INDIA in F1

Category: National Rally Championship

  • Gaurav Gill-Farooq Ahmed clinch Bosch K1000 Rally

    By David Bodapati

    Bangalore, 13 August 2006: Talented Gauravsingh Gill and experienced co-driver Farooq Ahmed maintained the overnight lead they had built and coasted to a facile win in the Bosch K1000 Rally, the 4th round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship(INRC) which concluded at The Club, here, on Sunday.

    Gaurav Gill and Farooq Ahmed, who won the K1000 overall title. Photo Yogesh Kalro @FB

    Gill and Ahmed completed the 13 special stages in the Mitsubishi Cedia with a timing of 1:28.14, 35 seconds ahead of Team MRF’s Karandip Singh (co-driver Jaidas Menon), with Team MRF’s Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy) coming in third in 1:29.04, driving the Ford Fiesta.

    However, Team MRF had the satisfaction of storming to the top of the points table, Karandip’s second-placed finish fetching him 12 points to take his tally to 33.

    A Chettinad Sporting car in action in the Bosch K1000 Rally. An INDIAinF1 image.
    A Chettinad Sporting car in action in the Bosch K1000 Rally. An INDIAinF1 image.

    Gill victory seeds him in second place with 31, while Naren Kumar is in third spot with 29.

    The 1400 cc category saw overnight leaders Girijashankar Joshy (co-driver Srikanth GM) pop the champagne, while Sanjay Agarwal (Pradeep Kumar) finished second Dr Bikku Babu (Bonnie Thomas), making a return to rallying after four years, finished third.

    Rajesh Gadakh and Paritosh Kohok also secured their second consecutive title of the season when they drove to victory in the Rally Star Cup. In the Gypsy Cup, overnight leader Sanket Shanbhag (Ramesh Shanbhag) went off the road and into a tree in the day’s second last stage, losing more than a minute in the process, wiping out their lead. Second-placed Suresh Rana then maintained the slender two-second lead to win the title.

    Gill, who has emerged as a strong contender to break into the echelons of Indian rallying, occupied by the likes of Naren Kumar and Karandip Singh, was ecstatic after his win. “I was never in trouble throughout the two days and thoroughly enjoyed my drive,” said the young champion. After the day’s first three stages, Karandip Singh had managed to whittle the overnight lead of 52 seconds to 28, thanks to rear suspension problems for Gill, but after the final service, with his car fixed up, Gill then stepped on the pedal in the last three stages to drive home a comfortable winner.

    “The choice for me was to either go all out and risk not finishing or ease off a bit and settle for second place. Since the second place was giving me the championship lead, I decided to play safe,” said Karandip Singh, for whom action now shifts into hometown Chandigarh, the venue for the next round of the championship.

    Defending champion Naren Kumar (Ram Kumar) of Team JK Tyre pushed hard in an attempt to make good the difference in timing, but though he finished with the day’s fastest timings, which fetched him 3 points, he could not better on his overall fifth finish. Fourth place was taken by Team MRF’s Lohith Urs (Musa Shereif).

    Final provisional placings:

    1600cc: 1. Gauravsingh Gill/Farooq Ahmed (Team JK Tyre, Mitsubishi Cedia) (1hour, 28min, 14sec); 2. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1:28.45); 3. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Ford Fiesta) (1:29.04); 4. Lohit Urs/ Musa Sherif (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1:29.26); 5. Naren Kumar/D Ram Kumar (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1: 29.28).

    1400cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy/Srikant GM (1:31.45); 2. Sanjay Agarwal/Pradeep Kumar (1:32.50); 3. Bikku Babu/Bonnie Thomas (1:36.56).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok (1:38.12); 2/ Amanpreet Ahluwalia/Manoj Shadija (1:38.58); 3. Deepak Chinappa/Sri Karnuya (1:40.25).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Suresh Rana/Surendar Kumar (1:39.38); 2. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag  (1:39.40).

  • Naren-Ram win thrilling Coffee Day Rally; Gill crashes out

    Chikmagalur, 28 May 2006: In a nail-biting finish, winner Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar, who were leading by a narrow margin of a second had to wait anxiously for the pair of Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif to finish the last stage. But with Gill crashing out, the champion duo, claimed the Overall honours in the Coffee Day rally, the second round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship here on Sunday.

    The reigning champions lost the first round of Motorsports Association of India (MAI) organised National championship, held at Pune to strong contenders Gaurav Gill, who had the advantage of an experienced navigator Farooq Ahmed. Unfortunately, trying to gain that wee bit advantage in the last stage, Gill had crashed out and Naren equalised the National Championship standings with this win.

    Starting the last stage, the Birur Canal Stage, Gaurav Gill was just a second behind as Naren just finished the rally. But alas, the speed king crashed out in the stage and Naren Kumar heaved a sigh of releif.

    But like a true champion, Naren expressed sympathy for his JK Tyre teammate saying: “Gaurav is an excellent driver and his entry into the INRC has infused a greater degree of competition. It’s much tougher to win now,” he conceded, praising the young talent.

    Naren too had some hiccups in the last stage but recovered from a spin as he managed to reverse and get back on the road.

    The stages on Sunday proved to be competitive. Though, Naren had taken a lead of 20 seconds in the morning, Gaurav upped the pace and drove flat out to reduce the margin and was within seconds before starting the last stage.

    Gill had a golden chance when Naren made an off-road spin but as fate would have it, Gill hit a ridge and crashed into the fence after a roll. Thanks to the roll-cage, both the driver and the co-driver were safe.

    Thus Karandip Singh and Jaidas Menon of Team MRF, gained a place, finishing second though more than a minute behind Naren. Lohith V Urs and Musa Sherif came third.

    Sanjay Aggarwal, who missed the Pune round, paired with co-driver Pradeep Kumar, to win the 1400cc class.

    Provisional results: Upto 1600cc: 1. Naren Kumar/Ramkumar (JK Tyres) (1hour, 48min, 45sec); 2. Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (1.49.57); 3. Lohith V. Urs/Musa Sherif (Team MRF) (1.50:57); 4. Arjun Rao Aroor/Chandramouli (Team MRF) (1.51:28).

    Upto 1400cc: 1. Sanjay Aggarwal/ Pradeep Kumar (2.03.52); 2. Ravi Aggarwal/ Prakash D’Souza (2.09:18).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh/ Paritosh Kohok (2.06:20); 2. Amanpreet Ahluwalia/ Manoj Shadija (2.06:49); 3. Hitesh Sharma/ E Shivaprakash (2.15:19).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma/ CK Chinappa (2.02:01); 2. Sanket Shanbagh/ Rajesh Shanbagh (2.03.32).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Provisional unaudited results:

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

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

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

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

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

  • Naren Kumar-Ram win Sujana MRF Deccan Rally

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Ladies Class: 1. Rayna Aranhya;

    Best Local Entry: 1. Ramaraju.

    (Note: The results compiled are from unofficial sources)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Arjun Rao Aroor- Chandramouli win Rally of the North

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

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

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

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

    Provisional classification:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Naren Kumar- Ramkumar win Bosch 31st K1000 Rally

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

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

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

    (Results not available)

  • Arjun Balu-Kumar Ramaswamy clinch Mysore Safari Rally

    Mysore, 29 May 2005: Talented Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy of Team MRF Tyres notched up a deserving victory in the Mysore Safari Rally, the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday.

    Arjun Balu defeated teammates and local star Lohith Urs, and the other two MRF drivers Arjun Rao Aroor and Karandip Singh. All the MRF drivers were in Maruti Balenos. Jiby Malliakkal and co-driver Nikhil Pai of Team Gulf Chettinad Sporting finished fifth in their Honda City VTec. Other prominent finishers were privateers Rahul Kantharaj and co-driver Vivek Bhat and Ranjit Ballal, also in Balenos.

    Sanjay Agarwal won the 1400cc class after leader Prithveen Rajan who was ahead by 9 seconds on Saturday, lost almost 23 seconds later in the day, due to a mistake at a tricky corner and Sanjay never looked back to win the rally, safely finishing the Super Special on Sunday. Philippos Matthai finished third. Chethan won the Rally Star Cup with Girijashankar Joshy taking the second spot.

    The rally organised by Prosports and Motorsport Inc, had 21 entries in various classes and saw a clutch of protests and disqualifications after the thrilling Super Special Stage that was reserved for Sunday.

    The rally also marked the return of `Yellow Giants’ with the 1600cc class witnessing JK Tyre teams with lead drivers Naren Kumar (co-driver Ramkumar) and Vikram Mathias (along with Sujith Kumar) behind the wheels. The former champions who both drove earlier for MRF are now in the yellow colours of JK Tyre.

    Both the champion drivers displayed their skills and thrilled the crowds but were unfortunate to be disqualified as they were found to be running on rear suspension mounts that failed to pass the scrutiny and were found not as per the technical regulations. Both the cars were prepared by ace tuner N Leelakrishnan. Ironically, winner Arjun Balu’s car too was prepared by Leela’s team.

    The 1400cc lineup had last year’s champion Pritveen E Rajan, Sanjay Aggarwal, Philipose Mathai, and the rest of the field was Rally Star Cup guys and with two Gypsies thrown in.

    The gravel rally with fast tracks ran through four Special Stages (SS) which were repeated thrice on Saturday and Day 2, Sunday was reserved for two laps of the Super Special Stage (SSS) near Lalit Mahal Palace grounds.

    Earlier on Friday, the Ceremonial flag-off was held at the Mysore Palace Grounds and all the Rally cars proceeded to the rally headquarters at Kadur Inn, in a parade. The rally started on Saturday at 8.30 am from Kadur Inn with the first stage run at Bilikere and the second stage at Hosapura, where the JK cars driven by Naren Kumar and Vikram Mathias dominated and showcased their skills to thrill the crowds, especially at the third stage in Marur.

    Alas it was the superfast fourth stage which was thrilling and provided seat-edged excitement for the spectators, before it was cancelled. The fine gravel stage at Nigudanahalli village saw both Naren and Vikram touch speeds of over 120kmph. Since the INRC rules prohibit speeds over 110kmph, the stage was declared as transport section for the later cars.

    Naren was leading all through Saturday until he hit a cow in the last stage and Vikram took the lead with about 3km to go. The yellow car was completely smashed. Naren re-entered the SSS on Sunday in the Super Rally format and clocked the fastest time to entertain the huge audience. Vikram was second fastest in the Super Special. However, the spectator control left much to be desired at the Super Special Stage.

    Lohith Urs, who was running in second place in the overall standings till then on Saturday, also made a mistake, and Arjun Balu shot into the overall lead.

    In 1400 class, a big fight was brewing between Pritveen Rajan, Sanjay Aggarwal and Philippos Matthai. But gradually Matthai yielded way and faded away as Rajan took a 9-second lead. However, it was Sanjay Aggarwal who had the last laugh with Rajan making a crucial mistake at one corner to lose 23 seconds.

    The results were announced late in the night and the Prize Distribuiton (PD) was held after a four-hour delay only at 11.30pm at Kadur Inn.

    Provisional Final Classification:

    Overall: 1. Arjun Balu (Team MRF); 2. Lohit Urs (Team MRF); 3. Arjun Aroor Rao (Team MRF); 4. Karandip Singh (Team MRF); 5. Jiby Malliakkal (Team Gulf Chettinad Sporting);

    1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal; 2. Pritveen E Rajan; 3. Philippos Matthai.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Chetan; 2. Girijashankar Joshy.

    (Note: The results were compiled and were not the official version)

  • Sandeep Sharma wins first Tura Challenge: INRC

    By George Francis

    Tura (Meghalaya), 13 March 2005: Sandeep Sharam and co-driver Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from New Delhi started the MAI (Motorsports Association of India ) INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) 2005, with an emphatic overall victory.

    Driving a Maruti Gypsy, the veteran Sandeep took his maiden victory in a National Championship Rally overall today. “This is the moment I have been waiting for the past 14 years and I quite didn’t expect it here. I am thrilled,” remarked Sandeep after finishing the last stage of the day. Sandeep also won the top spot in the Gypsy Class, a new class introduced in the Championship last year, that has seen many a new driver come in from Northern India.

    Rally Star Cup winner of 2004, veteran Sanjay Agarwal who was co-driven by the 2004 Overall National Champion navigator Sujith Kumar, won the honours in the 1400 cc INRC class. Sanjay, who had moved up to the 1400 cc class, proved that despite all the problems he had with his car, he was a winner on the track. “I am happy that I finished the event.We broke our front struts in the very first stage yesterday and had a lot of problems before completing the event. We drove conservatively and won the class”, said Sanjay, fizzing Champagne at the Dakopgiri stadium in front of a cheering  8000 strong crowd.

    Debutant G.S.Joshy co-driven by experienced navigator G.M.Srikanth won the Rally Star Cup category, with a very convincing drive. “I am too happy to win in the first rally that I am driving. This will encourage me to do the full season now”, opined Joshi. In addition he also placed overall second.

    The Best timing of the three Super Special Stages run went to Sunny Sidhu and co-driver H.S.Bawa from Delhi. Sunny,the Raid de Himalaya winner should have finished the rally in good placing, but had to pull out when his Gypsy wheel came off yesterday.
    Today he was driving for leg points. Dr.Mukul Sangma, the Home Minister who was there to witness the Super Special Stage was so impressed with Sunny’s driving that he went for a spin with him in the rally gypsy.

    The Tura Challenge-5 was flagged off into the stages yesterday morning at 8 a.m. where the rallyists drove two Special stages (in the Chibragre and Badadam areas about 15km away from Tura) repeated thrice and returned to Tura in the evening.

    Today morning they were flagged off at 8 a.m. again and they drove both the stages once in the reverse direction and returned to Tura. Later in the afternoon, the Super Special Stage at Dakopgiri Stadium (that was run once on Friday evening) was run twice to complete the rally. 9 of the 15 starters finished the Tura Challenge –05. One of the major dropouts was Philipose Mathai from Team Methods who had a gearbox problem yesterday.

    The organizers of the event Motorsports Association of Garo Hills who are running their maiden event in the National Championship, have proved that they have an excellent capacity to organize and this should bring in more people from Magalia into rallying. “I am very happy that all the rallyists enjoyed the rally and we will do it better next year”, remarked Ashok Agarwal, the COC. “The Government of Magalia who has supported the rally are keen on doing whatever possible for promotion of Motorsport in the region,” said the Home Minister Dr Mukul Sangma.

    The Champagne ceremony at the stadium was followed by the prize distribution function at the 2nd Battalion at 8 p.m.

    Provisional (Unaudited) Results: OVERALL: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2hours, 8min, 0.39sec); 2. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 3. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62).

    1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal & Sujith Kumar (2:18:27.98); 2. Ravi Agarwal & Pradeep Kumar (2:28:54.71); 3. Along Aier & Zachume Ezung (2:42:14.53).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 2. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62); 3.Anil Wadia & CK Chinnappa (2:16:44.84).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2:08:00.39); 2. Suresh Rana & Marcus Bugar (2:12:59.08); 3. Prakash Momin & Nancy Sangma (2:26:17:85).

    /ends/