INDIA in F1

Category: National Rally Championship

  • Lohith Urs leads Team MRF 1-2 at Popular Rally

    Lohith Urs leads Team MRF 1-2 at Popular Rally

    By George Francis

    Kochi, 14 Sept 2008: Team MRF Limited finished the Popular Rally of Kerala 2008, taking the top two spots comfortably. After capitalising on the overnight lead, ‘Team Reds’ were placed on the top two steps of the podium, with hardly any competition with Lohith Urs and co-driver Chandramouli winning the Popular Rally, the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship 2008 here on Sunday. Teammates Arjun Rao Aroor and navigator Satish Rajagopal came second while most of the rest of the top runners had pulled out on Saturday due to various mechanical reasons. Lohith Urs made his debut in a Cedia.

    “We have been running by and far in the top three positions in the last five rallies, and we are confident that we would do well. We are happy with the win,” said Lohith Urs, who won the rally on debut in a Cedia 2000 N+ car. Lohith and co-driver Chandramouli, clocked a penalty of I hour 15 minutes and 18 seconds in the two-day rally. Team MRF’s Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajagopal who were almost 2 minutes behind Lohith, finished second overall and first in the 1600 N+ class, driving a Ford Fiesta.

    The Popular Rally of Kerala 2008 that was flagged off on Saturday morning had to cancel one of the Special Stages due to technical issues and ran only 2 of the scheduled 3 stages.

    Biju Antony and co-driver Uday Kumar, of Kochi, won the 1600cc class, followed by Roopesh Kholay and navigator Prajval Pai and Sanket Shanbhag and Ramesh Shanbhag of Team Winspeed in third. In fact, the Shanbhags were running third overall on Saturday and were holding the same position until the final stage of the rally, where they went off the road and lost time to concede the second place.

    Lohith Urs and co-driver Chandramouli pose with trophies at the podium ceremony after winning the Popular Rally on Sunday. Photo by George Francis
    Lohith Urs and co-driver Chandramouli pose with trophies at the podium ceremony after winning the Popular Rally on Sunday. Photo by George Francis

    The 1400cc class saw a new winner in Bonnie Thomas from Thodupuzha co-driven by Adhiraj Bhardhan. Sujay and Bharath pair finished second while Francis and Royce came 3rd.

    In the Rally Star Cup, Den Thimmaiah and Dinesh finished on top followed by Vikram Devadasan and Anoop Kumar in second. Kaushik Shinde and Sulaiman Shaikh came third.

    The Gypsy Class was won by Sandeep Sharma and Rashid Raza beating Surenda Babu and Nayeen to second place. Experienced pair of Sanjay Agarwal and Elias Paarel came third.

    The Kerala Auto Sports Club (KASC) organised Popular Rally of Kerala 2008, which ran 400-odd kilometers, of which about 100-kms were competitive stage distance and the rest traversing transport distance. The next round of the MAI INRC would run in Coimbatore in October.

    Provisional unaudited Results:

    OVERALL: 1.Lohith Urs & Chandramouli (Team MRF Limited) 1hour, 15min, 18sec; 2. Arjun Rao & Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF Limited) (1: 17: 10); 3. Bonnie Thomas & Adhiraj  Bharadhan (1:21:41); 4. Biju Antony & Uday Kumar (1:21:52); 5. Den Thimmiah & Dinesh (1:22:06);

    2000cc: 1.Lohith Urs & Chandramouli (Team MRF Limited) 1hour, 15min, 18sec;

    1600 cc: 1. Biju Antony & Uday Kumar (1:21:52); 2. Roopesh Kholay & Prajual Pai (1:24:36); 3. Sanket Shanbhag & Ramesh Shanbhag (Team Winspeed) (1:32:50).

    1400cc: 1. Bonnie Thomas & Adhiraj Bhardhan (1:21:41); 2. Sujay & Bharath (1:24:00); 3. Francis KJ & Royce (1:24:46).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Den Thimmiah & Dinesh (1:22:06); 2. Vikram Devadasan & Anoop Kumar (1:23:42); 3. Kaushik Shinde & Sulaiman Shaikh (1: 25:21).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Rashid Raza (1: 25:00); 2. Surendra Babu &  Nayeen (1: 27:15); 3. Sanjay Agarwal & Elias Paarel (1:30: 46).

    ends

  • Vikram Mathias- Murthy win 34th K1000 Rally

    By David Bodapati

    Bangalore, 10 August 2008: Red Rooster Racing’s Vikram Mathias and co-driver PVS Murthy won the 34th K1000 Rally, the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) driving their Mitsubishi Cedia admirably to take their second consecutive win in the season on Sunday.

    After winning the opening round, the Rally of Karnataka on the gravel tracks of Mysore, the duo managed to take advantage of issues to Gaurav Gill’s car in Special Stage (SS) 3 and kept up the pressure to take a well-deserved win. They clocked 1 hour, 32 minutes and 21 seconds, a good one minute 29 seconds ahead of second-placed Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik. Gill and Musa Sherif, who clocked fastest stage times in all the SS except in SS3 came third, over 8 minutes behind Ghosh.

    Reigning National Champion, Gaurav Gill finished way down the order on Day 1 due to mechanical problems in his car causing him a loss of 11 minutes on stage 3. But when all was rectified by his Team MRF, he blitzed up the order from 30th place on Day 1 to 3rd overall by the end of the rally. It must be mentioned that Gaurav was faster than both Vikram and Ghosh on all stages of the rally other than the fateful Stage 3. In the end, it was Vikram Mathias who nurtured his car and Red Roosters snatched the famous victory. “The win would certainly boost the team’s confidence and it would emerge stronger and better for the rest of the rounds of the INRC,” said Vikram Mathias.

    Thus Vikram Mathias and Murthy also won the 2000 N+ class. Lohitt V Urs and Arjun Rao Aroor who retired with mechanical problems on Day 1, rejoined the rally but were not eligible for classification.

    Sanket Shanbhag with Ramesh Shanbhag calling the pace notes, won the 1600 Class beating Chetan Shivaram and Sangeeth Samuel. Biju Antony and Uday Kumar finished third.

    Hyderbad Biker Mazdayar Vatcha and co-driver Vinayaka won the 1400cc class beating Sourabh Chaudhari and Nirav Mehta duro from Calcutta while Krishna Jeet Cola and Abhilash Nair finished third.

    The Rally Star Cup was won by Vikram Devadasan and Raymond while Sandeep Sharma and co-driver Rashid Raza lifted the Gypsy Cup.

    Out of total entries of 52 only 27 cars finished.

    Unaudited Final Classification: Overall: 1. Vikram Mathias/ PVS Murthy (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1hour, 32min, 21sec); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik  (1hour, 33min,50sec); 3. Gauravsingh Gill/ Moosa Sherif (01:41:07); 4. Mazdayar Vatcha/Vinayaka (01:42:20); 5. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag (01:42:31); 6. S Sujay/ SM Bharath (01:43:10); 7. Akhil Kushlani/ Vivek Ponnuswami    (01:44:12); 8. Vikram Devadasen/ Raymond  (01:45:03).

    2000 N+ class: 1. Vikram Mathias/.PVS Murthy (01:32:21); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (01:33:50); 3. Gaurav Singh Gill/ Moosa Sherif (01:41:07); 4. Akhil Kushlani/ Vivek Ponnuswami (01:44:12).

    1600 N class: 1. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag (01:42:31); 2. Chetan Shivram/ Sangeeth (01:49:14); 3. Biju Antony/ Uday Kumar (01:50:13).

    1400cc Class: 1. Mazdayar Vatcha/ Vinayaka (01:42:20); 2. Sourabh Chaudhari/ Nirav Mehta (01:48:56); 3. Krishna Jeet Cola/ Abhilash Nair (01:49:52); 4. Thomas Kurien/ Elias Paarel (01:51:11).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Vikram Devadasen/ Raymond (01:45:03); 2. Deepak Paul/ Chandrashekhar M (01:45:47); 3. Shailendra Hegde/ Sheraz Ahmed (01:46:23); 4) Byram Godrej/ Anjay Kapadia (01:47:55); 5. Den Thimmiah/ Pradeep Kumar (01:48:17).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Sandeep Sharma/ Rashid Raza (01:52:41); 2. Surendra Babu/ Naveen YG (01:56:50); 3. Kamaljit Virdi/ Manoj Talwar (01:59:13).

    Editor’s note: This report is manually migrated in 2020, from the old archives, to support INRC winners: Hall of Fame article.

  • Vikram Mathias-Murthy begin season with a win

    Mysore, 15 June 2008: Team Red Rooster’s two 2000cc N+ Cedia cars with Vikram Mathias and co-driver PVS Murthy and Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik behind the wheels finished a commanding 1-2 position in the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008, the first round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) on here Sunday.

    The 32-year-old former National Champion, Vikram, and the racing and rallying champion 22-year old Amittrajit Ghosh, drove the final day with many a problem but held on to the overnight lead and finished on top.

    “Just the very first stage of the day was run, we noticed that the fuel railing had come off and the fuel was leaking. It was a bit scary, whether the fuel will hold until two more stages. So we ‘crawled’ through the second stage and in the third stage tied the rail up and drove hard and finished the first run. Once we sorted out the problem in Service, we were back to our regular place and won the rally with ease,” said a beaming Vikram Mathias at the post-event Winners Press Conference.” The american civil rights movements was a long legal battle and struggle which reminds us of our strong legal system that can help anybody that feels that something unfair has happened against them.

    From Left: PVS Murthy & Vikram Mathias (winners) and Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik (Overall 2nd) after the rally. Photo by George Francis

    “We are happy that we were able finish 1-2 but it would have been better if the Reds were there, for the competition would have been higher,” he added.

    Amittrajit, who is drivinmg a 2000 N+ class for the first time, thanked Vikram, Leelakrishnan, and Naren Kumar for all the training and tips that he received from them. Team owner of Red Rooster Racing, Dinesh Reddy said:  “We certainly are happy with the results. It would have been better if we had more competition. Our boys have been training and practicing well and the cars were definitely well prepared.”

    When queried why they are in the sport, Dinesh said: “It is basically the passion. But we are eventually looking at producing a National Champion and give the sport and the drivers in India what they really deserve.”  The very unfortunate exit of the day was Team Winspeed Sanket and co-driver Ramesh Shanbag, who went off the route as they slid into a canal, hardly 7 kilometers before the finish of the stages. They were running third overall and first in the 1600cc class.

    The Rally Star Cup (RSC) Class, saw Shailendra Hegde and navigator Sheraz Ahmed finish first and third overall. The duo who came into the lead after a results correction late yesterday night, drove a clean rally to win the RSC Class. “It was the J Anand suspension that made the difference,” said Shailendra, “I have driven the earlier rallys on Konies and have found the suspension not suitable to our terrain. The J Anand suspensions definitely put us ahead of the 1400cc cars also, and so we were able to finish third overall. J Anand Suspensions, are suspensions manufactured by ace tuner J Anand, and named after him. Vikram Devadasen and Raymond finished second and Byram Godrej and co-driver Anjay Kapadia finished third in RSC.

    The 1600cc class had a winner in Arjun Surya and navigator Ravi Venkatesh, who were in their debut rally. “We are obviously thrilled with our win. But we knew that Ramesh and Sanket had a 4-minute lead, and there was no way we could catch him. We just wanted to finish our debut rally and we are happy that we have won it on debut,” they said.

    The 1400cc class was won by Samarth KV and co-driver Praakhyat Shirole, who also led after the results were finalised late yesterday night. “We had a very clean run. Absolutely no problem with the cars, and enjoyed every moment of it,” they said. JM Manju and co-driver Jeevarathinam finished second, followed by S.Sujay and SM Bharath.

    The Gypsy class was won by veteran Rally driver Sanjay Agarwal and co-driver Shiva Prakash. Consolidating on their overnight lead, the Bangalore duo won the class with élan. “I was driving a gypsy after 13 years, and I enjoyed every bit of the rally. It was simply awesome,” said Sanjay, who is known as ‘Tiger in rally circles. “I have sat with him both in a 1400cc car and in a Gypsy now and I think that he is a much better Gypsy driver,” opined Shiva. “We expected the North Indian Rally drivers Sandeep Sharma and Suresh Rana and Sunny Sidhu to be here. Then the competition would have been more fun,” he commented.

    The third and final day of the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008, flagged off at 7 am from the Golden Landmark Resorts on Sunday morning, and did the three special stages in the Malavalli area, 50 km from Mysore, twice in the  reverse direction. All 34 cars started the day and 25 finished the rally in full. Most of the 9 drop-outs suffered mechanical problems, except for the Shanbags who went into the canal. The rally ended around 2 pm having completed 111 kms of competing Special Stage distance, and 308 kms of traversing Transport distance, to total 419 kms of the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008. This was followed by the Champagne showering ceremony at 3.30 pm and the post-event winners Press Conference at 4.15 pm. A glittering prize distribution function awaited at 7 pm that would bring the rally to a close.

    The Prosports-run event, had Sidvin Core Tech as the title sponsor, Golden Landmark Hotels as the hospitality partner and co-sponsor, SLN Properties and Mitsubishi distributors, Hindustan Motors Limited as associate sponsors. Sanjeevini, the NGO, who handles highway accidents with their ambulances, helped out with their trauma ambulances.

    Provisional Unaudited Results:

    Overall: 1. Vikram Mathias / PVS Murthy (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1hour 33min, 5sec); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh /Ashwin Naik (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1:38:36); 3. Shailendra Hedge / Sheraz Ahmed (1::44:19).

    2000 N+ Class: 1. Vikram Mathias /PVS Murthy (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1::33:05);
    2. Amittrajit Ghosh /Ashwin Naik (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1::38:36).

    1600cc class; 1. Arjun Surya /Ravi Venkatesh (1::47:33);

    1400cc class: 1. Samarth KV /Prakhyat Shirole (1::44:55); 2. JM Manju /Jeevarathinam (1::47:19); 3. S Sujay and S M Bharath (1::48:36).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Shailendra Hedge /Sheraz Ahmed (1::44:19); 2. Vikram Devadasen /Raymond (1:45:41); 3. Byram Godrej /Anjay Kapadia (1::46:51).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal /Shiva Prakash (1::50:30); 2. Dhiraj Doipode /Pramod Raman (2::00:51).

  • Lohith Urs-Jaidas Menon win Rally of Maharashtra; Gill-Musa clinch INRC title

    Pune, 1 Dec 2007: With an overnight lead of 1 minute, 52 seconds, nothing short of a complete breakdown could have prevented Lohit Urs and co-driver Jaidas Menon from driving to their first overall win the MAI’s Indian National Rally Championship 2007. It ultimately proved to be smooth sailing for the jovial driver from Mysore as he increased his overnight lead to 2 minutes, 15 seconds over the second-placed Amitrajit Ghosh to take overall honours in the WISA Rally of Maharashtra, sponsored by MRF and the Pandit Group, which concluded in Pune on Sunday.

    Urs’ victory helped him leapfrog into third position in the points tally for the overall National championship, which had already been decided in Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill’s favour before this last round. Another Team MRF driver, Arjun Rao Aroor, who finished third overall in this round, is second in the points tally for the National Championship. Gill tallied 48 points, followed by Aroor (26), with Urs tied with Amitrajit Ghosh on 24.

    Aroor, who held a comfortable lead in the 1600cc category, and Amitrajit Ghosh, leader in the 1400cc category, secured the National championships in their respective categories with their leading performances here. Aroor has tallied 50 points, followed by Rahul Kanthraj (21) and Philipos Mathai (14). Kanthraj and co-driver Vivek Bhatt finished third in the 1600cc category here, behind the son-father duo of Sanket Shanbhag and Ramesh Shanbhag. Ghosh, a comfortable winner in the 1400c category, also emerged the National champion with 56 points, a huge lead over the second-placed Prithvi Dominic (25).

    The close battles for the National Championship in the Rally Star Cup and the Gypsy Cup were decided in the favour of Mazdayar Vatcha and Suresh Rana after their victories here over Abhijeet Pai and Surendra Babu respectively. Vatcha and Pai were tied on 27 points before the final round, but Vatcha who held an overnight lead of 48 seconds over Pai, managed to keep his nose ahead till the end. Pai finished third in the rally Star Cup behind Byram Godrej, his show earning him the second spot in the RSC points table for the National Championship.

    The need for extra speed proved disastrous for Chetan Shivram and co-driver Roopesh Kholay, who crashed out on the second day, one of the two cars to not finish the day’s proceedings, the other being driven by Ashutosh Shetty and co-driver Anup.

    The podium finish was held at the service park at Kurund, near Shirur and was accompanied by a Maharashtrian cultural show, which also had special guests in the form of State Finance Minister, Shri Jayant Patil and State Forest Minister, Shri. Babanrao Pachpute.

    Provisional Unofficial results:

    Overall: 1. Lohit Urs/Jaidas Menon (Fiesta, Team MRF) (1 hour, 11 mins, 39 secs); 2. Amitrajit Ghosh/ Sourabh Choudhary (Esteem) (1: 13.54); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor/Satish Kumar (Baleno, Team MRF) (1:15.53); 4. Prithvi Dominic/Jeevarathinam (Esteem) (1:17.02); 5. Sanket Shanbhag/Ramesh Shanbhag (Baleno) 1:17.13.

    1600 cc: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/Satish Kumar (Baleno, Team MRF) (1:15.53); 2. Sanket Shanbhag/Ramesh Shanbhag (Baleno) (1: 17.13); 3. Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt (Baleno) (1:23.09).

    1400cc: 1. Amitrajit Ghosh/ Sourabh Choudhary (Esteem) (1:13.54); 2. Prithvi Dominic/ Jeevarathinam (Esteem) (1:17.02); 3. S Sujay/ Chandrasekhar M (Esteem) (1: 19.43).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Mazdayar Vatcha/Madhu K. C (Esteem) (1:20.25); 2. Byram Godrej/ Anjay Kapadia (Esteem) (1:20.49); 3. Abhijeet Pai/ Prajal Pai (Esteem) (1: 20.52).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Suresh Rana/ HS Bawa (1:23.37); 2. Surendra Babu/ Vinay Shaker (1:23.30); 3. Kamaljit Virdi/ Manoj Kumar (1:31.47).

  • Big guns set to zoom in WISA’s Rally of Maharashtra

    Pune, 30 Nov 2007: Big time motorsports makes its return to Pune and Ahmednagar again with the WISA’s Rally of Maharashtra, sponsored by MRF and Pandit Group, and the response from drivers has been tremendous. The rally, by default the last round of the Motorsports Asociation of India’s (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), received 39 entries and after scrutiny 37 will take the starter’s flag at 7.00 a.m on Saturday from the Yashada, Baner Road, Pune.

    Twelve special stages will be run at Ralegan Therpal, Kanhur and Ganjibhoire in Ahmednagar District totaling 115.16 kms. The transport stages will total up to 514.53 kms, making it a total distance of 629.69 kms. The three special stages will be run four times over in the same direction to make up the 12 special stages.

    The MAI’s INRC 2007 has been plagued with cancellations, with three of the seven rounds being cancelled due to various reasons and full credit to WISA (Western India Sports Association) for going ahead with this round n Pune inspite of their sponsors and commercial partners dropping out at the last moment.

    According to COC Ashwin Pandit, also the president of WISA, “Irrespective of the backing off of Infomedia, the commercial partners and IOC, the sponsors, we are running the championship thanks to the support from MRF, who supported us at the last moment and funds from our own pocket. Our conscience did not permit us to let the championship languish with just three rounds run.”

    “The event has received 39 entries from which 37 will start, which is a good response by any standards. For the first time in the history of the INRC, the rally will be tracked live and uploaded on the website www.wisa.org.in,” he added.

    Elaborating on the special stages, Pandit said, “The stages are such that the drivers will face challenges of all sorts. The first stage, the longest at 12.69 kms is very fast and the expected average would be 90 kmph. The 2nd stage is on a ghat and will be uphill. The surface is smooth tarmac with twists and it is the shortest stage of the event at 5.73km. The third stage is rough in patches, is uphill and will be a test to the skills of the drivers.”

    The podium finish will be held at the service park at Kurund, near Shirur and will have special guests in the form of State Finance Minister, Shri Jayant Patil, State Forest Minister, Shri. Babanrao Pachpute and MP Supriya Sule. A typical Maharashtrian cultural show has been organised at the podium finish, to give the people of Pune and Nagar a spectacle worth watching.

    Gaurav Singh Gill of Team MRF leads the overall championship with 48 points, having won all the earlier rounds and is a sure bet for the title even if he does not finish. In distant second place is teammate Arjun Rao Aroor (18), while in third spot is Arjun Balu, also of Team MRF, with 13. However, Gill and Balu in the 2000cc Mitsubishi Cedias will face competition from Vikram Mathais of Team Red Rooster, also driving a Cedia and it should be an interesting battle for top honours here. Besides the 3 Cedias there is a Ford Fiesta being driven by Lohit Urs in the 1600 N+ category and 6 Maruti Balenos. There are seven Esteems in the 1400cc category and 17 Esteems in Rally Star Cup with three Gypsys completing the lineup.

    The 1600cc and 1400cc categories see Arjun Rao Aroor (Team MRF) and Amitrajit Ghosh leading comfortably with 34 and 40 points respectively, with no threat to their championship hopes. However, there is a tough fight among three drivers for the Rally Star Cup and whoever wins here will walk away with the championship. Mazdayar Vatcha is currently in the lead along with Abhijeet Pai with 27 points, while Arvind J is in third spot with 24.

    The Gypsy Cup should also see a fight for the title between Suresh Rana (31 points) and Surendra Babu (24).

  • Gaurav Gill-Musa win K1000 pushing Vikram Mathias_Nikhil to 2nd

    Bangalore, 19 August 2007: Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif (navigator) teamed together for Team MRF to clinch the Overall honours in their Mitsubishi Cedia, in the Bosch K1000 rally, the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) which concluded here on Sunday.

    Gill, thus drove Lancer Cedia to his third overall title in the MAI’s INRC, opening up an unassailable lead over the field in his quest for the National title.

    The overall 2nd Place in the rally was bagged by Vikram Mathias and Nikhil Pai of team Red Rooster Racing, also in a Mitsubishi Cedia.

    The rally ran through the three Special Stages at Siddlaghatta, about 120km from here. The Special Stages were run multiple times both on Saturday and Sunday, making it 13 SS for the final count.

    The Super Special Stage was held at Yelhanka on a 3.8km track which was full of  Mitsubishi banners, the co-sponsor of the rally.

    Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif tallied 48 points, while teammate Arjun Rao Aroor (Satish Kumar Rajagopal) remained a distant second with 17points. Another MRF driver, Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy) was in third place with 13 points. Team Red Rooster’s Vikram Mathias (Nikhil Pai) made an impressive return to rallying by finishing second and is now in the fourth position with Lohit Urs, both with 12 points.

    Gill and Sherif finished the 13 special stages in a time of 1:11.22, a minute and 10 seconds ahead of Mathias and Pai (1:12.32). Lohit Urs and co-driver Jaidas Menon finished in third place in 1:18.27, while 1400 cc drivers Amitrajit Ghosh and Shreshta Patil wrapped up a good showing over three days by finishing fourth and fifth overall.

    Vikram Mathias, making a return to rallying was also satisfied with the second-place finish and said, “this round is more like a learning curve for me. We are looking to make a strong statement next year.”

    The BOSCH K1000 Rally – 4th Round of I N R C was held at Sidhulgatta, Kolar District, Karnataka from Aug 17 – Aug 19.

    A Mitsubishi release adds:

    Mitsubishi Cedia proves its dominance in INRC 2007 by finishing overall first and second places in the grand finale of the Bosch K 1000 Rally in New Yelahanka Town, Bangalore on Sunday.

    By doing so Mitsubishi has proved its mettle once again in the INRC by completing a full round of victories from the first time it participated in the INRC circuit in Bangalore last year around.

    Mitsubishi Vehicles are known for its complete built quality and high powered performance making it the favourite among rally champions and enthusiasts all over the world.

    In the circuit concluded in Bangalore on Sunday, 19th August 2007, Team MRF’s Gauravsingh Gill swept through the twists and curves of the super special stage with ease to finish the three loops in 3.38 mins, adding nine seconds to his overnight lead over second-placed Vikram Mathias.

    Mitsubishi Motors were the co-sponsors of the event. Apart from being the co-sponsors, Mitsubishi Motors offered 2 Safety cars, i.e. The Pajero & Cedia. These cars check the efficacy of the track first and once the green signal is given by the drivers then does the actual rally start.

    Provisional results: Overall section: 1. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (Team MRF) (1hour, 07min, 44sec); 2. Vikram Mathias /Nikhil Pai (Red Rooster Racing) (1:08.51); 3. Lohit Urs /Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (1:14.25); 4. Amitrajith Ghosh /Saurabh Choudary (1:17.10); 5. Shreshta Patil /Ramesh Kumar (1:19.34); 6. Mazeydar Vatcha /Madhu KC (1:19.38).

    1600 cc: 1. Rahul Kanthraj /Vivek Bhatt (1:23.35); (only one competitor finished).

    1400cc: 1. Amitrajit Ghosh /Saurabh Choudary (1:17.10); 2. Shreshta Patil /Ramesh Kumar (1:19.34); 3 Prithvi Dominic /Jeevarthnam (1:20.25).

    Rally Star Cup: 1 Mazeydar Vatcha /Madhu KC (1:19.38); 2. Deepak Paul Chinappa /Srikarunya (1:21.14); 3. Abhijit Pai /Prajwal Pai (1:21.50).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma /PVS Murthy (1:25.14); 2. Surendra Babu /Sheraz Ahmed (1:27.43); 3. Rajiv Gupta /Roopa Gupta (1:31.32).

    Note: Updated from the archives to support INRC winners: Hall of fame in April 2020.

  • Gaurav Gill-Musa Sherif win Coffee Day Rally with ease

    Chikmagalur, 7 May 2007: Talented Gaurav Gill of Team MRF displayed his amazing driving skills to claim his second overall win, finishing the nine special stages of the Coffee Day Rally, the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday. Gill, along with co-driver Musa Sherif, was a whopping 1 minute 52 seconds, ahead of teammate Arjun Balu here.

    The 23-year-old from Delhi driver along with co-driver Musa Sherif, were leading overnight by 40 seconds over Lohit Urs and Jaidas Menon added another six seconds in Sunday’s opening stage. But alas, Urs toppled in the next stage and was out of reckoning for the top slot.

    Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumaraswamy failed to push Gill, who garnered a comfortable lead and came out an emphatic winner. This is his second first place finish in the MAI’s INRC in as many starts. Gill clocked 1: 41.02 for his special stages while Balu took 1:42.53.

    Thirty one cars started on the second day, of which 26 came into parc ferme at Amalgamated Bean Company Limited (ABC). While four cars had to pull out in the day’s second stage due to technical problems, Deepak Paul Chinappa crashed on the return journey of the transport stage, his car toppling after banging into a boulder. The car was wrecked, but Chinappa and co-driver Sri Karunya escaped without injury.

    Amitrajit Ghosh and co-driver Sourabh Choudhary won the 1400cc category while Arvind J and navigator SM Bharath clinched the Rally Star Cup. Suresh Rana had no trouble winning the Gypsy Cup along with co-driver Harpreet Bawa.

    Gill has virtually rendered the INRC into a one-horse race, such has been his domination in the opening two rounds, notwithstanding his impressive run last year. Completely at ease in the 2000cc Cedia he seems to be improving with every rally, in stark contrast to his teammates, struggling to come to terms with the more powerful cars and finishing nowhere near Gill’s timings.

    “I lost the brakes of the car in the day’s second stage and flipped over after hitting a tree stump. I had to then call some spectators to right the car and lost precious time,” said a disappointed Urs. Any hopes he had in finishing among the top five overall were then dashed when he had a flat tyre in the repeat of the same stage and had to use his spare, which cost him another 20 minutes. Urs finished way back down the list in 2: 07.30.

    Provisional unaudited results:

    Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team MRF, 2000cc Cedia) (1hour, 41min, 2sec); 2. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, 2000cc Cedia) (1: 42.53); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor/Satish Kumar (Team MRF, 1600cc Baleno) (1:46.33); 4. Philippos Mathai/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF, 1600cc Baleno) (1:49.09); 5. BS Pruthvi/ Sunil Shetty (Baleno) (1:50.33).

    1600cc: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish Kumar (Team MRF, 1600cc Baleno) (1:46.33); 2. Philippos Mathai/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF, 1600cc Baleno) (1: 49.09); 3. BS Pruthvi/ Sunil Shetty (Baleno) (1:50.33).

    1400cc: 1. Amitrajit Ghosh/ Sourabh Chaudhary (Esteem) (1:53.44); 2. S Sujay/ M Chandrasekhar (Esteem) (2:01.07); 3. G Raju Prasanth/ Samuel Sangeeth (Esteem) (2:10.11).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Arvind J/ SM Bharath (Esteem) (1:54.23); 2. Mazdayar Vatcha/ Kaushik Shinde (Esteem) (1: 54.27); 3. Elias Paarel/ Madhu KC (1:55.01).

    Gypsy Cup (3 stages): 1. Suresh Rana/ Harpreet Bawa (1:57.33); 2. Kamaljit Virdi/ Manoj Kumar (2:17.05).

  • Gill-Musa clinch Kerala rally

    Kochi, 11 Mar 2007: Indian speed maestro Gaurav Gill of Delhi, stamped his class once again and conquered new region adding Kochi to his list of triumphs winning the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) round here in the state of Kerala on Sunday.

    The fluent driving and aggressive approach saw the talented champion dominate all the stages on Day 2 and capture a well-deserved win. Veteran champion Jagat Nanjappa was all praise for the youngster as he displayed a class of his own. He was a clear winner by 1 minute 22 seconds at the 22nd Heera Rally, the first round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC). With an overnight lead of 48 seconds, the speed master took it easy and it was just a matter of time to notch up another win.

    With disciplined and meticulous Musa Sherif calling the pace notes, Gill, in only his second year on the rallying circuit, had a simple plan. To keep it cool and drive safe. And he did it, with confidence and class. Earlier, he had the strength of Farooq Ahmed as his navigator but Sherif too fitted in as well.

    Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif (right) receiving the trophy after winning the Heera Rally. Photo courtesy Musa Sherif

    Gill’s teammates Lohitt Urs and co-driver Pradeep Kumar suffered an engine seizure on the day’s first stage and it became virtually a one-horse race. It was left to the pair of Arjun Rao Aroor and Satish Kumar to take the second place, way-beyond the winners.

    Gill, looks forward to the Asia Pacific Rally Championship for Team MRF now after the Chandigarh-leg of the INRC in April. He decided to race against clock rather than take it easy. “There’s no point in being content just winning, it’s how you push yourself that matters and that’s exactly what I did,” said Gill. Gill was doing speeds of 177-km per hour, which distinctly reflected on the stage times as compared to Day 1.

    “Today, I adopted a different approach to my driving, concentrating more on the technical aspects rather then sheer power. Results showed, didn’t they,” he asked in jest.

    Gill clocked 1 hour, 16 minutes, 44 seconds compared to Aroor’s 1:18.06.

    Day 1: Earlier on Saturday March 10, the 25-year-old proved his superiority by shrugging off the handicap of suffering two flat tyres and managed a reduce the gap to 51 seonds behind the leaders. But by the end of the day he not only covered the distance but took a lead of 48 seconds ahead of Lohit Urs and co-driver Pradeep Kumar and also overtook Arjunrao Aroor and co-driver Satish Kumar.

    With six stages completed, Gill, co-driven by Musa Sherif, was his usual self; going flat-out on the 15.06-kilometre opening stage at Illythodu, situated 75 kilometers from Kochi. Clocking 10.10 seconds, he had flats in his front tyre, which he managed to replace, and rear right tyres which he drove on to concede a 51-second lead to Arjun Balu. “I was driving fast and safe and I was aware of what I was doing,” explained Gill, who, over the next two stages, regained a 10-second lead after Balu was forced to pull out and Lohit Urs and Pradeep Kumar had problems aplenty due to a torn exhaust.

    That was the beginning of Gill’s dominance, as in the next two stages he increased the lead to 48 seconds over Lohit, with Arjun Rao Aroor 1 minute, 27 seconds adrift of Lohit in third place.

    While Gill was having his moments on the route, veterans Karandip Singh (Jaidas Menon), Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy), Prithveen Rajan (PVS Murthy) had their share of ‘luckless’ moments. Karandeep dropped out with a gearbox leak on the transport stage while Arjun, who pushed his car back to the starters’ ramp a day earlier during the ceremonial flag-off also pulled out along with Prithveen who suffered due to car problems at different stages.

    Additional Notes added By David on 29 Sept. 2021 from Archives courtesy Mint, who first published it.

    Team MRF’s Aroor Arjun Rao and his co-driver Satish Kumar Rajagopal came second in the overall standing while third place went to Girijashankar Joshy-Srikanth G M.

    In the 1600 cc segment, Aroor Arjun Rao emerged winner, while the 1400 cc segment was won by Girija Shankar Joshi.

    The Rally Star cup went to Abhijeet N Pai and Prajal Pai while the Gypsy Cup went to Surendra Babu and Sheraz Ahmed.

    18 cars out of the 30 were flagged off on the opening day of the rally with each of them vying for the prize money that amounted to ₹ 4.5 lakhs.

    This was the first round of the Indian National Rally championship, a six-round event organized by the MotorSports Association of India. The next round will be held in April at Chandigarh.

  • Naren Kumar wins sixth National title: INRC

    Panaji, Goa, 19 Nov 2006: Defending champion Naren Kumar of Coimbatore proved to be a tough nut to crack for his rivals winning Rallye de Goa to clinch his sixth National Championship here on Sunday. The MRF driver with trusted navigator Ramkumar comfortably won the WIAA Rallye De Goa 2006, the final round of the Motorsports Association of India’s (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).

    Enjoying an overnight lead of 1 minute and 20 seconds over third-placed Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon, also of Team MRF, Naren followed a cautious approach to keep himself in the fray without pushing his machine too much and finished the eight special stages clocking 1hour, 11min, 24sec, a lead of 11 seconds over teammate Gaurav Gill and co-driver Farooq Ahmed (1:11.35).

    Another Team MRF’s driver Lohit Urs finished overall third in 1:13.04 while Karandeep Singh was fourth in 1:13.26.

    It was Girijashankar Joshy who won the 1400 cc category, riding high his big overnight lead and in the process bagged the National Championship in this category with Goa proving to be a good hunting ground.

    The Rally Star Cup was won by Rajesh Gadakh and co-driver Paritosh Kohok and they too bagged the National Championship in this class.

    Naren Kumar took his points’ tally to 45, thus clinching the National title once again. A visibly- pleased Naren said: “I am very happy to win this title. It is an incredible feeling to win the sixth title and I enjoyed this year’s campaign throughout as there were too many ups and downs and I am very satisfied with my win.”

    The champion was queried about his strategy going into the race. “I had to finish ahead of Karandeep in both the legs and hoped somebody would settle between me and him. That happened yesterday, after which it was a no contest,” Naren concluded.

    Provisional results:

    Overall: 1. Naren Kumar and D Ramkumar (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.24; 2. Gaurav Gill and Farooq Ahmed (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.35, 3. Lohit Urs and Musa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno);

    1600 cc: 1. Lohit Urs and Musa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.04; 2. Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.26, 3.Arjun Balu and Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Fiesta) 1: 14.23.

    1400cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy and Srikanth GM (Esteem) 1:15.26, 2. Shreshta Patil and Ramesh Kumar (Esteem) 1:19.55, 3.Domnic Prithvi and Chandrashekar M (Esteem) 1: 24.06.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh and Parithosh Kohok (Esteem) 1:19.11, 2. Abhijeet Pai and Prajval Pai (Esteem) 1:20.25, 3. Thirtha Patil and Jeevarathinam (Esteem) 1: 21.09.

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Suresh Rana and HS Bawa 1:22.54, 2. Khushwant Randhawa and Amandeep 1:24.34, 3. Suchi Thakur and Zuzer Rangwala 1:32.20.

  • Lohit Urs-Musa Sherif conquer Power Pine Forest Rally in Chandigarh

    Chandigarh, 5 Nov 2006: The City Beautiful turned to be a hunting ground forMysore rally starLohit Urs as he paired with co-driver Musa Sherif to win the overall honours in the Power Pine Forest Rally, the fifth and penultimate round of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded at the Kala Gram grounds here on Sunday.

    Lohit, who won the overall title here in 2004, returned to embrace victory once again to stop the barren run after his 2004 win, and it was Chandigarh once again which provided him with the win and the third overall victory of his career. The Special Stages in 2004 were in a different region.

    Despite trailing overnight leader Sunny Sidhu of Team JK Tyre by 40 seconds, Urs never lifted his foot, off the peddle and pushed his Baleno all through the 15.75 km Fagla stage that was run thrice on Sunday. Urs finished the rally in a total time of 2:24: 44 seconds. Yes, he never lifted his foot, even when a dog ran on to his path, in the last stage of the day, but he swished to the side, brushing the dog’s tail and corrected the line in a jiffy with a expert’s touch and was back on the track.

    Lohitt Urs and Musa Sherif (right) celebrate after winning the Pine Forest Rally.
    Lohitt Urs and Musa Sherif (right) celebrate after winning the Pine Forest Rally.*

    Team JK Tyre’s Sunny Sidhu finished second in 2::24:39 and Vikram Mathias, also sporting the yellow colours, ended his barren streak, taking third in a time of 2:24:52. The rally also threw up the first National champion in the Gypsy Cup category, with the father-son duo of Ramesh Shanbhag and Sanket Shanbhag opening an unassailable lead ahead of the concluding round.

    Even a second-placed finish would have been good enough to seal the title for the Shanbhags but leader Suresh Rana turned turtle in the day’s second stage and that was enough for the father-son duo to clinch the issue with a round to spare.

    The final day saw home hero, Karandeep Singh, suffer casualty in the very first stage as the lower arm of his car broke down. Along with Jaidas Menon as co-driver, Karandeep still leads with 34 points, while Gaurav Singh Gill is second with 31 points in their bag. Urs has tied with Naren Kumar for third spot with 29 points and Sidhu is lying in fifth place with 26.

    Provisional unaudited results

    Overall category: 1. Lohit Urs/ Musa Sherif (Team MRF, Baleno) (2hours, 24min, 27sec); 2. Sunny Sidhu/ Vivek Anandan (Team JK Tyre, Baleno) (2:24.39); 3. Vikram Mathias/ Nikhil Pail (Team JK Tyre, Baleno) (2:24.52); 4. Prithvin Rajan/ PVS Murthy (Team MRF, Baleno) (2:31.14); 5. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag (Gypsy) (2:31.49).

    1400cc: 1. Anil Wadia/ Anmol Rampal (Esteem) (2:46.15); 2. Arindam Ghosh/ Sourabh (Esteem) (3:01.28).

    Rally Star Cup: 1.  Amanpreet Ahluwalia/ Manoj Shadija (Esteem) (2:33.14); 2. Rajesh Gadakh/ Paritosh Kohok (2:36.56); 3. Nibi Sayed/ Noufel Sayed (2:44.29).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag (2:31.49); 2. Capt AS Brar/ Capt D Saraswat (2:35.39); 3. Maj Rajesh Powar/ Capt Rohit Nayak (2:37.58).

    Note:* Photo updated manually on 5 June 2020, courtesy Musa Sherif archives.