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Category: National Rally Championship
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Lohit Urs tops in Asia Cup, wins National title; Gill clinches Overall Coffee Day Rally title
Lohitt Urs and his co-driver Shrikanth Gowda expectedly won the title in the FIA Asia Cup category besides emerging National champions even as Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) took the Overall crown in the Coffee Day India Rally which concluded here on Sunday.Mysorean Urs, driving the Mitsubishi Evo VIII, destroyed the Asia Cup field with relative ease despite encountering set-up problems on Saturday which cost him some time.
Having registered for the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship, Urs collected sufficient points to win the title despite finishing Overall second behind Gill who ended an otherwise wretched season on a high, but lost his National crown.
“I am obviously delighted to win the Asia Cup and the National championship. We had some problems with the car early on, but we managed to set things right,” said Urs.
Reflecting on his performance, Gill, who scored the second win of the IRC season, said: “It has not been the best of seasons for me with so many non-finishes. I am of course disappointed to lose my National title, but feel good to finish the season on a high. We lost some 40 seconds yesterday due to mechanical problems. However, we managed to put it all behind us and win here.”
For Team Yokohama, it was a double delight as Bengaluru pair of Rahul Kanthraj and his co-driver Vivek Bhatt came out on top in the IRC 2000 class and also sealed the championship in their category, as did Karna Kadur (co-driver Vivek Ponnusamy) in the IRC 1600 category.
While it was smooth sailing for Kanthraj who thus completed a clean sweep by winning all the four IRC rounds, Kadur was a bit lucky as overnight leader Dean Mascarenhas (Shanmuga SN) was docked a one-minute penalty for early check-in at a Time Control and thus finished second.
Also, IRC 1600 championship leader Dr Bikku Babu retired on Saturday and it paved the way for Kadur’s triumph. “Not the way I wanted to win the championship with Dr Babu retiring and Dean getting a penalty which helped me. But, it is nice to win considering that we had issues with the car through the weekend,” said Kadur.
The three-day event, which was also a contender for a round of the 2016 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, was supported by Karnataka Toursim and Indian Oil.
Provisional classifications:
FIA Asia Cup: Lohit Urs / Srikanth Gowda (Pvt, Evo VIII) 1 (2hrs, 14 mins, 11.2 secs); Satyan Kochar / Amit Wagchoure (Pvt. VW Polo) 2 (02:32:13.2); Pradeep RG / Shekar 3 (Pvt, Evo VIII) 3 (02:37:22.5).
IRC Overall): Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif 1 (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 1 (02:06:18.6); Lohitt Urs / Srikanth Gowda (Pvt, Evo VIII) 2 (02:06:34.2); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 3 (02:07:08.5).
IRC 2000: Rahul Kantharaj / Vivek Y Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 1 (02:11:16.0); Younus Ilyas / Paul Thomas (Pvt, Cedia) 2 (02:12:09.4); Sumit Punjabi / Shahid Salman (Pvt, Cedia) 3 (02:12:44.1).
IRC 1600: Karna Kadur / Vivek Ponnusamy (Team Yokohama, VW Polo) 1 (02:07:29.3); Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmuga SN (Pvt, VW Polo) 2 (02:08.08.5); Bopaiah KM / Karumbaiah KS (Pvt, VW Polo) 3 (02:09:58.6).
FMSCI Cup 1600: Druva Chandrasekhar / Jeevarathinam J (Pvt, Honda City V-Tec) 1 (02:10: 45.5); Adith KC / Harish KN (Pvt, Honda City V-Tec) 2 (02:12:46.5); Michu Ganapathy / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt, Maruti Baleno) 3 (02:15:01.4).
eom/AP Media Communications release and photos
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Gaurav Gill sparkles to take lead; Dean takes lead over Karna
Chikkamagaluru, 12 Dec 2015: Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team Mahindra Adventure came up with one of his smoothest drives, marked by controlled aggression to take a sizeable lead at the conclusion of the Leg-1 of the Coffee Day India Rally here on Saturday.
The day witnessed some stirring action. While 34-year old Delhi-based Gill eased his way through the highly challenging and technical Special Stages to top the time charts clocking one hour, 58 minutes, 18.9 seconds, young Dean Mascarenhas (Shanmuga SN) from Mangaluru was positively sparkling in the Volkswagen Polo to finish second Overall in the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship.
Lohitt Urs (Shrikant Gowda) who is participating in the FIA Asia Cup that is being run concurrently and is also in contention in the IRC category, carved his way to Overall third after starting the day from 13th position.
Urs, driving the all-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, also led the Asia Cup field quite comfortably. In fact, of the eight starters in the Asia Cup, only four were still running as Arjun Rao Aroor (Satish Rajagopal), younger brother Phalguna Urs (Anoop Kumar), PG Abhilash (Rohan Rego) and Garima Avatar (Shrupta Padival) retired, bringing the day’s total of dropouts to 11 of the 40 entrants.
Even as Gill consolidated his position, the battle of the day was between Mascarenhas and Karna Kadur (Vivek Ponnusamy) of Team Yokohama as the duo went neck-and-neck for positions in the IRC 1600 class. In the process, the two young guns pushed their respective VW Polo cars to the limit, providing plenty of thrilling moments for the spectators.
Equally impressive was veteran Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) of Team Yokohama who consolidated his lead in the IRC 2000 class while finishing the day over a minute ahead of Sumit Panjabi (Shahid Salman).
In the FMSCI Cup 1600 class, Druva Chandrashekar (Jeevarathinam) took a nearly two-minute lead over his nearest rival Raghunandan B (Roopesh Kholay) and looked set to clinch the title.
The three-day event, supported by Karnataka Toursim and Indian Oil, concludes on Sunday.
Provisional classifications (after Leg-1):
FIA Asia Cup: Lohitt Urs / Shrikant Gowda (Pvt, Evo VIII) 1 (1hr, 59mins, 41.2secs); Satyan Kochar / Amit Waghchoure (Pvt, VW Polo) 2 (02:16:14.7); Bani Yadav / Sukhbans Mann (Pvt, Cedia) 3 (02:21:36.1).
IRC Overall: Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 1 (1hr, 58mins, 18.9 secs); Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmuga SN (Pvt, VW Polo) 2 (1:59:31.1); Lohitt Urs / Srikanth Gowda (Pvt, Evo VIII) 3 (1:59: 41.2).
IRC 2000: Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 1 (2:03:38.4); Sumit Panjabi / Shahid Salman (Pvt, Cedia) 2 (2:05:05.5); Karan AM / Suraj M (Pvt, VW Polo) 3 (2:07:18.7).
IRC 1600: Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmuga SN (Pvt, VW Polo) 1 (1:59:31.1); Karna Kadur / Vivek Ponnusamy (Team Yokohama, VW Polo) 2 (1:59:47.7); Bopaiah KM / Karumbaiah KS (Pvt, VW Polo) 3 (2:02:05.9).
FMSCI Cup 1600: Druva Chandrasekhar / Jeevarathinam J (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 1 (2:03:02.7); Raghunandan B / Rupesh Kholay (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 2 (2:05:03.2); Adith KC / Harish KN (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 3 (2:05:12.1).
eom/MSCC release
Deam Mascarenhas (co-driver Shanmuga SN) en route to topping the IRC 1600 class on conclusion of Leg-1 of the Coffee Day India Rally in Chikkamagaluru on Saturday. -
Lohit Urs, Srikanth Gowda win Coimbatore rally
Coimbatore, 2 August 2015: Mysore businessman Lohit Urs and long-time winning navigator Srikanth Gowda of Bangalore won the IRC class and Overall title in the Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here on Sunday. Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif retired due to technical problems.
They were in a Mitsubishi Evo VIII car and timed a total of one hour, 34 minutes, 59.1 seconds.
Mahindra Adventure’s Sunny Sidhu-PVS Murthy (01:39:27.6) finished second Overall, while their teammates Amittrajit Ghosh-Ashwin Naik (01:39:59.0) were third. Karna Kadur-Vivek Ponnusamy (01:40:30.5) finished fourth Overall and also won the IRC 1600 title here.
Defending National Overall champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) retired with car problems on Friday and started Leg 2 on Saturday. However, Urs and Gowda had put themselves in a good position and clinched the title.
An elated Urs said: “The road was rough but we managed to do good times today. We were faster than yesterday. There were niggling problems with the car and we had to ease off.
“All our efforts have paid off and our main target is to do well in the Asia Cup in Chikkamagaluru this year. The IRC is going to be good practice for us as we continuously aim to improve the car and our driving.”
Co-driver Gowda said: “I am happy with the win. With the Evo being a much faster car than the others I have rallied in, it was a big leap in terms of learning. Basically, the calls had to be much faster and Lohitt has helped me cope up with the new challenge. It is good that we got this win.
Bengalureans Rahul Kanthraj-Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama), in a Mitsubishi Cedia, wrapped up the IRC 2000 title with a total time of 01:43:06.5. They retained the Rally of Coimbatore title and made it two in a row this season after winning in Nashik. Second was the combine of Hrishikesh Thackersey-Ninad Mirajgaonkar, while Sumit Panjabi-Nitin Jacob finished third.Kanthraj stated: “The lead we now have in the championship is heartening. We have been winning and are settling into a nice rhythm. The team has done an excellent job.”
It was a mix of joy and relief for Karna Kadur (co-driver Vivek Ponnusamy), who clinched the IRC 1600 title.
“There was a lot of pressure on me and this win has come in good time. It is a relief and I am happy as well. We drove clean today and made up a lot of time. We now have to begin work for the next tarmac rally,” said Kadur.
Last year’s champions Adith KC-Harish KN won the FMSCI Cup with a total time of 01:43:53.2.
There were five retirements from the 30 who started the rally on Saturday. Prominent among them were Arjun Rao Aroor-Satish Rajagopal with car problems.
Results (provisional):
Overall IRC: 1. Lohit Urs & Srikanth Gowda 01:34:59.1s; 2. Sunny Sidhu & P.V. Srinivas Murthy 01:39:27.6s; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik 01:39:59.0s.
IRC 2000: 1. Rahul Kantharaj & Vivek Y. Bhatt 01:43:06.5s; 2. Hrishikesh Thackersey & Ninad Mirajgaonkar 01:44:00.8s; 3. Sumit Panjabi & Nitin Jacob 01:46:10.7s.
IRC 1600: Karna P. Kadur & Vivek Ponnusamy 01:40:30.5s; 2. Bikku Babu & Milen George Cherian 01:42:15.4s; 3. Aroor Vikram Rao & A.G. Somayya 01:42:41.4s.
FMSCI Cup: 1. K.C. Adith & K.N. Harish 01:43:53.2s; 2. D. Ashwin Reddy & M. Suraj 01:44:49.7s; 3. Habib Mohammed & Shahid Salman 01:45:21.0s.
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Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif claim overall title at INRC Nashik leg
Nashik, 15 June 2015: As expected, reigning National champion Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif claimed the Overall title by a sizeable margin in the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra, the second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship which concluded here on Sunday.
Gill, the 33-year old Delhi-based 2013 Asia Pacific champion sealed his fifth Rally of Maharashtra title after the two concluding rounds of the Spectator Special Stage that were run on Sunday, winning by a margin of three minutes, 59 seconds.
While Gill cruised to victory in the Rally organized by the Western India Sports Association, the drive of the day came from Mangaluru’s Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driver Sathish Rajagopal) who, piloting the Volkswagen Polo R2 made up a 10-second overnight deficit and pipped Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) by just one second to finish second Overall.
Ghosh and Aroor were tied going into the final run of the Spectator Special Stage. “I just didn’t think how much time I had to make up, but drove the car to its limits. I am extremely happy that I managed to make one place to finish second,” said Aroor.
Gill was pleased as punch in scoring his 21st win with Sherif over the past eight years. “I just love the Rally of Maharashtra. The Special Stages are very technical and fast which suit my driving style.
Obviously, it is great to start the domestic season on a winning note and we hope to carry forward the momentum,” said Gill.
Finishing behind the top three was Mysuru’s Lohitt Urs (Srikant Gowda) in a Mitsubisihi EVO VIII that arrived in Nashik barely hours before the Rally commenced on Friday.
“Our spares and tyres came only after we completed the first loop of the Stages on Friday. Until then, we were running on street tyres with just 50 litres of fuel to play with. It was tough, but we will do much better in the remaining four rounds of the IRC,” said Urs who came back to rallying after a year’s break.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Rahul Kanthraj and his co-driver of 15 seasons, Vivek Bhatt, driving a Mitsubishi Cedia for Team Yokohama, comfortably won the IRC 2000cc class where he faced little or no competition.
“We had an excellent outing here in Nashik. Hopefully, we will continue to perform for the rest of the season. The car was superb and so were the Yokohama tyres,” said Kanthraj.
Topping the IRC 1600cc class was 21-year old Dean Mascarenas from Mangaluru and co-driver Sudipta Padival in a VW Polo.
“We are extremely happy to have won the title here and a great start to the new season. We had no issues with our car and except for the mistake in Friday’s Spectator Special Stage when due to an under-steer I crashed into the barriers, everything was just perfect,” said Mascarenhas.
In the FMSCI 1600 Cup, Dhruva C (Jeeva Rathinam) took the honours in the Honda City V-Tec, as he easily held on to a big overnight lead.
Provisional, Final classification:
IRC Overall: Gaurva Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 1 (01 Hr, 31mins, 28secs); Arjun Rao Aroor / Sathish Rajagopal (Volkswagen Polo R2) 2 (01:35:27); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 3 (01:35:28).
IRC 2000cc: Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 1 (01:38:06); Hrishikesh Thackersey / Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo) 2 (01:41:52); Sumit Panjabi / Sagar M (Cedia) 3 (01:43:36).
IRC 1600cc: Dean Mascarenhas / Sudipta Padiwal (VW Polo) 1 (01:38:17); Dr Biku Babu / George Milen (VW Polo) 2 (01:42:12); Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya (VW Polo) 3 (01:44:44).
FMSCI 1600 Cup: Dhruva C /Jeeva Rathinam (Honda City V-Tec) 1 (01:44:49); Ashwin Reddy Daram / Salman Shahid (Rally Cross, Honda City V-Tec) 2 (01:45:43); Adith KC / Harish KN (Kari Sports, Honda City V-Tec) 3 (01:46:10).
eom/FMSCI
Overall winners in the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra which concluded in Nashik on Sunday Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif (middle) flanked by second placed Arjun Rao Aroor (extreme left) and Sathish Rajagopal, and third placed Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik (right). Image by Anand Philar press release
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Yokohama to enter INRC 2015 with Rahul Kantharaj, Karna Kadur
Bangalore, 13 June 2015: In order to strengthen its Motorsports activities in India and further gain a stronger footing for future car rallies, Yokohama India Private Limited, the wholly owned arm of Japanese tyre major Yokohama has announced its team for Motorsports 2015 India.
A press release from Yokohama said: “Team Yokohama will compete in the 1600 and 2000cc categories of the Indian Rally Championships. The team consists of experienced rallyists Rahul Kanthraj and Co-Driver Vivek Bhatt driving a Mitsubishi Cedia, competing in 2000cc and Karna Kadur and Co-Driver M Chandrashekar driving in 1600cc on a Volkswagen Polo. Yokohma also supports Prithvi Domnic and Co-Driver Pruthvi Ithal in 2000cc. Domnic is a Yokohama YCN dealer in Bangalore as well as a regular Motorsports rally enthusiast.
Takeshi Harada, Director (Sales and Marketing), Yokohama India, while introducing the team said: “Yokohama has been part of Motorsports events the world over. I would also like to mention the completion of 10 years as a sole Tyre supplier to WTCC, an FIA World Championship, this is a proud moment. Therefore, for us participating in the IRC was a foregone conclusion as Motorsports is today part of the Yokohama philosophy.”
“The launch of Team Yokohama is a proud moment, we have been providing Tyre support and participating for various Motorsports events in India since 2008 and excellent results have encouraged us to continue in this course,” Sanjay Chatterjee, General Manager, Yokohama India added.
From 2008 -2010 Yokohama had been the official tyre partner to Red Rooster racing for INRC events. The results during that partnership were encouraging. Since 2008 year after year Yokohama Tyre supported cars have always found place on the Podium at Raid De Himalaya, one of the toughest Rallies. Yokohama’s IRC 2014 results have also been encouraging with the Team winner 2000cc, Team winner 1600cc and Rahul Kanthraj as Best driver 2000cc.
Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt duo started rallying in the year 2000 and has participated in over 75 rallies. Together they have won 4 Group and National championships and finished runners up on 4 other occasions. They will participate in the 2000cc category.
Participating in the 1600cc category, Karna Kadur, who has been part of over 95 (2& 4 Wheel) events and has won two National Championship titles and 12 National event wins. He has had 80 podium finishes with his co-driver M Chandrashekar.
The three cars: from left: Rahul Kantharaj & Vivek Bhatt, Karna Kadur & Chandrasekhar, Dominic Pruthvi and Prithvi Ithal. The FMSCI was founded in the year 1971. The Indian rally championship (IRC) was renamed in 2014 but started had way back in the year 1978 and ran as the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).
Globally other than replacement tyres business, Yokohama tyres is original equipment suppliers to many top of the line car manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota.
Yokohama India is 100% subsidiary of The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. Yokohama Rubber Company(YRC) is already running in to 10th decade of its establishment in Japan, under its management plan GD100 (Grand Design 100, on completion of 100 years of operations in 2017) decided to foray in to Indian market in 2007. India being one of the fastest growing automobile markets got Yokohama India to invest in land for its manufacturing unit.
Note: Updated from archives
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Gaurav Gill-Musa Sherif win Rally de Bengal with ease
Kolkata, 7 Nov 2014: Speed king Gaurav Gill and experienced navigator Musa Sherif of Team Mahindra Adventure continued their domination winning the Indian Rally Championship class in Rally de Bengal, the fourth round of the Indian National Rally Championship at Jhargram, about 167km from here, on Sunday.
After winning the first two rounds in Nashik and Coimbatore, Gill piloted his Mahindra XUV500. to a victory once again to take a comfortable lead in the championship. The spectacular performance of the Super XUV500 driven by current APRC champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sheriff) while the current Desert Storm Champion Sunny Sidhu along with co-driver PVS Murthy, came third.
Vivek Nayer, Chief Marketing Officer, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited said: “This victory by the Mahindra vehicles is a testimony to the tough and rugged ‘Mahindra DNA’. Having won top positions in the first three rounds of the Indian Rally Championship, our win at the ‘Rally De Bengal 2014’, has continued to keep us in the lead. Time and again our vehicles are proving their mettle against the competition and we will continue to do so during the rest of the upcoming IRC season this year.”
The Rally De Bengal is a round of FMSCI Indian Rally Championship (IRC). It is run in compliance with the International Sporting Code of the FIA, the General Prescriptions for rallies (4W) of the FMSCI and all relevant Regulations concerning IRC championship. It runs special stages of 108km.
Note: Other winners to be added.
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Yokohama to field IRC team for INRC 2014
Nashik, 15 June 2014: Yokohama India, the 100 per cent subsidiary of the Yokohama Rubber Company is introducing for the first time Team Yokohama for the Indian Rally Championship (IRC). The Round 1 of INRC will be held at Nashik from June 13 to 15 under the aegis of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
The unveiling of the Team Yokohama colors will take place at the first round of the 3rd edition of the FMSCI- Indian Rally Championship. The team comprises of Rahul Kanthraj for the 2000cc category and Vikram Devdasen, who are currently ranked 3rd in India for the 1600 cc category.
The Indian Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FMSCI. The Nashik leg of the rally has a total distance of 621.31 km. The special road surface stages will be held on asphalt.
Sanjay Chatterjee, General Manager, Sales, Yokohama India said that this was a special moment for the company as it was the first time they were participating as a team. Starting with supporting only one car during the 2007 Raid De Himalaya, the company now has its own team, noted Chatterjee.
He further mentioned that today a majority of rally drivers prefer using the Yokohama rally tyre because of its durability. Yokohama in India has been part of several major Motorsports activities since 2007.
The 2014 season consists of nine rounds. Three rounds will be held in the East zone (Baripada, Kolkata and Ranchi) and one each will be held in North (Jaipur) and West (Nashik). Four rounds will be held in the south (Chikmagalur, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chennai).
On the global front Yokohama has been the sole official tyre supplier to the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) since 2006. Yokohama also has been the sole tyre supplier for 31 consecutive years to the Mecca of Formula 3, which is held in Macau every year.
Yokohama tyres are also the original equipment suppliers to many car manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota, to name a few.
Ed. Note: Uploaded from archives.
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Arjun Rao Aroor wins in style to clinch 1600 INRC title
Chikmagalur, 21 Dec 2013: Dark horse Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajagopal won the INRC 2013 season finale winning the Coffee Day Rally to clinch the championship in the 1600cc class. It was day to celebrate for Volkswagen, as Polo R2 rally cars dominated the overall class and the 1600 category. The fifth and final round of the Indian National Rally Championship ended here on Sunday in the rally stages at the coffee estates.
Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik have already sealed teh 2013 championship in the last round at K1000 in Bengaluru.
Sirish Chandran and Hrishikesh Thackersey, also driving Polo rally cars, came second and third to make a clean sweep in the INRC 1600 category for Volkswagen-powered cars. Rohan Pawar, also driving Volkswagen Polo, won the Junior INRC category (JINRC).
Arjun also won the 1600 category brushing aside the challenge from Vikram Devadasan and also topped overall in this round. Sirish Chandran also finished second in 1600 and came overall third.
With this victory, Arjun clinched the 2013 INRC 1600cc title. Hrishikesh Thackersey followed Sirish in INRC 1600 on the podium in third spot. While Sirish was the first reason for Slideways Industries to celebrate, Rohan Pawar won in the Junior INRC category to give the Volkswagen customer team a second reason to celebrate.
Karamjit Singh, driving Volkswagen Motorsport India developed, Polo R2, was the fastest till SS9 and was leading overall. However, a mechanical failure forced him and co-driver Jagdev Singh to opt for a retirement on SS10. Their car broke down and stood across the route forcing the organizers to cancel the SS10. Results till SS9 were taken as the final results.
Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, said: “Volkswagen cars cruised to victories with Arjun Rao showing top notch performance and clinching a win overall while Rohan won the JINRC. Sirish made a mark by finishing second in 1600 and third overall. We are extremely delighted with our Customer Sport competitors’ performance and we hope to go even bigger the next season. I would like to specially congratulate Arjun on winning the title in a Polo rally car.”
Earlier, the Coffee Day Rally saw a visit by FIA Observer Nanthan from Malaysia and Murray Brown from New Zealand who examined the logistics. The Chikmagalur Rally is under scrutiny as a candidate and would host a round for 2014 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, if all goes well.
Earlier on Dec 19, Venkatesh, Director, Coffee Day Hotels and Resorts said that the Coffee Day Rally has become a tradition and people from all over the country visit to watch the rally cars in action. “This year, Coffee Day Rally, for the first time, will run in four Coffee Day estates spread over 2,500 acres. This year more than 7,000 spectators are expected,” he added.
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K1000 at Gubbi, Tumkur on Nov 9, 10
Tumkur, 8 Nov 2013: 39th K1000, the fourth round of Indian National Rally Championship of 2013 is scheduled for this weekend. After a long hiatus the rally returns back to its older territory, famous for the car breaking mining stages near Gubbi, Tumkur.
As year the rally moves from the previous few years’ Sidlaghatta‘s forest stages to the age old mining area near Kibbanahalli cross, the transport section is much bigger and makes most of the rally’s cumulative distance. The weather is mostly dry and dusty, and temperature is expected to hover around 30+ °Celsius, but must confess to its spectacularly scenic countryside around the stages.
There are three physical stages, in which are run totally thrice for each of them. Total distance of the rally is 562.48 km, total liaison distance is 453.37 km and a total SS distance at 109.11 km. There are six stages for Saturday, 9th November 2013 and third loop of 3 stages for the final day on Sunday, 10th November 2013.
That being the difference of venue, coming to the rally cars in India which are finally evolving to the much modern day models like Volkswagen Polo, Mitsubishi Evo X in the top level competition makes the championship much more exciting.Day one starts with a long liaison of 88.96 from the rally HQ to the service park. Rally starts on Saturday with the opening stage, at 10:13 hrs with the Alpha Stage [14.50 km], quickly followed with the Beta Stage [14.55 km] and later the India Mines Stage [7.32 km]. This completes the morning set of stages, and the much battered cars and crews head to the service are for the much needed pampering for the both.Post a mid-day service, at the service park located near to the stages adjacent to NH-206, and the repetition of morning’s loop of stages starts at 13:12 hrs, for the first car pass. Day’s action with the total six special stages of the day and the return liaison to the Rally HQ will conclude the day’s action.
The final day’s action on Sunday, will start with the same long liaison and the remaining third loop of the stages, with service breaks before and after the specials. The final return liaison will end the rally back at the Rally HQ, with the announcement of results and Podium ceremony.
Edditor’s note: to be edited
Source: ralliheart.com
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Ghosh-Naik win Nashik Rally
Nashik, 9 June 2013: Kolkota driver Amittrajit Ghosh along with co-driver Ashwin Naik continued their charge winning the overall win at the Rally of Maharashtra, the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday. The duo piloted the Mitsubishi Cedia to first place overall to continue their winning spree after clinching the opening round of the 2013 season at the South India rally in Chennai.
Vikram Mathias and co-driver Srikanth Gowda, also in a Cedia came second while Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajgopal took third overall in their Volkswagen Polo.
In the SUV category, it was Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif who topped the field in the Mahindra XUV, scoring the times not only in the class but also overall despite not being eligible for overall honours. The second place went to Lohitt V Urs and co-driver Bonnie Thomas, as the duo managed to overcome their mechanical problems.
Asad Khan and co-driver Zayne Asrar won the honours in Junior INRC category in a Maruti Esteem. Aniruddha Rangnekar (co-driver Nitin Jacob) and Rohan Pawar (co-driver Arjun Mehta), finished second and third respectively in their Polos.
The next round of the Indian National Rally Championship is scheduled at Coimbatore on July 19.
Provisional Results:
INRC Overall: 1.Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Group N Cedia) (1hr, 28mins, 16.0secs); 2. Vikram Mathias / Srikanth Gowda (Group N Cedia) (1:28:45.0); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor / Satish Rajagopal (VW Polo) (1:31:01.0).
INRC 1600cc: 1.VikramRao Aroor / Rajagopal; 2. Raghunandan B / Suraj K (Honda City) (1:33:17.0);
3. Byram Godrej / Prajval Pai (VW Polo) (1:33:51.0).Junior INRC: 1.Asad Khan / Zayne Asrar (Maruti Esteem) (1:36:12.0); 2. Anirudha Ranganekar / Nitin Jacob (VW Polo) (1:39:57.0); 3. Rohan Pawar / Arjun Mehta (VW Polo) (1:43:46.0).
SUV NRC: 1. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) (1:26:29.0); 2. Lohitt V Urs / Bonnie Thomas (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) (1:46:12.0);
IRC: 1.Karamjit Singh / Jagdev Singh (VW Polo) (1:27:40.0); 2. Sumit Punjabi / Dr S Dinesh (Cedia) (1:46:00.0).
