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Category: National Rally Championship
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Gaurav Gill – Musa Sherif win Rally of Coimbatore: Blueband INRC Round 2
Coimbatore, 31 July 2022: King of Indian motorsports Gaurav Gill made a triumphant return to rallying winning the Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2022 for four-wheelers, at the Kethanoor Windmill Farms here on Sunday.
With experienced Musa Sherif as navigator, Gill, the 40-year Delhi daredevil in JK colours, who had over 90 second overnight lead, snubbed his urge for speed and brought home the Mahindra XUV 300, ahead of a marauding Karna Kadur (co-driver Nikhil Pai) to clinch the Round 2 and bagged full points. However, the Bengaluru duo, Karna and co-driver Nikhil, the MRF Tyres lead pair, who were fastest in all the four stages, finished second but retained their lead in the championship table after two rounds. Aroor Arjun Rao and co-driver Sathish Rajagopal finished third.
Gaurav Gill, left, and Musa Sherif, who won the Rally of Coimbatore, the Round 2 of Bluband Sports INRC 2022 on Sunday. Photo from Musa Sherif Gaurav Gill, who left Arka Motorsports team after a long association, said on his Instagram handle: “It is a hot weekend here in Coimbatore with scorching temparature but the car was able to set the pace with the special JK Tyres and we finished where we belong, on top of the podium, and that too with a completely new team.”
After the stages, Gill, rushed to the airport, as he had to leave for Finland to take part in the World Rally Championship. The Arjuna Awardee made a comeback to WRC2 after two years in June at the Kenya rally, where he showed tremendous pace winning a couple of stages but his car stopped with huge amounts of sand in the engine. He will be driving a Skoda Fabia R5 again in WRC2 class in Finland with shakedown on Friday. “I am rushing to Finland and hoping for a good outing in the WRC,” said Gill from the airport.
In INRC 2, brothers Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan, the 2019 overall champions from Bengaluru, nurtured their overnight lead for a comfortable victory ahead of Suhem Kabir and Jeevarathinam. Another Bengaluru pair Ritesh Guttedar and co-driver Lokaranjan came third. Defending champions Chettinad Sporting’s Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap of Himachal Pradesh logged a DNF on Sunday with mechanical problems.
Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai, collected enough points from second place in Round 2 to lead the Overall INRC championship table after two rounds. Promising talent Jahaan Singh Gill, the Delhi teenager, hoisted the JK flag high, to win the INRC 3 class. Mysore-Mangalore combo Syed Salman Ahmed and Rishab came second with two golden stars of yester years, Philippos Mathai and Kumar Ramaswamy taking a third place. Both are knowledgeable and popular motorsports aficionados.
Defending champion Deepak Chandra and co-driver Mahesh Nandi won the INRC4 class beating the only opponent Ninu Mohan (Goutham) to second place.
Jahaan and Suraj also won the Junior INRC class with Arnav Prathap Singh (co-driver Arjun SSB) taking second ahead of the top ladies pair Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar.
Editor’s note dated 1 Aug 2022: The results have changed following the disqualification of Aroor Arjun Rao, Chetan Shivram and Jahaan Gill due to technicial infringements during post-event Scrutiny.
Provisional final Classification after Sunday (Corrected after Scrutiny):
Overall
1. Gaurav Gill, Delhi /Musa Sherif, Kasargod, INRC (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 1hour, 47 minutes, 37.300 seconds;
2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, both Bengaluru, INRC (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 1:48:06.200;
3. Aroor Arjun Rao, Mangaluru / Sathish Rajagopal, Bengaluru, INRC
(Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 1: 49:52.800;4. Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, INRC2 (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6)
1: 50:17.200;3. Younus Ilyas/ Milen George (Race Concepts/ Mitsubishi Cedia) 1:52:06.900;
Jahaan Singh Gill, Chandigarh/ Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 1: 52:22.400;4. Syed Salman Ahmed, Mysore / BK Rishabh, Mangaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:53:17.100;
(34 of the 46 cars finished Day 2; 9 DNF, 1 MPL, 2 did not start)
INRC
1. Gaurav Gill, Delhi /Musa Sherif, Kasargod, INRC (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 1hour, 47 minutes, 37.300 seconds;
2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, both Bengaluru, INRC (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 1:48:06.200;
3. Aroor Arjun Rao, Mangaluru / Sathish Rajagopal, Bengaluru, INRC
(Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 1: 49:52.800;3. Younus Ilyas/ Milen George (Race Concepts/ Mitsubishi Cedia) 1:52:06.900;
INRC2
Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, INRC2 (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6)
1: 50:17.200;1. Suhem Kabir, Virajpet / Jeevarathinam, Bengaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:53:23.600;
2. Ritesh Guttedar M / Lokaranjan HJ, Both Bengaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:56:33.700;
3. Aroor Vikram Rao/ Somayya, (Snap Racing/VW Polo), 1:56:37.400.
(Only six of the 10 cars finished in INRC2)
INRC3
1.
Jahaan Singh Gill, Chandigarh/ Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 1: 52:22.400;1. Syed Salman Ahmed, Mysore / BK Rishabh, Mangaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:53:17.100;
2. Philippos Mathai, Delhi/ Kumar Ramaswamy, Coimbatore (Arka Motorsports)/VW Polo 1.6) 1:53:20.800;
3. Chandan KM/Venu Ramesh Kumar (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo) 1:53:51.800.
(20 out of 24 cars finished in INRC3)
INRC4
1. Deepak Chandra, /Mahesh Nandi, Both Bengaluru, (Pvt/Honda City) 02: 03:16.700;
2. Ninu Mohan, Trivandrum / Goutham CP, (Pvt/Honda City) Chikmagalur, 02: 32:41.000;
(Only two cars in this class, both finished)
Non-Championship – fmsci Gypsy Challenge
1. Samrat Yadav, Chandigarh/ Chandrashekar, Bengaluru, (Pvt) 1: 58:23.200;
2. Sanjay Razdan, Gurugram/ Kiran Aukta, Shimla (Pvt) 2: 07:05.700;
3. Dheeraj KV/ Pramod Raman, Both Bengaluru (Pvt). 02:08:10.100;
(six cars out of 9 finished; one DNF, two MPL)
Junior INRC
1.
Jahaan Singh Gill, Chandigarh/ Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 1: 52:22.400;1. Arnav Singh Pratap / Arjun SSB, Both Bengaluru, (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:54:34.500;
2. Pragathi Gowda/ Trisha Alonkar Both Bengaluru (Arka Motorsports/ VW Polo 1.6) 1:55:14.600.
3. Dr. Shivani Pruthvi/ Dr. Deepthi Pruthvi, both Davangere (Pvt/ Honda City VTec) 2:00:31.500
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Gaurav Gill takes early lead on Saturday ahead of Karna Kadur
Coimbatore, 30 July 2022: Speed maestro Gaurav Gill, along with experienced co-driver Musa Sherif, led the overall standings after Day 1, in the Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022 for four wheelers, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, here on Saturday.
Championship leaders Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai, who won the first round in April, also drove their MRF Tyres-shod Polo cautiously to place themselves in the second position to protect their advantage as table toppers. Mangaluru’s Aroor Arjun Rao, along with co-driver Sathish Rajagopal were overall third after the first two Special Stages on Saturday. Four more Special Stages will be run on Sunday. The 19.65-Km Black Thunder stage and 14.75-km Thunder World stage will be run twice each alternately at the familiar Kethanoor windmill farms.
Gill, the seven-time overall INRC champion, supported by JK Tyre, was hell bent on stopping the streak of mechanical failures that he suffered in the last few rallies. The Arjuna Awardee confessed that this was probably his slowest ever rally in his career. Nevertheless, the three-time APRC champion was still the quickest on the dirt tracks, posting the fastest time in both the runs on the 26.6-km Special Stage ‘SM Agro’ on Saturday. The Agro special stage was the longest in recent years in INRC, and Gill’s team did not take any chances with the performance of the car. “This car has never done such a distance in the rally. Non-stop driving at high speed for over 20 minutes will be too much for the car… The engines, drive shafts and gears are not designed for such heat. So the focus is to bring the car back home safely,” Gill told the reporters.
Brothers Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan, the 2019 overall champions, combine once again after a gap, to take the lead in their class, the INRC2, after Day 1 in the Rally of Coimbatore, the INRC Round 2 on Saturday. Photo by Srinivasa Krishnan Bengaluru’s Chetan Shivram, is back with his brother Dilip Sharan as co-driver. The duo who won the 2019 Overall title, are leading the INRC2 class in a Polo on Yokohoma tyres, ahead of defending champions Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap of Himachal Pradesh. The Chettinad Sporting duo supported by MRF, are just three seconds behind and kept themselves at a striking distance with four stages to be run on Sunday. Another strong contender Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G), the reigning INRC2 champ began well but suffered drive shaft issues. He had mechanical problems in Round 1 too.
Chandigarh teenager Jahaan Singh Gill along with Bengaluru co-driver Suraj Keshava Prasad are leading INRC3 while Bengaluru INRC4 defending champions Deepak Chandra (co-driver Mahesh Nandy) are ahead in the 2-car INRC4 field.
Women in Motorsports: Bengaluru pair Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar are leading among the ladies teams with a creditable overall 23rd among 53 cars that took the start on Saturday.
Provisional Classification after Day 1 /Saturday:
Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill, Delhi /Musa Sherif, Kasargod, INRC (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 47 minutes, 22.000 seconds; 2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, both Bengaluru, INRC (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 48:53.300; 3. Aroor Arjun Rao, Mangaluru / Sathish Rajagopal, Bengaluru, INRC (Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 49:12.800; 4. Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, INRC2 (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:20.200; 5. Aditya Thakur, Solan, / Virender Kahsyap, Shimla, INRC2 (Chettinad Sporting/ VW Polo1.6) 49:23.200; 6. Dean Mascarenhas, Mangaluru / Gagan Karumbaiah, Kodagu, INRC (Pvt/ Baleno) 49:40.600; 7. Aroor Vikram Rao, Mangaluru / Somayya AG, Kodagu, INRC2 (Snap Racing/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:48.500.
INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif, (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 47 minutes, 22.000 seconds;2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 48:53.300; 3. Aroor Arjun Rao, / Sathish Rajagopal, (Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 49:12.800;
INRC2: 1. Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:20.200; 2. Aditya Thakur, Solan/ Virender Kahsyap, Shimla (Chettinad Sporting/ VW Polo1.6) 49:23.200; 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / Somayya AG, Both Mangaluru (Snap Racing/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:48.500.
INRC3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill, Chandigarh/ Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 50:06.800; 2. Syed Salman Ahmed, Mysore / BK Rishabh, Mangaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 50:31.100; 3. Kuber Sharma, Solan / Kunal Kashyap, Shimla (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 50:33.700; 4.
INRC4: 1. Deepak Chandra, /Mahesh Nandi, Both Bengaluru, (Pvt/Honda City) 55:41.000; 2. Ninu Mohan, Trivandrum / Goutham CP, (Pvt/Honda City) Chikmagalur, 1:03:42.400; 3.
Non-Championship – fmsci Gypsy Challenge: 1. Himanshu Arora, New Delhi /Vikram Thakur, Chandigarh (Pvt) 52:55.100; 2. Samrat Yadav, Chandigarh/ Chandrashekar, Bengaluru, (Pvt) 53:13.000; 3. Dheeraj KV/ Pramod Raman, Both Bengaluru (Pvt).
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Rally of Coimbatore flagged off: Blueband Sports INRC Round 2
Coimbatore, 29 July 2022: The Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022 (INRC) for four wheelers was flagged off here on Friday.
The second round organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) has attracted 54 entries. INRC, one of the popular Nationals in the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (fmsci) calendar returns after a long break for Round 2. The first round was held in Chennai in April.
The delayed 2021 season, was completed in March 2021 with the MMSC South India Rally (SIR) which was run along with the APRC Asia event. Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai, won their maiden APRC event. The MRF duo are leading the 2022 season Overall table.
Chennai, also hosted the first round of the Blueband INRC Round 1, a month later in April 2022, and after tough fight Arka Motorsports Karna Kadur, in MRF colours, overcame the challenge from Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah to take the overall lead in the 2022 championship.
Arka Motorsports’ Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai) will spearhead the MRF Tyres campaign in the top INRC class along with defending champion Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap, who moved up to INRC 2 this year. Both are leading their respective classes after Round 1. Thakur and Kashyap, the Chettinad Sporting duo, competed in the INRC-3 class in 2021 and won the Overall honours.
Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) being flagged off at Coimbatore on Friday. The JK Tyre team is led by Arjuna Awardee and seven-times INRC Champion, Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) in a Mahindra XUV 300. However, with Amittrajit Ghosh, moving abroad, and missing the Round 1, talented rallyist from Mangalore Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah) gets an upgrade to the premier INRC class. He will be driving a rally-spec Baleno R2. Ghosh’s navigator and top rallyist Ashwin Naik, who also missed Round 1, will be calling notes for Rohan Pawar of Team Slideways Industries in a INRC2 Polo.
Others to watch out for in INRC are, former champion Chetan Shivram, who is back with his brother Dilip Sharan, with whom he won the title in 2019, and Mandovi Racing’s Arjun Rao and Sathish Rajagopal. Veteran navigator and former champion BS Sujith Kumar makes a comeback (INRC) and will be calling the pace notes for Monish in a VW Polo 1.2GT. Arka Motorsports’ Dhruva Chandrasekhar and PVS Murthy complete the six-car INRC class.
In INRC2 class, JK Tyre’s Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Sanath G, who lost by a whisker last year, will be fighting with defending champions Adity Thakur (Kashyap) once again. Aroor Vikram and AG Somayaa of Snap Racing along with Suhem Kabir (Coorg) and co-driver Jeevarathinam will be the other experienced drivers in INRC2.
Talented Jahaan Singh Gill, who lost in scrutiny after winning on the ground in Round 1, will be in JK colours in INRC3 class along with Kuber Sharma and co-driver Kunal Kashyap INRC-3 victory. The class will have also have strong representation from women in motorsports. Pragathi Gowda and co-driver Trisha Alonka, Davangere doctors Shivani Pruthvi and co-driver Deepti Pruthvi, along with Shivani Parmer and her mom Dr Vani Parmar will all vie for honours in INRC3 class. Another talented driver Anushriya Gulati of Formula Woman fame (DB motorsports) will have Arjun Dheerendra as co-driver. Athira Murali, another talented lady driver from Kerala, will be missing from the line-up for this round.
There will be only three Gypsy entries this time around. The Gypsy class in a non-championship support class.
Note. Feature image caption was corrected on 30July2022.
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Rajendra triumphs at MRF Rally of Coimbatore; TVS dominates
Coimbatore, 17 July 2022: Former champion Rajendra RE spearheaded a stunning bounce back by Petronas TVS Racing team into strong contention with a solid overall victory even as the team made a clean sweep of the top-five positions in the MRF Rally of Coimbatore, the third round of the God Speed Racing MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship-2W 2022 organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) here on Sunday.
Sarath Mohan, became the top privateer, taking sixth behind the TVS riders and Aishwarya Pissay, made light of the competition with another easy victory in the Ladies Class, switching easily into local rally mode after another round of high-performance training in Europe, the second this year. Satara lass, Tanika Shanbagh, who upgraded herself to a higher class to gain experience on a super bike, rode the Husqvarna with confidence finishing overall 18 among a field of 100 bikes that took the start. While 14 failed to finish the rally, Tanika, competing on par with men, is making strides improving her timing every round.
Winners All: Winners of different classes in the Round 3 of the MRF Rally of Coimbatore. Sarath Mohan bagged the sixth overall place astride a Husqvarna and won the gold in his class as he clocked the third fastest time after Rajendra and Imran Pasha, both from the stables of TVS. The talented biker puts in tremendous efforts into his preparations but was bogged down on Sunday due to clutch issues. He overcame a serious accident last year and recovered to mount his challenge once again. He is a strong contender to win his maiden National title in Class 1A, the Superbike Expert Group A category this year. “Yes, I have to get my bike set-up right. Today, I had to go only at 60 per cent of my usual self due to clutch issues. On the fourth stage I got into my own and was having fun but in no time the rally was over,” said the Kerala rider, who trains with Dakar star, Harith Noah, back home.
Rajendra RE bounces back into contention with an easy victory at Coimbatore Rajendra, the Shimoga-born 2019 Overall champion, who could only get 12 points from a fourth place in Round 1, bagged full 25 points to place himself in a fighting distance with table topper and teammate Abdul Waheed Tanveer, who despite increasing the pace to win the last two stages, could only finish second in Class 1. Rajendra’s blistering pace in the first two stages, provided him a buffer of over 20 seconds. The former champion began with a bang topping SS1 in the Kethanoor farms to log a 15-sec lead that helped him finish Overall first with ease and grace.
The Class may have only four riders, but the competition was high as all the four National champions (in different years) finished within three seconds. All four missed second round due to Team Orders, but it would not affect any of them in this class as all belong to Petronas TVS Racing, which bagged top honours with Imran Pasha, the Class V winner taking the fifth spot.
World Cupper Aishwarya Pissay, was back in her elements posting a facile win in the Ladies class and logged 38th place in the Overall ranking for a creditable performance in Round 3, which saw a record number of over 100 bikers vying for honours.
SuperSport 130cc Group B – Class 2
Chalass K Bose, put his #62 Stunner on the top of the pack beating Vinoth Kumar (also on a Stunner) of Erode by a whisker and another Kerala rider has to be content with a third place astride a Gladiator. With this win, the Kottayam champ took a 13-point lead over his nearest rival Anoop Manjappa, who could finish only fourth.
Adnan suffers loss, but keeps Overall lead
Meanwhile, championship leader Adnan Ahmed saw former champion Imran Pasha race away to a comfortable lead. But later Imran’s TVS mate Sachin too pipped Adnan by less than two-seconds. However, Adnan’s 15 points today for his third-placed finish still keep him atop the rankings with a 5-point lead over Pasha, who has 50 points (2 wins).
Venu Ramesh, at his best in Supersport 400cc Group B
The story of this Coimbatore veteran is all about passion and experience. Venu Ramesh Kumar, the oldest rider in the field, continues to defy age with his commitment and dedication to fitness teaching a lesson or two to youngsters half his age. He won comfortably by a mile beating the Bengaluru duo of Amog Nag and Mohammed Zaheer to second and third places respectively. Venu, who also takes part in four-wheeler rallies, keeps himself fit taking part in competitive cycling activities.
Naresh bags Bullet class
Naresh VS, another rider, popular as Bruce Lee among the biking family, chalked out an easy win brushing aside the two Kerala riders, Arun Joy and Shajeer Ishmail in the Bullet class.
Sasi Kumar, on an Impulse, bagged Class 3, the Supersport 165cc Group B while local rider Sabarish won the Superstock 450cc Group D. Vishnu Prakash, also on an Impulse won the local Class 10, a non-championship class.
TVS continues to dominate Scooter class
Petronas TVS Racing continues to dominate the Scooter class with Syed Asif Ali and Shamim Khan making it 1-2 for the Hosur factory team while Subramanya T finished third.
Provisional Results (Ro 3 Cbe):
Class 1:
1. #5 Rajendra RE (Petronas TVS Racing; Shimoga) RTR 450; 57:59.624;
2. #2 Abdul Waheed Tanveer (Petronas TVS Racing; Bengaluru) RTR 450; 58:19.178;
3. #3 Samuel Jacob (Petronas TVS Racing; Udupi) RTR 200; 1: 00:38.045;
4. #4 R Nataraj (Petronas TVS Racing; Mysore) RTR 450; 1: 00:51.112;
Class 10:
1. #91 Vishnu Prakash S (Privateer – Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:11:01.450;
2. #99 Ricarius Venchaslaus (Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:11:56.250;
3. #96 Shailesh Kumar (Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01: 12:14.340; (Including 10 sec penalty)
4. #100 Aswin JK (Pvt; Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:13:13.370;
5. # CV Vignesh (Pvt – Coimbatore) XPulse; 01:13:15.100; (Including 1 min penalty)
(Legend: Pvt= Privateer; #= Bike number/ Competition Number)
Class 1A:
1. #6 Sarath Mohan (Pvt – Mallapuram) Husqvarna; 01: 03: 08.160;
2. #10 Anish Shetty (PRN Motorsport – Hubbali) KTM 390; 01:03:56.013;
3. #9 Jatin Jain (Pvt. Nagpur) KTM 450; 01:07:00.381;
4. #7 Sinan Francis (Pvt.Vennala/Kerala) KTM 450; 01:07:09.419;
5. #8 Tanika Shanbag (Pvt. Satara) Husqvarna; 01:08:49.726;
Class 2:
1. #62 Chalass K Bose (Pvt – Kottayam) Stunner; 01:14:48.638;
2. #66 Vinoth Kumar (Pvt – Erode) Stunner; 01:14:54.987;
3. #70 Hari Krishnan (Pvt – Kerala) Gladiator; 01:17:21.170;
4. #63 Anoop Manjappa (Pvt – Bengaluru) Stunner; 01:24:16.627;
5. #67 Raj Bharath (Pvt – Bengaluru) Stunner; 01:25:06.845;
Class 3:
1. #35 Sasi Kumar (Pvt -Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:08:29:813;
2. #34 Francis PV (Pvt – Chikkamagaluru) Impulse; 01:08:44.737; (Including 10 sec Penalty);
3. #45 Vikram Sekar (Pvt – Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:10:27:488;
4. #39 Varun Kumar (Pvt. – Bengaluru) Impulse; 01:10:44:532;
5. #43 Nirmal E Paret (Pvt – Kottayam) Impulse; 01:11:14:540;
Class 4:
1. #12 Imran Pasha (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 01:01:45:030;
2. #15 Sachin D (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 01:03:56:323;
3 #1 Adnan Ahmed (Pvt -Mangaluru) Xpulse; 01:03:58.053;
4. #17 Banteilang Jerwa (Pvt -Shillong) Xpulse; 01:05:08.075;
5. #16 Yuva Kumar (Hero MotoSports Team Rally) Xpulse; 01:05:39.889;
Class 5:
1. #29 Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) KTM390; 01:09:16.089;
2. #30 Amogh Nag (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM390; 01:10:21.107;
3. #27 Mohammed Zaheer (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM-Adv; 01:10:30.994;
4. #28 Ashwin Anantha Raju (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM390; 01:16:28.343;
5. #32 Russel Jossy (Pvt – Mumbai) KTM390; 01:17:20.579;
Class 6:
1. #48 Naresh VS (Pvt – Bengaluru) Royal Enfield; 01:08:53.423;
2. #49 Arun Joy (Pvt – Kerala) Royal Enfield; 01:11:24.222;
3. #51 Shajeer Ishmail (Pvt – Ernakulam) Royal Enfield; 01:13:59.864;
4. #52 Mahesh Kumar (Pvt – Kochi) Royal Enfield; 01:14:01.538;
5. #50 Sreekanth Komana (Pvt – Kochi) Royal Enfield; DNF
(Only 5 riders in this class took the start)
Class 7:
1. #73 Aishwarya Pissay (Petronas TVS Racing – Bengaluru) RTR 200; 01:12:23.225;
2. #72 Fazeela (Pvt – Ernakulam) Impulse; 01:14:58.092;
3. #75 Sameera Dahiya (Pvt – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:32:54.076;
4. #74 Deeksha Srivastava (Pvt – Pune) Impulse; 01:33:41.643;
5. #76 Jeena Joy (Pvt -Muvattupuzha) Xpulse; 01:45:32:747.
Class 7:
1. #60 Syed Asif Ali (Petronas TVS Racing – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:11:02:998;
2. #55 Shamim Khan (Petronas TVS Racing – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:11:06:548;
3. #57 Subramanya T (Pvt – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:14:02:631;
4. #54 Goutham N (Pvt – Bengaluru) NTorq; 01:15:55:088;
5. #61 Elango (Pvt – Erode) NTorq; 01:18:18:147;
Class 9
1. #77 Sabarish (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:09:41:935;
2. #78 Arun T (Pvt – Bengaluru) RTR200; 01:10:22:870;
3. #80 Saravana Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:11:48:576;
4. #79 P Rakesh Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) RTR200; 01:13:18:295; (Including one minute liaison penalty);
5. #85 Jagadeesh (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:13:39:059;
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Privateer Adnaan Ahamed claims overall honours; Faseela wins Ladies class
Puttur (Karnataka), 22 May 2022: On a dramatic day of slush and action, it was a glorious day for the unsung riders as local hero Adnaan Ahamed hoisted the flag high for privateers by clinching a well-deserved Overall victory at Rally de Mangaluru, the second round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship 2W 2022 here on Sunday. Hero MotoSports’ Yuva Kumar and Sathyaraj Arumugam took the second and third place behind Ahmed, in that order.
All the ten bikes of Petronas TVS Racing team did not take the start for Round 2 on Sunday morning. Though issues of fuel pipe during the scrutiny are said to have led to the withdrawal of TVS factory team riders, an official version is awaited.
Sarath Mohan of Malappuram won the Group A Super Bike Expert class with a commanding lead once again to lead the championship table with two victories beating his state-mate Francis Sinan, who had to play second fiddle once again while Asad Khan of Chikkamagaluru came third ahead of another good performance by young lady rider Tanika Shanbagh, who stood overall 11th.
In the Super Sport 130cc class, Anoop Manjappa stepped up gear in wet conditions and pushed aside the challenge from Round 1 winner, Chalass Bose of Kottayam who was fastest in three stages but the lost ground in SS6. Chalass began with a bang clocking the best time in SS1, as the two Honda Stunners played cat-and-mouse race winning a stage each but Anoop took a decisive lead in SS6 and never looked back. Sudarshan of Chikkamagalur came third astride a Yamaha Gladiator.
Pinkesh Thakkar, who won the Scooter class on Sunday in Puttur. In Super Sport 165cc Class, defending champion Ajin Abraham of Kottayam, who missed the first round due to professional obligations took a comfortable win with a lead of over one and a half minute over Chikkamagaluru’s Francis PV, who won the first round. Sasi Kumar from Coimbatore, also on a Hero Impulse, finished third.
VS Naresh from Bengaluru put his Himalayan on the top winning the Royal Enfield class ahead of Arun Joy from Kochi and Abhijeet Sarkar of Bengaluru.
Fazeela from Ernakulam, found the moment ideal to display her talent and skills to claim the Ladies Class with Mangaluru’s Apoorva taking the second spot once again. The 2021 Sprint champion, Deeksha Srivastava, despite losing ground in one of the stages, completed her maiden podium in the Rally Nationals.
Hansraj Saikia from Guwahati, who came all the way from Guwahati provided the North-East flavour to the Nationals winning the Super Sport 400cc Group B class with ease and grace despite a road penalty as plenty of lead over Amogh Nag of Bengaluru. Astride a KTM Duke, Saikia, was looking to gain the much-needed experience, but the victory was a sweet bonus. Vinit Sharma of Indore also made it to the podium.
And it was also a day to celebrate for experienced Pinkesh Thakkar, who put Aprilia on a winning pedestal. With an entry as Aprilia JB Racing, he won the class astride his SR150 while Bengaluru’s Goutham N took second and Muzaffar Ali of Pune came third.
Round 2 Results (Provisional):
Overall:
1. Adnan Ahmed, Mangaluru (Privateer – Hero Xpulse) 00:53:43.222;
2. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Coimbatore (Hero MotoSports – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:11.981;
3. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00: 58:47.042;
4. Sarath Mohan, Malappuram (Pvt. Husqvarna FE450) 00:58:51.904;
5. Karan Kumar, Coimbatore (Privateer – Hero Xpulse) 00:59:24.532;
6. Sinan Francis, Kochi (Privateer – KTM 450EXCF) 00:59:24.532.
Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A:
1. Sarath Mohan, Malappuram (Privateer – Husqvarna FE450) 00:58:51.904;
2. Sinan Francis, Kochi (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:00:35.064;
3. Asad Khan, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. – TVS Apache RTR 180) 01:04:32.645;
4. Tanika Shanbagh, Satara, (Pvt. – Husqvarna TE 350) 01:05:48.979;
5. Jatin Jain, Nagpur, (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:06:36.170;
Class 2: Super Sport 130 Group B:
1. Anoop Manjappa, Bengaluru (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:11:52.473;
2. Chalass K Bose, Kottayam, (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:13:49.259;
3. Sudarshan B, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Yamaha Gladiator) 01:14:51.156;
4. Dilip Raj, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Honda 130) 01:20:32.129;
5. Vinoth Kumar S, Erode (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:32:05.188;
Class 3: Super Sport 165 Group B:
1. Ajin Abraham, Kottayam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:02.886;
2. Francis PV, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:07:37.329;
3. Sasi Kumar K, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:07:46.535;
4. Shabuddin Sayed, Goa (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:09:08.627;
5. Goutham Rao, Bengaluru, (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:10:22.771;
Class 4: Super Sport 260 Group B:
1. Adnaan Ahamed, Mangaluru (Pvt. – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:11.981;
2. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Coimbatore (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:47.042;
3. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:49.314;
4. Karan Kumar, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Xpulse) 00:59:24.532;
5. Arun T, Tumkur (Pvt. Hero Xpulse) 01:01:48.671.
(Only 9 of the 13 riders completed the Rally)
Class 5: Super Sport 400 Group B:
1. Hansraj Saikia, Guwahati (Pvt. KTM Duke) 01:11:51.153; (Including 1 min road penalty)
2. Amogh Nag, Bengaluru (Pvt. – KTM 390) 01:15:02.719; (including 2 min road penalty)
3. Vinit Sharma, Indore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:19:29.197;
4. Ashwin Anantha Raju, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:20:39.219;
(Four of the six riders finished in this class)
Class 6: Super Sport 550 Group B:
1. Naresh VS, Bengaluru (Pvt. Royal Enfield Himalayan) 01:13:16.106;
2. Arun Joy, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:17:28.691;
3. Abhijeet Sarkar, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:45:56.651; (Including 1min 10sec Road Penalty);
(Only three of the four bikes finished in this class)
Class 7: Ladies Class Group B:
1. Fazeela U, Ernakulam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:26:51.367;
2. Apoorva B, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:36:41.442;
3. Deeksha Srivastava, Pune (Pvt. Hero Impulse); 02:55:49.970 (Including 9min road penalty);
(Priyanka Dutta DNF in SS4; Only three bikes of the four that started finished; Aishwarya did not start)
Class 8: S0 to S3 Scooter 210cc Group B:
1. Pinkesh Thakkar, Bhopal, (Aprilia JB Racing -Aprilia SR150) 01: 25:32.419;
2. Goutham N, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:26:27.179;
3. Muzaffar Ali, Pune (Pvt. – Aprilia SR150) 01:34:03.878.
(3 of the 4 bikes that started finished; 4 TVS riders ‘Did Not Start’ (DNS) Subramanya T. DNF in SS3;)
Class 9:
1. Suchith Kumar Reddy, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:17:22.079; (Incl. 2min road penalty);
2. Vivek Vijayan, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:23:41.466; (Incl. 1min road penalty);
3. Safwan Hussain, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:33:29.871; (Incl. 1min40sec road penalty);
4. Siddartha Wodeyar, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:37:03.253;
Eom/provisional results from MRF Live Timing.
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Aishwarya Pissay begins quest for sixth National Rally title with a victory
Bengaluru, 20 May 2022: Petronas TVS Racing factory rider Aishwarya Pissay, the only Indian female World champion in motorsports, began her quest for a record sixth consecutive National Rally Championship crown on a winning note astride her rally-tuned TVS Apache RTR 200. Pissay conquered the Rally of Chikmagalur – the first round of the MRF Mogrip FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship (INRC) for two-wheelers on Sunday.
According to a press release said here on Friday, the 2019 FIM World Cup Champion in the Ladies class, put in a commanding performance that saw her win the 56-km first round. She clocked 1 hour 7 min 23.684 seconds to win the first round with the fastest timing in all the eight Special Stages (SS). While winning this class, she finished 32nd overall among 88 riders, including 79 men.
The TVS Racing talent who made a clean sweep of all the six rounds for her fifth National title in the Ladies class of the two-wheeler Rally Nationals last year, is eager to get back to bigger cross-country events, as she recovers from a major injury from last year’s Jordan Rally.
Aishwarya Pissay poses with her TVS Apache RTR 200. The disciplined motorsports athlete from PETRONAS TVS Racing, co-sponsored by Ultrahuman, IIFL, Micro Labs and Surana College, who bounced back into form, said, “ I am happy with our victory at the first round. The bike is lean and powerful. I thoroughly enjoyed riding my TVS Apache RTR 200 through the beautiful coffee estates and look forward to more of it. I have trained hard for the Nationals including a trip to France under acclaimed mentor Michael Metge. I look forward to learning more from each one of these races and my immediate goal is to bring home the sixth National title.”
The 26-year-old from Bengaluru rose like a phoenix from a life-threatening injury before her World crown and silenced her critics with creditable deeds on the track with a highly successful 2021.
The versatile rider, who began her biking career in late 2016, vaulted into the record books with a Road Racing National title, the TVS One Make Championship and several cross-country rally championships at Madras Motor Racetrack and cross country rallies in 2017. Due to her exhilarating performance at the TVS One Make Championship and her achievements in rallies, her talent was noticed by PETRONAS TVS Racing after which she was inducted into India’s first factory racing team’s stable. Thereon, she started tasting success in the Rally Nationals and never looked back after winning five Rally Nationals in a row for the Hosur-based team. Looking forward to the second round in Mangalore on May 22, she is determined and is gearing up to use the Nationals as a pedestal to jump-start her international activity once again.
The second round of two-wheeler Rally Nationals organised by Ace Events will have two Special Stages and will run three times each. For a Special Stage rally distance of 54.12 km and with a liaison section, the total rally distance will be over 90 km. The terrain is all gravel and rains can make it more challenging like last year.
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Abdul Tanveer triumphs at Rally of Chikmagalur; Sarath Mohan tops among privateers in Overall 6th
By David Bodapati
Chikkamagaluru, 15 May 2022: Defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer of Petronas TVS Racing team emerged victorious to open his title defence in style while three other riders, Imran Pasha, Sarath Mohan and Tanika Shanbagh hogged the limelight with stellar performance, in the first round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship – 2W 2022, popularly known as INRC for 2-wheelers, held at the ‘Coffee Land’ here on Sunday.
TVS rider Imran Pasha, astride a humble TVS Apache RTR 200, proved that the bike can roar like a tiger if the rider calls the shots. Pasha punched above his weight skilfully negotiating the tricky corners with controlled aggression, and finished a creditable fifth in the overall standings beating many other bikes in the higher classes.
Tanveer beat his teammate Samuel Jacob by more than a minute. Samuel lost about 18 seconds in SS3 and 15 seconds in SS7, that pushed him back but he had the consolation of beating the champion today in two stages, SS2 and SS6, even if only by a small margin. The 2019 National champion Rajendra hit a tree in the very first stage and later managed to cut the deficit but missed the podium. “It is a great feeling to sit on the new bike. It is very powerful and the I am very happy with the going. I lost some time after the fall in SS3 but I will come back stronger next Sunday,” said Samuel.
Sarath Mohan, top Privateer
Sarath Mohan of Malappuram hogs the limelight as top Privateer taking overall fifth and first in his class. An INDIAinF1 photo Likewise, Sarath Mohan was the man of the moment. Riding with a mission, astride a Husqvarna FE450, he took the Overall honours as the top Privateer on Sunday. It was a stunning result for the Kerala stalwart, who overcame a life-threatening injury, suffered at the very same event last year is SS5. Last year, chasing in the shadows, he missed a hidden rock and was hurt, badly damaging his liver, just before the flying finish of SS5 and later was forced to withdraw from the remaining rounds. He took over three months to complete the treatment and rehab and thus took the first round easy testing himself and his bike. He also won his class comfortably beating his nearest rival and state-mate Sinan Francis by nearly two minutes in the Super Bike Expert Group A Class 1A. “I had a new machine and the tyres are also new. Coming back from injury I did not want to stress myself and so managed the pace judiciously. Basically, I was testing my bike and with upgrades coming for next Sunday, I am looking forward to Mangalore. We have good competition but I am confident,” said Sarath Mohan from Mallapuram, who missed the title narrowly last year after taking three wins in the first three rounds.
Amidst all this, there is one lady who was missing from the line-up in the Ladies class. The young lady from Satara, Tanika Shanbagh, decided to skip the ladies tag and promoted herself to Group A SuperBike Expert Class 1A, and just missed a podium but kept the ‘Women in Motorsport’ flag flying. Competing with men on equal footing, astride a Husqvarna TE350, Tanika came fourth in her class and 15th overall among 76 bikes, missing the podium by about 24.5 seconds, quite an achievement on debut in this class. A versatile rider who takes part in Supercross and Sprint Nationals, she recovered from an injury and is hoping to hone her skills abroad soon. “I am planning to take part in international rallies. So I wanted to gain some experience on the bike,” said the Satara rider.
Tanika Shanbagh, astride a Husqvarna TE350, shows her skills racing with the big boys, in the Rally of Chikmagalur on Sunday. Set amidst the picturesque private coffee estates on closed dirt roads, the eight Special Stages were run on Sunday and the Service Park, on the foothills of Sahayadri mountain ranges, presented a refreshing start to the year with mist-filled mountains forming a pleasant background that was truly a “Seven-th Heaven”. Organised professionally by the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) with trained marshals and experienced officials taking care of the safety aspects and running of the event, promoted by GodSpeed Racing, the two-wheeler Rally went on well without a hitch. The successful first round begins the 2w Rally Nationals, which is one of the prime competitions among the 13 fmsci Nationals for different motorsports disciplines. The calendar with nine National Championship titles at stake has six rounds and the next round is in Mangaluru on May 22.
Of the 93 entries, 88 bikes took the start after the scrutiny, and 76 finished the course of about 56-km of Special Stages. The two physical stages were run four times each in the same direction on the dirt roads amidst the coffee estates of Vasanthacool and Thippanahalli. The Prize Distribution (PD) was held at around 6.45 pm as it took time to add the road penalties, which did not affect any of the top rankings.
Coming back to Sunday’s action in other classes, Kottayam’s Chalass K Bose had a facile win in Class 2 Super Sport 130 Group B beating Bengaluru’s Anoop Manjappa by 1min 44 seconds. Local rider Dilip Raj managed to finish the rally and completed the podium in third while three other riders in the class suffered DNF (Did not finish).
Shamim Khan of Petronas TVS Racing team, wins Scooter class on Sunday. Another local rider Francis PV won the Super Sport 165cc Group B ahead of Sasi Kumar of Coimbatore and Shabuddin Sayad of Goa. In the Super Sport upto 260cc class, Sachin D came second in the class and seventh overall. Adnaan Ahmed of Mangaluru was third in the class and 9th overall.
The current champion in Super Sport upto 550cc class, Mohammed Zaheer who shifted to upto 400cc class won the class astride a KTM Adventure and stalwart of 2-wheeler rallying Venu Ramesh Kumar achieved one more podium in his chequered career. The experienced rider, who is an epitome of fitness logged in more points than Vinit Sharma, whose road penalty pushed him down to third. Another experienced rider Naresh VS won his class on a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Two Kochi riders Arun Joy and Jeemon Anthony finished in that order behind him.
The only World champion in Indian motorsports, Aishwarya Pissay, astride a brand new RTR 200 began her quest for sixth consecutive National Rally title on a winning note as she faced no challenge from the seven other ladies, among whom Apoorva of Mangaluru proved the best among the rest with talented Fazeela from Ernakulam taking third. Both of them are on a Hero Impulse.
The Service Park at 7 Heaven Resort in Chikkamagaluru for Round1 2022. While Aishwarya’s win is taken for granted, second-placed Apoorva, 25 years, was thrilled with her ride and the podium. “I first took part in Sprint, which is a miniature version of the Rally. National Rally is a completely different experience. In 2019, I made my motorsports debut in Sprint Nationals. It went pretty well and I got trophies home in all the rounds. Due to COVID and lack of enough funds I took a break for two years, and stepped up into INRC exactly six months back in Round 3 at Puttur and it was a deadly round. But I managed to finish and was placed 4th in the ladies category. Later, I got a third place in both the rounds I took part. I worked extremely hard for three months, to get my bike fixed and here I am taking a 2nd place. I am so happy and hope to do much better in the coming round.” Apoorva, a mechanical engineer supported by Motul, was on a Hero Impulse tuned by Yogish of Team KAT Racing.
Defending champion Karthik Naidu of TVS crashed out, but Shamim Khan, the new TVS recruit kept the TVS record intact in the Scooter class riding a TVS NTorq and Bengaluru’s experienced Subrahmanya took the second ahead of Pinkesh Thakkar from Bhopal, who put Aprilia on the podium.
Round 1 Results (Provisional):
Class 1: Super Bike Pro-Expert Group A:
1.Abdul Waheed Tanveer, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:53:43.222;
2. Samuel Jacob, Udupi (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:54:44.301;
3. R Nataraj, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:55: 10.124;
4. Rajendra RE, Shivamogga (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:55:58.757;
5. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00: 59:41.569.
Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A:
1. Sarath Mohan, Mallapuram (Privateer – Husqvarna FE450) 00:59:02.054;
2. Francis Sinan, Kochi (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:00:56.457;
3. Asad Khan, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. – TVS Apache RTR 180) 01:02:39.042;
4. Tanika Shanbagh, Satara, (Pvt. – Husqvarna TE 350) 01:03:03.558;
5. Jatin Jain, Nagpur, (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:03:41.640;
6. T Vijay Kumar, Bengaluru (Pvt. – Yamaha WR250) 1:11:44.321.
Class 2: Super Sport 130 Group B:
1. Chalass K Bose, Kottayam, (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:07:46.442;
2. Anoop Manjappa, Bengaluru (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:09:30.363;
3. Dilip Raj, Chikkamagaluru (Honda 130) 01:13:03.470;
(Vinoth Kumar, Raj Baharath DNF in SS1; Hemanth Gowda DNF in SS4).
Class 3: Super Sport 165 Group B:
1. Francis PV, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:02:56.041;
2. Sasi Kumar K, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:03:13.749;
3. Shabuddin Sayed, Goa (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:05:48.865;
4. Goutham Rao, Bengaluru, (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:38.803;
5. Akhil Joy, Kochi (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:57.347;
(15 out of 17 riders finished the rally; Varun Kumar DNF in SS7; Rakesh Kumar DNF in SS6).
Class 4: Super Sport 260 Group B:
1. Imran Pasha, Mysore (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 00:57:01.920;
2. Sachin D, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 00:59:20.859;
3. Adnaan Ahamed, Mangaluru (Pvt. -Hero Xpulse) 01:00:07.333;
4. Karan Kumar M, Coimbatore (Pvt. – Hero Xpulse) 01:00:10.553;
5. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 01:01:37.069.
(All 13 riders in class 4 completed the Rally)
Class 5: Super Sport 400 Group B:
1. Mohammed Zaheer, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Adventure) 01:04:32.605;
2. Venu Ramesh Kumar, Coimbatore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:07:19.650;
3. Vinit Sharma, Indore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:07:23.407 (including 1:10sec Road Penalty);
4. Hansraj Saikia, Guwahati (Pvt. KTM Duke) 01:08:17.727;
5. Ashwin Ananta Raju, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:08:24.593 (including 1 min Road Penalty).
(six of seven riders finished Class 5; Defending champion Sajeesh Reghunathan did not take part)
Class 6: Super Sport 550 Group B:
1. Naresh VS, Bengaluru (Pvt. Royal Enfield Himalayan) 01:04:24.549;
2. Arun Joy, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:04:42.497;
3. Jeemon Anthony, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01: 05: 53.568;
4. Sharath Kumar Sathyanarayan, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01: 06: 05.058;
5. Abhijeet Sarkar, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:15:17.745;
6. Vijay Kumar M, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. RE Bullet) 01:20:04.794.
(All six finished the rally; Defending champ Mohammed Zaheer shifted to Class 5)
Class 7: Ladies Class Group B:
1. Aishwarya Pissay, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 01:07:23.684;
2. Apoorva B, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:04.632;
3. Fazeela U, Ernakulam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:22.040;
4. Ryhana Bee, Chennai (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:28.240;
5. Sameera Dahiya, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:26:07.110;
(Seven ladies out of eight completed the rally; Jeena Joy DNF in SS1; Tanika took part in Class 1A)
Class 8: S0 to S3 Scooter 210cc Group B:
1. Shamim Khan, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – TVS NTorq) 01:05:45.013;
2. Subramanya T, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:07:18.269;
3. Pinkesh Thakkar, Bhopal, (Aprilia JB Racing -Aprilia SR150) 01: 07:46.080;
4. Goutham N, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:11:25.922;
5. Venkatesh Shetty, Mumbai (Pvt. – Aprilia SR150) 01: 13:07.809.
(Six out of 10 riders completed the rally; Defending champ Karthik Naidu and Ninganna M DNF in SS1; Elango pulled out SS7 and Asif Sayed Ali DNF in SS8)
Disclosure: This motorsports reporter, David Bodapati, has been provided accommodation by the organisers, the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur.
The comments about the organisation are personal but based on different indicators developed by Motorsports Journalists Federation of India for assessing organisational capacity like basic amenities for riders, trained marshals and experience of officials, timing equipment and management, safety measures, etc.
Edited on 18May2022 correcting the Overall placing in the headline.
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Rally of Chikmagalur flagged off; Cream of Indian talent descends in coffee land
Chikkamagaluru, 14 May 2022: The Rally of Chikmagalur organised by Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) was flagged off here on Saturday to kick-start the 2022 season with the first round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for two-wheelers promoted by GodSpeed Racing. Of the 93 entries, 88 will take the start on Sunday.
Two-wheeler rally continues to be the most popular form of motorsports in India and the overwhelming response of 93 entries proves that bikers continue to call the shots. The 56-odd km dirt tracks comprising of two special stages that will be run four times in the same direction in the famed coffee estates will decide the winners in 9 classes. “The terrain is tricky but more or less similar to last year. But the wet surface due to recent rains poses challenges, the same as last year,” said a biker from Bengaluru. “Yes, it is slushy and we have to be careful in negotiating the tracks,” said Ryhana Bee, a National champion in 2W road racing. “Many will fall tomorrow, including me. The stages are challenging but we are up to it,” warned Deeksha Srivastava in jest, the Sprint Queen, who won the 2021 Sprint Nationals, is making her debut in INRC.
The stages are short but are very technical, providing tricky terrain but with no rains on Saturday and forecast dry for Sunday, the Nationals is all set to ring in a new year. Coming to the defending champion, Abdul Wahid Tanveer, who will be spearheading the TVS campaign, he had some pretty cool answers to the two questions posed by INDIainF1.com. Your goals for 2022, your bike…
When asked about his goals for 2022, Tanveer said: My goals are as simple as 1.2.3. One is to continue following my passion. Second one is to thoroughly enjoy myself while chasing my goals. And the third is to scale greater heights, but one step at a time… To shed some light on the bike, it is a lean, mean machine that is the epitome of strength and a rider’s dream. I am excited for this one!
“I was fortunate enough to fly to France to be trained by a fabulous mentor, Michael Metge. We rode through the various terrains and really pushed our limits, but my favourite part was getting in touch with my inner strength. Thanks to my mentor who made the training eventful and really helpful,” that is how the champion concluded.
Aishwarya Pissay, the 2019 FIM World Cupper, a Ladies World champion was lucky to test her bike today and meet some wild friends. She was trying to get some feel on the bike when she saw something zip past in front of her. Usually the culprit in speeding, at least on the track with full freedom in the world, she was surprised by the speed with which someone else crossed the road. But it is not a competitor. It is a four-legged creature full of beautiful horns. She spotted a spotted deer in the second Stage today. An antler… So what are your goals for 2022, we asked the same question as we did to Tanveer, and the only world champion in Indian motorsports said: “My goal for this year is to win the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for a sixth time. Along with that, I am looking forward to riding in a few international rallies like Andalucia, but they are yet to be confirmed. The Recce was good and I love the feel of the bike. Also, I have just completed one training abroad (France) and will undergo another round of training in June 2022. I am sure these trainings will be very useful for me and will help me give better performance in the 2022 INRC.” Aishwarya won the INRC 2w consecutively for five years from 2017, her debut season.
Her closest rival is Tanika Shanbagh. A rider young and raring to go… But the young rider is not racing in Ladies class this year. She switched gears and is gong hammer and tongs, racing with big boys. She will be the lone lady in the top-six bikes that will be racing in Class 1A, the Indian Experts class. Daughter of former motorsports champion Shanbag, the rider from Satara, will be testing herself astride a Husqvarna TE350 as she prepares to jump start her international career. ”We are planning to take part in at least one international rally event this year and for that I want to get accustomed to the handling, and the speed of the bike. I also want to become faster on the bike,” a simple statement but very assertive. Watch out, this young talent if groomed properly can go places. Apart from the top guns, there are two riders one need to watch out for. Sarath Mohan and Sinan Francis.
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Overwhelming response for INRC 2w Nationals: MSCC all set for season opener
By David Bodapati
Chikkamagaluru, 13 May 2022: Overwhelming response from riders across India with nine ladies in the fray, makes Rally of Chikmagalur, the opening round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2W 2022 (INRC), a grand affair with the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) leaving no stone unturned as they prepare to kick-start the 2022 Rally Nationals for two-wheeler in the picturesque Coffee lands on the foothills of Sahayadri hills here on Saturday and Sunday.
The recce will be on Saturday morning and the eight Special Stages will be run on Sunday.
With a few new recruits, TVS will be gunning for glory again and will be the team to beat as they mount the challenge with a new nomenclature as Petronas TVS Racing, the colours which were recently revealed in the Supercross Nationals they dominated in Nashik and Pune.
Hero has two riders, the stalwart in Yuva Kumar and Sathyaraj Arumugam while there will two more team entries. Jawa Automobiles fielded Hemanth Gowda and Bharath L while Aprilia JB Racing too has two entries Muzaffar Ali and Pinkesh Thakkar, the 2020 scooter champ, who will be astride an Aprilia this time around. Subrahmanya T too another experienced rider who made a team entry as Rebel Motorsports will join the field. The Scooter class will have mega clashes this season between the two giants.
The 10-member team will be lead by Overall defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer and FIM 2019 World Cup champion Aishwarya Pissay, both of whom are raring to go after training abroad ahead of the season. The team also boasts of Karthik Naidu, the Scooter Champion 2021 and Samuel Jacob who won the 2021 title in the Super Sport 260cc Group B with a round to spare. Karthik won his maiden title by a narrow margin in the last round on his NTorq and is expected to have tough competition this year too.
In response to INDIAinF1.com’s query, defending Overall champion Tanveer said: “My goals for 2022 are as simple as 1.2.3. One is to continue following my passion. Second is to thoroughly enjoy myself while chasing my goals. And third – to scale great heights, one step at a time. To shed some light on the bike, it is a lean, mean machine that is the epitome of strength and a rider’s dream. I am excited for this one!.”
When asked about his training stint abroad: “I was fortunate enough to fly to France to be trained by a fabulous mentor, Michael Metge. We rode through the various terrains and really pushed our limits, but my favourite part was getting in touch with my inner strength. Thanks to my mentor who made the training eventful and really helpful.”
This is the only rider who responded to INDIAinF1 request for a photo. It is Deeksha Srivastava, the Sprint Champion of 2021 posing at the Rally Hq &7Heaven in front of a bike. No this is not the bike she is going to ride. But she is a Hero, and will be astride an Impulse for Round 1. Photo credit: Deeksha S, Debut, Ladies Class, INRC 2w. But Samuel will be moving to the higher class, the Group A 450cc astride an RTR450. As a defending champion, though he lost the title to teammate Tanveer in 2021, he retained the championship in his class and he will be the one to watch out for as he moves to Group A.
Apart from these four defending champions, Petronas TVS Racing team will be spearheaded by old-timers and former champions Rajendra RE, Nataraj and Imran Pasha and will have hardworking sprinter Sachin D, Shamim Khan and Asif Ali in the ten-riders that registered for Round 1. While Rajendra, the 2019 champion who began well winning at the first round in Hampi, he failed to recreate the magic as the season saw some treacherous terrain. Likewise, talented Sachin D was the receiving end despite some good show on the track as he lost the Sprint Nationals and will be looking to redeem his fortunes in the bigger Rally Nationals this year. Back in the fold as a factory rider will boost his confidence and the humble giant needs to switch gears and make his bike do the talking.
Young Ajin Abraham, Asad Khan, Pavan BK, Sajeesh Reghunathan and Md Zaheer, the heavyweight are the privateers who put in all their efforts and money to get noticed once again. But Ajin, who is into a new career path, will begin his title defence only from Round 2, in a new class, the SS 165cc Gr B. As the defending champions in their classes, they are ones to watch out for. Experienced Jatin Jain, Francis Sinan, Suhail Ahmed will be the others who can upset the apple-cart of any star in their class. Amidst all these young and new there will be one guiding star, the Riders Representative, Venu Ramesh Kumar, full of two decades of experience in both 2w and 4w INRC. He will be riding in Class 5, the Super Sport 400cc Group B. Sinan, the double Sprint National champion in 2020 and 2021 will be looking to bag the Rally Nationals in SS550 GrB class on a KTM 450excf with State mate Sarath Mohan in the same class.
The Ladies Class will have nine entries with with TVS factory rider and defending champion Aishwarya Pissay leading the field with current Racing National champion Ryhana Bee from Chennai and Tanika Shanbhag from Satara being the regulars. This year the 2021 Sprint champion Deeksha Srivastava from Pune will be joining the hunt along with other talented riders, including Fazeela from Kerala, who will be a dark horse, who has the capacity to beat the stars on her day. “I have just completed one training abroad and will undergo another round of training in June 2022. I am sure these trainings will be very useful for me. I am looking forward to riding in a few international rallies (this year) which are yet to be confirmed,” said Aishwarya Pissay. Meanwhile, Tanika Shanbag just informed INDIAinF1.com that she would not be taking part in the Ladies Class but will be moving up to the prestigious Superbike Expert Group A, Class 1A with an eye to take part in International rallies for exposure. So it makes 8 lady entries and we wish Tanika all the best in her future endeavours. “I want to participate in at least one international rally this year and in preparation, I want to get accustomed to the handling and the speed of the bike. Becoming faster on it is the goal,” is what the speed maestro, Tanika, texted.
Sarath Mohan from Mallapuram, who trains with Harith Noah, is another rider to watch out for. Last year he won the first three rounds in Class 6, the Super Sport 550 Group B before his unfortunate life-threatening accident which damaged his liver but the strong-willed rider is in form and back to mount his challenge. Watch this space for a special article on this Kerala talent.
“All the arrangements are complete and the track is ready. We had some rains in the last few days but the forecast is bright and we are hoping for some good action. One stage which we did last year will not be there. We got a very good response with 93 entries and all safety aspects are taken care of with a team of trained volunteers and experienced officials,” said Abhijeeth Pai BH, the Clerk of the Course.
There will be two Special Stages, Vasanthcool (8km) and Thippanahalli (6km) in the famed coffee estates. The two physical stages will be run four times in the same direction with slight changes in the tulip that ran last year and with one stage removed from the road book. The total Special Stage rallying distance is 56 km and with a transport of another 53.76 km, the total rally distance is 109.76 km.
2021 Champions: fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for two-wheeler!
Class 1: Super Bike Pro-Expert Group A: Abdul Waheed Tanvir 122 points;
Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A: Asad Khan, 94;
Class 2: Super Sport 130 Group B: Ajin Abraham 110;
Class 3: Super Sport 165 Group B: Pavan BK 136; (Won with 1 round to spare)
Class 4: Super Sport 260 Group B: Samuel Jacob 143; (Won with 1 round to spare)
Class 5: Super Sport 400 Group B: Sajeesh Reghunathan 133
Class 6: Super Sport 550 Group B: Mohammed Zaheer 129;
Class 7: S0 to S3 Scooter 210 Group B: Karthik 122;
Class 8: Ladies Class Group B: Aishwarya Pissay 125 (Won with 1 round to spare);
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Karna Kadur keeps overnight lead; Gill suffers another let-down
Chennai, 23 April 2022: Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) overcame teething issues to head the Overall standings on conclusion of Leg-1 in the MRF 45th South India Rally, the first round of the Blue Band Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022, here today which also saw the early exit of seven times National champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) due to a mechanical problem.
Going into the overnight parc ferme, Kadur, winner of the Asia Cup round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship at the same venue last month, led Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gangan Karumbaiah, Kodagu) by a mere 2.9 seconds.
The two leaders were followed by Chettinad Sporting’s 2021 National champion Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) from Himachal and Pallakkad’s Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) in the provisional Overall classification. With five more Stages to be run tomorrow, just 17.6 seconds separated the top four contenders, pointing to a thrilling finish on Sunday.
After Gill’s retirement in the day’s second Stage, it was essentially a four-way battle for top honours, involving Kadur, Mascarenhas, Thakur and Ahmer. As the day progressed, Kadur and Mascarenhas stepped up the pace to pull away from the others. Kadur won three of the five Stages while Mascarenhas topped the other two.
“It was not the best of the runs as we had issues in the morning in SS-2 and we lost some time. We lost the boost about 10kms into the Stage and we had to drive conservatively. After the service break, we had to play catch up. We made some time on the front-runners and we are happy to take the lead at the end of the first leg,” said Kadur.
For Gill, his run of bad luck continued. “The drive shaft got twisted in SS-2, just a km before the finish, may be due to metal fatigue. But the car was handling good till then. We also tested a new set of tyres on all the cars and we were doing 3/10ths faster and the performance of JK Tyres was really good. We will try and get the car back into action tomorrow to collect maximum leg points for the championship,” said Gill who had to deal with similar issues last season too.
Provisional classification (Leg-1):
Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (54mins, 40.700secs); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (54:43.600); 3. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal, Chettinad Sporting) (54:53.400).
INRC-2: 1. Mascarenhas / Karumbaiah (54:43.600); 2. Thakur / Kashyap (54:53.400); 3. Fabid Ahmer / Sanath G (both Pallakkad) (54:58.300).
INRC-3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill (Chandigarh) / Suraj Keshava Prasad (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (56:07.800); 2. Kuber Sharma / Kunal Kashyap (both Himachal) (56:57.800); 3. Daraius Neville Shroff (Delhi) / Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru, Slideways Industries) (57:05.300).
INRC-4: 1. Prakhyat Shirole / Supreet S (both Bengaluru) (59:32.700); 2. Yeshwanth Padala (Hyderabad) / Bharath SM (Bengaluru) (01Hr, 01:08.900); 3. Deepak Chandra / GM Manjunath (both Bengaluru) (01:02:11.000).
Junior INRC: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill / Suraj Keshava Prasad (56:07.800); 2. Shroff / Arjun Dheerendra (57:05.300); 3. Arnav Pratap Singh (Delhi) / Arjun SSB (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (57:29.500).
Fmsci Gypsy Cup: 1. Himamshu Arora (Delhi) / Vikram Thakur (Chandigarh) (01:01:49.300); 2. Sanjay Razdan (Srinagar) / Karan Aukta (Shimla) (01:02:42.900); 3. Darshan Nachappa (Bengaluru) / S Dinesh (Shivamogga
