregory (Mas) 151.5, 2. Takumi Takahashi (Jpn) 44, 3. Osamu Yoda (Jpn) 30.Rally Hokkaido results: 1. Gaurav Gill and Glenn MacNeall (Skoda-Fabia) 2:26:22.2, 2. Sanjay Takale and Sean Gregory (Subaru Impreza) 2:56:50.8, 3. Michael Young and Malcolm Read (Toyota MTZ) 2:58:25.0, 4. Hiroshi Asakura and Takumi Takahashi (Proton Satria Neo) 3:06:25.8. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm (Skoda-Fabia) DNF.Detailed results: http://www.rally-hokkaido.com/results/2013/pc/e/aprc/index. html Asia Cup: Drivers: 1. Shuhei Muta (Jpn) 68, 2. Michael Young (Nzl) 46, 3. Yuya Sumiyama (Jpn) 46, 4. Tomohide Hasegawa (Jpn) 38, 5. Chaiyan Longton (Tha) 25, 6. Sanjay Takale 23, 7. Hiroshi Asakura (Jpn) 16, 8. Esapekka Lappi (Fin) 0.For detailed standing after Round 5:http://fiaaprc.com/assets/
points-table-2013-after-round- 5.pdf ends
Sanjay Takale (centre) of Pune and co-driver Sean Gregory (Malaysia) win the APRC Production Cup at Hokkaido, the penultimate round. Photo by Sanjay Takale -
Gill tightens grip on title after Hokkaido win: APRC
Hokkaido, 30 Sept 2013: Indian driver Gaurav Gill is one step closer to clinching the 2013 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title after taking a dominant victory on this weekend’s Rally Hokkaido at the wheel of his Team MRF ŠKODA Fabia S2000.Title rival and team-mate Esapekka Lappi was forced to retire for the third time this season when suspension failure on his Fabia thwarted his charge, an FIA release said.
Forming the penultimate round of this year’s coveted Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), Rally Hokkaido is synonymous with fast and often narrow gravel roads. The stages caught out a number of drivers over the course of a three-day event based in and around the rally base of Obihiro.Lappi was the first APRC driver to fall foul of the tough Japanese tests when he incurred suspension damage on Saturday’s ninth test. With the Finn unable to restart on day two, Gill began Sunday’s stages with a comfortable lead. The Team MRF driver adopted a cautious driving approach in order to secure crucial championship points and now leads the overall standings by 13.5 points.Last year’s FIA Asia Cup champion, Yuya Sumiyaya, finished second overall and also took a win for Subaru in the Asia Cup. Fellow countryman Shuhei Muta finished three minutes adrift of Sumiyaya, securing the runner-up spot and holding onto the Asia Cup lead with one round remaining.Further down the field, MRU Motorsports driver Sanjay Takale was keen to make amends for a mistake on the previous round in Malaysia and leave Japan with as many APRC points as possible. The strategy paid off as the Indian drove a mature rally in his Subaru Impreza to finish second placed of the APRC competitors. Takale was also been crowned the winner of the APRC Production Cup after securing enough points to take the title with one round still remaining.Coming home third out of the APRC crews was Malaysian Rally winner Michael Young (Cusco Racing). The New Zealander won both the two-wheel-drive and Junior Cup sections in his Toyota Vitz. Fourth place went to Young’s team-mate Hiroshi Asakura who entertained the home crowds in his PROTON Satria Neo.FIA APRC Team Trophy: Team MRF ŠKODAFIA Asia Cup winner: Yuya Sumiyama (JPN)/Naoki Kase (JPN)FIA APRC Junior Cup: Michael Young (NZL)FIA APRC Rally Cup 2WD: Michael Young (NZL)/Malcolm Read (NZL)\endsFile photo of Gaurav Gill driving in the Indian National Rally Championship. Photo by IMG sports -
Sailesh Bolisetti 8th at Monza Nascar Whelen Euro Series
Monza (Italy), 29 Sept 2013: Indian driver Sailesh Bolisetti rounded off the fifth outing of the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series at the Monza circuit with an eighth place finish – his best result of the season so far. In race 1 he finished 10th, a press release said.
The first Indian to compete in the European Stock Car championship, Sailesh’s run up to the weekend at the legendary grand prix venue was far from ideal as mechanical issues once again ate into crucial track time on Friday.
Monza’s high-speed layout is extremely demanding on the brakes and some fading issues had surfaced during the practice sessions, along with clutch problems which meant the 25-year old did only seven timed laps before going into qualifying on Saturday.
“Given the start of the weekend, I am really happy that we managed a good result after a long time. I haven’t had the best of luck through the season so overall it was quite satisfying”, said an elated Sailesh.
The lack of track time manifested itself during the qualifying session when he could do no better than 16th on the grid, out of 22 drivers.
“Qualifying was quite difficult, we were still having issues and I was just focused on learning the circuit as we had hardly done any laps on Friday”, he revealed.
Starting near the back of the grid, the first race turned out quite eventful as the first chicane produced one of the traditional Monza pileups and Sailesh had to take avoiding action, which sent him over the bumpy run-offs.
By the time he rejoined the track after the melee he was dead last but started gaining lost ground soon thereafter. Some strong consistent pace and brave overtaking meant he was running seventh, just five laps from the finish.
But then the aforementioned brake issues surfaced once again, which meant he had to lift off and coast into the corners to nurse the overheating brakes – losing a significant amount of lap time in the process. As a result, he lost three places and eventually finished tenth.
“It was a tough race, but the car worked well for the first half and I was able to put in some fast times and catch drivers ahead after the messy start. But the brake issues forced me to back off so I defended the best I could and held on to the finish”.
Race two saw Sailesh start 12th but the first corner turned out to be tricky once again as 22 stock cars tried to filter through, and left him towards the back of the field. In what seemed to be an exact replay of the previous race, he drove vivaciously to regain lost positions and a few more to finish eighth.
He had a prolonged battle with the seventh placed driver throughout the final two laps, passing him several times only to be forced off the circuit each time, and the duo was finally separated by just 0.7 seconds at the finish line.
“It was quite close battle, I could have finished a place higher if I had taken some more chances but I didn’t want to throw away a good result in the last two laps so I settled for eighth”, remarked Sailesh.
“We still haven’t been able to put together the perfect weekend in terms of practice, qualifying and race but today we did the best in the circumstances at such a historic venue, so it was good overall”, he concluded.
The season finale of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is scheduled at the Le Mans circuit in France on 13-14 October.
2013 Euro Racecar Series calendar
Round 1 31 March Nogaro, France
Round 2 11 May Dijon, France
Round 3 8 June Brands Hatch, UK
Round 4 6 July Tours, France
Round 6 28 Sep Monza, Italy
Round 7 12 October Le Mans, France
SCORPUS RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS SPECS
ENGINE: 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated Chevrolet V8
POWER: 400bhp
TORQUE: 550Nm
FUEL: Bioethanol E10
DRIVETRAIN: Four-speed sequential, Detroit locker rear differential, triple-disc competition clutch
WEIGHT: 1200kg
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Sailesh at Monza -
Raj Bharath finishes 5th in race 2 and 3: Formula Masters
Kuala Lampur, 15 Sept 2013: Indian racing driver Raj Bharath rounded off a challenging Formula Masters outing at the Sepang International Circuit with a pair of fifth place finishes. The 5.5-kilometer venue also plays host to the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix and MotoGP rounds, a press release from Meco Motorsports said.
Raj Bharath finishes 5th in Race 2 and 3 after a DNF in Race 1 at Sepang in the Formula Masters on Sunday. A Meco Motorsports photo Supported by Bangalore-based Embassy Group and driving for Meco Motorsport, the start of the weekend was far from ideal for the 19-year old as he was stuck with a misfiring engine in the opening session of the weekend. The issue took the entire day to work through and cost him several hours of track time before it could be successfully diagnosed and fixed.
“I had done maybe three laps and the engine started to misfire and grew worse, so I pulled into the pits and that was the end of the day”, said Raj recounting his inauspicious start to the weekend.
The reliability of the Volkswagen-powered Formula Masters car has been satisfactory throughout the season, but this particular outing proved to be a difficult one.
After several hours of troubleshooting, the issue was finally traced to a faulty fuel injector (which was clogged) that was not supplying enough fuel to one of the cylinders, leading to the misfire and subsequent loss of power.
The injector was duly replaced and the car finally fired up normally, but Raj, a student of the Centre for Management Studies in Bangalore, India had lost two hours of track time by then, which given the mixed conditions was a major setback for the rest of the weekend.
As a result, he went into qualifying with only a handful of laps under his belt, and found himself off the pace compared to the frontrunners who had driven and done setup work throughout the day.
“We went into qualifying without a clue of what we needed to work on with the setup and so on, and we were almost two seconds off the pace, which is miles off”, he quipped.
Luckily some other drivers had issues in qualifying as well, so Raj still managed to start seventh on the grid for race one. But lady luck had decided not to smile upon him yet and after a feisty few opening laps, Raj was tipped into an uncontrollable spin that ended his race in the gravel trap.
“The car was feeling different somehow in the race, not just the balance but the way it was responding which was a bit inconsistent between right-handed and left-handed corners”, revealed Raj.
“It was raining hard as well, so I just thought maybe it was the track surface, but having driven in the rain at Sepang before and won here, I knew something was amiss”, he elaborated.
But he didn’t get much time to reflect on the issue as coming out of the long right-handed turn two, the car snapped into an uncontrollable spin and Raj was spitted into the gravel trap instantly.
“I got some oversteer at the exit of turn 2, which is normal and I corrected it, but then the car just came around so fast – I had never experienced anything like that before”, said Raj describing the incident.
The car was taken back to the pits and this time it was the left-rear damper that had given way, which had left the car with no compression damping when the car was loaded in right-hand corners. Given the torrential downpour, a complete loss of grip was imminent.
With the component replaced for the next two races, Raj managed to finish fifth in both after starting towards the rear end of the grid.
His pace improved significantly as well, as he effectively did his practice laps and setup work after the second race – the first hard laps he had done all weekend.
“Driving the in race with other cars around I realised I was losing out a bit in the long corners, because we had excessive understeer. Stuff like this we usually do in practice but that’s how it is sometimes”, he remarked.
With two fifth place finishes, Raj lies fourth in the championship with only the triple-header season finale at Shanghai International circuit remaining, the venue where he won in May earlier this year.
Raj Bharath’s 2013 Formula Masters Stats:
Rounds: 5
Races: 15 (3 per round)
Pole positions: 1
Wins: 1
Podium finishes: 5
DNFs: 2
Points: 118
Championship standing: 4thAbout Raj Bharath:
Born November 20, 1994 in Bangalore, Raj took his first steps in motorsport with karting in 2008 – like all aspiring F1 drivers. Then aged 14, he immediately showed glimpses of his potential in his debut year, winning the trophy for the ‘Most promising rookie of the year’ in the National Karting championship.
He eventually won the title in 2010 and progressed to Formula BMW Asia in 2011 followed by the Ferrari Academy supported Formula Pilota in 2012.
For 2013, Raj is participating in the Formula Masters China before moving to Europe in 2014, and getting closer to his aim of making it to Formula 1. He posted his first victory of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit in May.
Raj Bharath Career Highlights:
2008 Most promising rookie in the JK Rotax Karting championship.
2009 Second runner-up in JK Rotax Max Karting championship.
2010 Rotax Max Karting NATIONAL CHAMPION.
2011 Debut in Formula BMW Asia Pacific – five top ten finishes.
2012 Formula Pilota China – 10 podium finishes and three wins.Car Specifications:
Chassis: Tatuus FA010, FIA F3 homologated
Engine: Volkswagen Formula EVO 2.0
Gearbox: Six-speed sequential with LSD
Power: 180 PS
Torque: 200Nm
Suspension: Double-wishbone with pushrod activation
Brakes: Four-pot Dixcel calipers
Tyres: Front – 180/550 R13
Rear – 240/570 R13
Weight: 540kg with driverFormula Masters China Calendar:
Zhuhai (China) 10-12 May
Shanghai (China) 24-26 May
Ordos (China) 05-07 July
Inje (Korea) 9-11 August
Sepang (Malaysia) 13-15 Sep
Shanghai (China) 25-27 Oct
Macau Grand Prix 8-10 Novends
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Parth Ghorpade finishes 5th in Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS at Mugello
Mugello, 9 Sept 2013: Young Indian racer Parth Ghorpade finished in a brilliant 5th position to record his best finish of the season in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS race at Mugello, Italy. Parth had his best weekend of the series with a solid qualifying and race performance at the challenging Mugello Circuit in the Tuscany region of Italy. Parth finished in 9th position in the second race, an Adrenna release said
Parth Ghorpade finishes 5th at Mugello on Sunday. An Adrenna Communications photo .
For the first time this season Parth had a great start to the weekend with competitive times in all 3 free practice sessions. This was followed by an even better qualifying session where he finished P5 in a very strong Group A . He missed P4 by 0.003 of a second to Piers Gasly, who is currently running 2nd in the Formula Renault Eurocup series. There were a number of Eurocup drivers for this race to form one of the strongest grids this season. Parth qualified overall in position for Race 1 P9 for Race.
In Race 1, Parth had a great start and he moved up to 5th position at the first corner. He held this position till the end , but to do so he had to set some consistently fast times as in front of him was Vermont of Team ARTA and behind him was Silva of Koirannen GP. Parth was all over Vermont for P4 throughout the race but could not find a way past. He had the 4th fastest lap of the race even recording the fastest time in sector 3 giving him a strong finish.
Race 2 was tougher for the Indian as he lost couple of positions at the start. Parth got stuck in a 3 way battle for 8th place behind his teammate Dario Capitanio and Sahara of Euronova. The last lap saw Parth battling with his team-mate Capitanio for P9, with Parth pulling off a brave move on the inside of the last corner. The two cars were side by side from halfway through the corner right to the finish line, with Parth managing to nose ahead by a few centimeters. It was a thrilling finish in a race where he had the pace to finish in a higher position.
Parth was confident of a strong end to the season after his ability to fight with the top guys on a challenging circuit. He commented, “It was great to finally fight with the top guys especially at a great challenging track like Mugello. From the first practice session the car has been really good and we have been competitive. Race 1 was perfect but due to overtaking being tough over here we just could not get past Vermont. Race 2 was tougher as I did not have a great start and then got stuck behind slower cars. It was nice to finish wheel-to-wheel with Dario (Capitanio) as I just nudged ahead. I am confident heading into the last round at Imola and hope to fight with the top guys again.”.
The Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, is one of the most competitive feeder series for the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. The Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS, powered by the Clio III Renault Sport engine, has a paddle-operated 7-speed sequential gearbox, with 250bhp and push rod suspension.
The ALPS series will have 36 drivers for the 2013 season with 7 rounds consisting of two races each. The 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS calendar includes visits to the historic Spa-Francorrchamps, Monza, Imola and Vallelunga. Each race weekend has three 60 minute practice sessions on Friday, with qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday.
19 year-old Ghorpade is the 2012 Formula Pilota Asian Champion, a five-time National Karting Champion, and runner-up in the inaugural 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup India.
Calendar for the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS
1 April 7 Vallelunga 2 May 12 Imola 3 June 9 Spa-Francorchamps 4 July 7 Monza 5 July 28 Misano 6 September 8 Mugello 7 October 6 Imola http://www.facebook.com/parthghorpade
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