Your basket is currently empty!
Category: National Rally Championship
-
Gaurav Gill leads after Day 1; Dean, Aditya top their classes
Bengaluru, 12 March 2022: Speed maestro Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif of Kasargod overcame mechanical problems to take a sizeable lead in the K1000 Rally, the second round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 organised by Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) with MRF as associate sponsors, at Gubbi in Tumkur District, about 100 km from here. The Rally concludes on Sunday with a repeat of the four Special Stages that were run today. The fourth stage uphill section was rendered unsafe today for the second run and with many cars failing to pass the treacherous stretch the Rally was stopped twice and finally many cars were given scratch times.
Despite suffering a turbo problem which led to a noticeable drop in pace, Delhi-based Gill enjoys a comfortable position with a 29-second lead followed by Karna Kadur along co-driver Nikhil Pai, who displayed consistent pace through the day until his Volkswagen Polo suffered a gearbox issue that could impact his performance tomorrow. Third Overall is Kollam’s Younus Ilyas with co-driver Anirudha Ranganekar of Pune who is making a comeback after 8 years. The Race Concepts team are about10 seconds behind Kadur.
Leading the INRC-2 category is Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah, Virajpet) who paced himself well for a 13-second advantage over Palakkad’s Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) with Virajpet’s Suhem Kabeer (Jeeva Rathinam, Bengaluru) in third.
Winner of the first round in Coimbatore, Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) from Himachal is placed seventh Overall, but first in INRC-3 category where he has established a healthy lead over another Himachal pairing of Kuber Sharma and Karan Aukta. In third place is Chandigarh’s Sanampreet Sekhon (Suhan Kabeer, Kodagu).
Early in the day, seven times National champion Gill set a hot pace and at the end of the first loop of the two Stages, had opened a comfortable lead. But in the second run, his Mahindra XUV 300 developed a turbo problem that cost him some precious time as the focus shifted to nursing the vehicle to the finish.
“The day began well. I got into a rhythm and the pace was good as we opened up a good lead. But unfortunately, there was a small issue with the turbo gasket that led to a leak in the turbo boost. So basically, it meant we were running on two cylinders, but I decided to push anyway. In SS-3, we lost a lot of time, but in SS-4, which was very technical, I didn’t lose too much time to Younus. Anyway, we are still safe and have a lead. Tomorrow, it will be safe and fast,” said Gill.
The SS-4 was twice interrupted after a few cars blocked the route due to crashes and mechanical failures.
Leg-1 Classification (Provisional):
Overall / INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill (Delhi) / Musa Sherif (Kasargod) (48mins, 58.200secs); 2. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (49:27.700); 3. Younus Ilyas (Kollam) / Anirudha Ranganekar (Pune) (Race Concepts) (49:37.000).
INRC-2: 1. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Virajpet) (51:23.000); 2. Fabid Ahmer / Sanath G (both Palakkad) (51:36.300); 3. Suhem Kabeer (Virajpet) / Jeeva Rathinam (Bengaluru) (52:27.800).
INRC-3: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (Chettinad Sporting) (52:26.300); 2. Kuber Sharma / Karan Aukta (both Himachal) (54:04.800); 3. Sanampreet Sekhon (Chandigarh) / Suhan Kabeer (Kodagu) (54:49.600).
INRC-4: 1. Mujeeb Rahman (Kasargod) / Ravinder Kumar (Bengaluru) (56:48.960); 2. Vaibhav Marathe (Goa) / Harsha Vardhana SN (Bengaluru) (58:05.400); 3. Shivani Parmar / Vani Parmar (both Mumbai) (1hr:01:19.200).
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav (Chandigarh) / M Chandrashekar (Bengaluru) (54:06.800); 2. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Malik (Faridabad) (58:28.600); 3. Abhishek Gowda (Chikkamgalauru) / Dheeraj Manae (Bengaluru) (58:45.700).
-
K1000 flagged off
Bengaluru, March 11: The Karnataka-1000 Rally organised by Karnataka Motor Sports Club was flagged off by Karnataka Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports Narayana Gowda, here on Friday. The 45th edition of the iconic rally that began in 1975 is the second round of the delayed FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021.
With MRF Tyres as associate sponsor, the stage-rally attracted 53 entries from all over the country in all categories. While the top class, INRC, has five entries with strong contenders Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, leading the pack with Karna Kadur behind them in a Volkswagen Polo 1.6, along with senior navigator Nikhil Pai. The two INRC cars will open the stages in that order followed by 2019 champion brothers Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan, who spearhead the INRC2 bunch, followed by current INRC2 leader, Fabid Ahmer (co-driver Sanath G) and Sahil Khanna and co-driver Harish KN.
There are 10 INRC2 cars while the number in INRC3 reduced from 23 in the first round in Coimbatore to 19 here. INRC4 will be with 9 entries while the FMSCI Gypsy Challenge will witness 10 competitors. Five of these drivers are eligible for the Junior INRC title-fight and the number of lady drivers reduced from 10 in Coimbatore to seven here. The fastest lady driver Athira Murali has skipped the event as her co-dirver George is not well and the popular Malayalam vlogger could not find a replacement in time.
The competitors who tasted the terrain finishing the reccee on Friday headed back for tedious drive to Bengaluru again for the ill-conceived schedule pitted the important Driver’s briefing and Ceremonial start in a star hotel in the Garden city. Ideally, the show should have been completed on Thursday in Bengaluru. That would have allowed some breathing space for the competitors. The now have the Special Stages for two days of competition near the town of Gubbi, about 100 Kms from Bengaluru on Saturday and Sunday. The first Special Stage is scheduled to start at 9:15 am on Saturday.
At a pre-event Press Conference, seven times National champion Gaurav Gill, along with co-driver Musa Sherif who is participating in his 300th Rally, described the Special Stages after this morning’s reccee as “super-fast and technical”, a view shared by all competitors.
“There are some fast tarmac stretches where the speeds can touch 180kmph and there are some rough and tricky bits too. So, it is important to get the right speeds. For me, the mantra is controlled aggression to maximise the points,” Gill, a three times FIA Asia Pacific Rally champion, said.
Sherif, 50, from Kasargod, in response to felicitations on reaching a milestone of 300 rallies, said: “It started as a hobby in 1993 but soon became a full-time passion and I never thought I would do so many rallies without a break. I thank all the drivers, sponsors, crews, teammates, and my fans, for this wonderful moment. It is they who gave me these opportunities.”
Musa Sherif, will be starting his 300th rally. Starting as a rider in 1993, he shifted to cars in 1995. These 300 include bike rallies, four-wheeler rallies and also the TSD . rallies, both in India and abroad, for an overall triple century. He read pace notes and “called” for 49 different drivers and competed in 69 international events. Some of the top drivers who he ably assisted were Gaurav Gill, Karamjit Singh and Naren Kumar. He was nominated for Khel Ratna by the federation last year. He won 35 INRC 4W rounds out of which 33 victories came with Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill, the longest and greatest partnership ever in the history of Indian National Rally Championship.
Leader in the INRC-2 category after a class win in the first round at Coimbatore a fortnight back, Palakkad’s Fabid Ahmer said: “The terrain is very technical, rough and bumpy. It is a challenge to understand the car at these speeds, but I have made good pace notes with my co-driver and am looking forward to a fast rally.”
Echoing the sentiments, Mujeeb Rehman, winner of the INRC-4 class in Coimbatore, said: “The terrain is super. I like the fast stages and as they are technically tough, co-ordination with co-driver is very important.”
Special invitees to the press conference were two top female drivers, Dr. Shivani Pruthvi from Davangere and Pragati Gowda (Bengaluru) who recently represented India in the Formula Woman McLaren (GT) trials in England. Both concurred that the Special Stages are “fast with flowing corners”, but the terrain called for a bit of caution.
Dr. Shivani Pruthvi:
“First stage has fast and flowing corners while there are rough, narrow and tight corners that will challenge us in the second stage. So it is very technical and it is important to keep the basics right,” said the Doctor from Davangere, who is also competing in the Junior INRC.
Pragathi Gowda, who just represented India in the Formula Woman selections in England for a seat in the McLaren Customer Racing drive in the GT said: “Bringing the car home will be our primary goal as the stages are quite tricky compared to Coimbatore. There are uphill and downhill sections with fast-moving corners. We are game for it and looking forward to a good rally.”
“The iconic K1000 is the mother of all rallies as it is the only rally in India which is active from 1975. The stages for the 45th edition are a re-visit to the 2014 stages and will challenge the drivers’ skills. All safety aspects are taken care of and I wish all the drivers a safe rally,” said Praneeth Perumal, Clerk of the Course, and a veteran administrator of KMSC.
Pragathi Gowda said: “Bringing the car home will be our primary goal as the stages are quite tricky compared to Coimbatore. There are uphill and downhill sections with fast corners. We are game for it and looking forward to a good rally.”
About the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021The Indian National Rally Championship 2021, promoted by The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, comprises three rounds – Rally of Coimbatore (Feb 25-27), Karnataka-1000 (March 11-13) and the South India Rally (Chennai, March 25-27). The grid is segregated into five categories based on various specifications – the INRC, INRC-2, INRC-3, INRC-4 and Junior INRC (26 years and below, and without a win). Competitors are eligible for Overall classification and also separately in their respective categories. The top 15 finishers are eligible for points ranging from 30 to 1. The five quickest on each of the two days (Leg-1 and Leg-2) and in each category receive bonus points (5 to 1) in the respective Legs provided they complete the Rally. The maximum points that can be won in each round is 40. A stand-alone sixth category, the FMSCI Gypsy Challenge, restricted to Maruti Gypsy, and not eligible for championship points or classification, completes the grid.
-
Historic K1000 to begin 45th edition on Friday; 300th rally start for Musa Sherif
Bengaluru, 9 March 2022: The historic Karnataka-1000 Rally, popularly known as K1000, the longest running rally in India, will see a revival of sorts this weekend when the cream of Indian rallying descends on the dirt stages near Tumkur for the second round of the delayed FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2021 that will begin with recce on Friday. Motorsports stalwart Musa Sherif will be entering his 300th rally as a navigator.
The thrice postponed INRC, saw the departure of Promoters Champions Yacht Club after the Vizag round became a non-starter due to lack of police permissions. Thus, the 7-round original calendar was reduced to three after the FMSCI took upon itself to host three rounds and successfully completed the Coimbatore leg last month. However, they failed to find a sponsor for the iconic Indian Rally Nationals that acquired a National championship status in 1988. But the tyre giants, MRF chipped in once again, but the pandemic hit corporate got involved only as an Associate Sponsor. The event, which has been continuously organised by the Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC), annually since 1975, save for a couple of years, was hit by the pandemic last year after it was dropped from the calendar in 2020.
However, the 45th edition to be held from March 11 to 13, has attracted 53 entries with giants Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif beginning as strong contenders. Musa, 50, a native of Kasargod, is knocking on the doors of a huge record as he steps into the Rally car for his personal milestone of 300 rallies, in a non-stop motor sports career of 30 years that began in 1993 as a teenager.
Musa Sherif – all set for 300th Rally of his career. Photo: Anand Philar After a ceremonial flag-off in Bengaluru at the Fairfield Marriott on Friday evening, the action shifts to the Special Stages near Tumakuru, about 65 Kms from the State capital, for a two-day competition on Saturday and Sunday. The total distance of the Rally is 159.82 km of which 121.72 km forms the competitive section.
Clerk-of-the-Course (CoC) Praneeth Perumal said: “The Karnataka Motor Sports Club welcomes all the competitors to the iconic Karnataka-1000 Rally which we are organising after a gap of two years. The response has been good, going by the 53 entries we have received.
“Being one of the oldest rallies in India, K-1000 occupies a special place in the country’s motorsport ethos. The event was held every year without a break for over four decades before the pandemic interrupted. The Special Stages, located near Tumakuru, are fairly quick and smooth. We do hope that the competitors have a safe, successful and enjoyable run this weekend.”
Fabid Ahmer, who lost the 2019 championship by a whisker, losing in road penalties, will be gunning to challenge JK Tyre’s big brother and Guru Gaurav Gill, at K1000. The FMSCI INRC 2021 comprises of three rounds – Rally of Coimbatore (Feb 25-27), Karnataka-1000 (March 11-13) and the South India Rally (Chennai, March 25-27).
With barely a fortnight’s turnaround time between the first round in Coimbatore and the Karnataka-1000, the service crews of the competitors have been working overtime to get the cars in shape after many of them received a pounding in the first round which saw 33 retirements across all categories, including seven times National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif).
Delhi-based Gill, 40, the triple FIA Asia-Pacific Rally champion and Arjuna Award winner, will be keen to add a seventh K-1000 crown after last winning it in 2017.
Apart from favourite Gill, the performance of Coimbatore round winner (Overall and INRC-3), Aditya Thakur (co-driver Virender Kashyap) from Himachal, will be closely watched. The 32-year old farmer from Rasol showed good pace to pick up 38 of the maximum 40 points and heads the Overall leaderboard, nine clear of second-placed Fabid Ahmer (G Sanath) from Palakkad, with Gurugram’s Sahil Khanna (KN Harish, Bengaluru), a further three points adrift in third.
Mujeeb Rehman, who was briefly in Yellow Colours after his class win in Itanagar last year, is back in favourite Greens, leading the INRC 4 class. The leaders in other categories of the National championship, promoted by the FMSCI, after Round-1 are: Fabid Ahmer (co-driver G Sanath) in INRC-2; Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) in Overall and INRC-3; Kasargod’s Mujeeb Rehman (co-driver Ravindra Kumar, Bengaluru)) in INRC-4; Coimbatore’s Raghuram Saminathan (Bharat Sargur, Bengaluru) in Junior INRC.
Gurugram’s Rupender Sheoran (Mohit Malik, Faridabad) heads the non-championship FMSCI Gypsy Challenge category.
About the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021
The Indian National Rally Championship 2021, promoted by The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India is segregated into five categories based on various specifications, the INRC, INRC-2, INRC-3, INRC-4 and Junior INRC (26 years and below, and without a win).
Competitors are eligible for Overall classification and also separately in their respective categories. The top-15 finishers are eligible for points ranging from 30 to 1. The five quickest on each of the two days (Leg-1 and Leg-2) and in each category receive bonus points (5 points for 1st…, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th and 1 for 5th) in the respective Legs only if they complete the Rally and bring the car home (Parc Ferme). The maximum points that can be won in each round is 40. A stand-alone sixth category, the FMSCI Gypsy Challenge, restricted to Maruti Gypsy, completes the grid. The gypsy drivers are not eligible for championship points or classification.
-
Sahil Khanna and Harish KN move up to Overall 2nd
Coimbatore, February 27: The Stewards of the Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 with MRF T yres as Associate Sponsor, disqualified the crew of Maninder Singh Prince (Delhi) and co-driver Vinay Padmashali (Bengaluru) for an infringement and following a post-event complaint reported by the chief scrutineer, here on Sunday.
Accordingly, the results were revised as below with the tandem of Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) and co-driver KN Harish (Bengaluru) being moved up a slot to third Overall and second in INRC-2 category.
The infringement was with regard to removal of his car from parc ferme when it was closed and therefore not being present for the post-event scrutiny. The Stewards summoned Prince for a hearing before disqualifying him. Provisionally, Prince had finished third in Overall classification and second in the INRC-3 category.The revised final results:
Overall / INRC: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (02Hrs, 03mins, 29.5secs); 2. Fabid Ahmer / G Sanath (both Palakkad) (02:04:29.2); 3. Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) / KN Harish (Bengaluru) (02:05:03.4).
INRC-2: 1. Fabid Ahmer / G Sanath (both Palakkad) (02:04:29.2); 2. Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (02:05:03.4); 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / AG Somayya (both Mangaluru) (02:06:25.7);
INRC-3: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (02:03:29.5); 2. Syed Salman Ahmed (Mysuru) / Rishab BK (Mangaluru) (02:06:08.6); 3. Byram Godrej (Pune) / Varun Satyanaranaya (Bengaluru) (02:06:15.6).
INRC-4: 1. Mujeeb Rehman (Kasargod) / Ravindra Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:12:18.3); 2. Deepak Chandra / Kenith Harsha (both Bengaluru) (02:24:39.6); 3. P Ananth Kumar / GM Manjunath (both Bengaluru) (02:29:18.0).
Junior INRC (only 2 finishers): 1. Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) / Bharath Sargur (Bengaluru) (02:17:16.5); 2. Shivani Pruthvi (Davangere) / Deeksha Balakrishna (Bengaluru) (02:22:45.2).
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Malik (Faridabad) (02:13:46.0); 2. Sanjay Agarwal / Smitha Prasad (both Bengaluru) (02:15:17.7); 3. Mettuchetty Venkatapathy / S Santosh Kumar (both Coimbatore) (02:17:15.4).
-
Aditya Thakur & Virender Kashyap clinch Rally of Coimbatore in style: INRC Ro.1
Coimbatore, 27 Feb 2022: Aditya Thakur, a farmer from Himachal Pradesh, along with his co-driver Virender Kashyap, scripted a dream-win in the Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 of which MRF Tyres is the Associate Sponsor, here on Sunday.
The overall result changed after the Stewards meeting which disqualified Maninder Singh Prince and co-driver Vinay Padmashali for removing their car from Parc Ferme at a time when it would amount to an infringement. Thus, defending champions in their class Sahil Khanna and Harish moved to Overall third place. Read the report here.
It was a day of dramatic twists and turns as the tricky Special Stages took a heavy toll of the top contenders in the Coimbatore Auto Sports Club-organised season-opener. Favourite and 7-times National champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), overnight leader Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pail), Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) who led briefly today after moving up from overnight fourth, and Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah), who was placed third overall going into Leg-2 today, dropped out due to various issues with their vehicles, thus opening up the path for 32-year old Thakur’s maiden win.
Thakur, taking part in the INRC-3 category but eligible for Overall classification, thus notched his maiden Overall win in a National Championship since his INRC debut in 2018, also at Coimbatore. “I am absolutely delighted with my maiden win in the National championship. We made a small mistake yesterday which put us in second position overnight. Today, I decided to just go for it and did not back off though I was a bit careful.
“The MRF tyres were simply fantastic in terms of the grip and durability. Also, Chettinad Sporting built this car like a tank. So, I was able to push. A big thanks also to Sanjay Sikand (ex-Rally driver) whose birthday it is today, for nurturing my skills from when I was eight years old. My family and friends who pooled in some money to help me take part in the championship, were of a great support,” said an emotional Thakur.
Meanwhile, Gill, who had retired yesterday with an electrical problem, but rejoined today under the Super Rally format, was the quickest for much of the day until his second retirement while Palakkad’s Fabid Ahmer (G Sanath) was among the most impressive performers on the day by clocking some fast times which took him up the leaderboard and finish Overall second, and first in INRC-2 category.
A very dejected Kadur said: “We had to pack up due to some electrical issues which we are trying to understand and sort out. We started having issues like drop in power towards the end of today’s first Stage. Then, two Kms into the second Stage, the car stalled entering a corner. We tried everything to start and continue, but just couldn’t. It is another learning lesson, though expensive in terms of losing from a winning position.”
The winners in the other categories were: Mujeeb Rehman (Ravindra Kumar) in INRC-4, Raghuram Saminathan (Bharath Sargur) in Junior INRC and Rupender Sheoran (Mohit Malik) in FMSCI Gypsy Challenge.
Provisional results (after Leg-2):
Overall / INRC: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (02Hrs, 03mins, 29.5secs); 2. Fabid Ahmer / G Sanath (both Palakkad) (02:04:29.2); 3.
Maninder Singh Prince (Delhi) / Vinay Padmashali (Bengaluru) (02:04:36.8).3. Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (02:05:03.4); (Note: Result revised after Stewards meeting penalty, late evening)INRC-2: 1. Fabid Ahmer / G Sanath (both Palakkad) (02:04:29.2); 2. Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (02:05:03.4); 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / AG Somayya (both Mangaluru) (02:06:25.7);
INRC-3: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (02:03:29.5); 2. Maninder Singh Prince (Delhi) / Vinay Padmashali (Bengaluru) (02:04:36.8); 3. Syed Salman Ahmed (Mysuru) / Rishab BK (Mangaluru) (02:06:08.6).
INRC-4: 1. Mujeeb Rehman (Kasargod) / Ravindra Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:12:18.3); 2. Deepak Chandra / Kenith Harsha (both Bengaluru) (02:24:39.6); 3. P Ananth Kumar / GM Manjunath (both Bengaluru) (02:29:18.0).
Junior INRC (only 2 finishers): 1. Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) / Bharath Sargur (Bengaluru) (02:17:16.5); 2. Shivani Pruthvi (Davangere) / Deeksha Balakrishna (Bengaluru) (02:22:45.2).
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Malik (Faridabad) (02:13:46.0); 2. Sanjay Agarwal / Smitha Prasad (both Bengaluru) (02:15:17.7); 3. Mettuchetty Venkatapathy / S Santosh Kumar (both Coimbatore) (02:17:15.4).
-
Karna Kadur jumps into the lead; Gaurav Gill retires after setting blistering pace
Coimbatore, February 26: On a day of shock exits, Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) took the overall lead in the Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021, here on Saturday.
Driving a Volkswagen Polo, Kadur, supported by MRF Tyres, enjoyed lead of over one minute in the Overall standings after four loops of the extremely dusty Special Stages ahead of Himachal Pradesh’s Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) and Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah) who, however, is placed first in INRC-2 category. Thakur leads the INRC-3 class at the end of Leg-1.
The Rally, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club with MRF Tyres as the associate sponsor, will conclude on Sunday when the two physical Special Stages will be run twice in the reverse order. The scheduled start is at 8:48 am.
This morning, 7-times National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) packed up after SS-2 due to an electrical issue with their Mahindra XUV 300 and when he was ahead by 49 seconds. Also to retire was 2019 champion Chetan Shivram (Dilip Sharan) from Bengaluru with a broken drive-shaft in SS-1. Both Gill and Shivram, however, will rejoin the rally on Sunday in a bid to secure Leg points.
Kadur, despite nil seat time, showed tremendous pace. “I made some mistakes with the set-up for the first loop, but otherwise, enjoyed a good run despite not having any seat time in the car ahead of the rally,” said Kadur.
On his part, Thakur whose driving skills are honed in the mountains of Himachal, was fortunate to survive a crash after his Polo hit a tree in SS-1, damaging the front fender. “The incident did not really affect the performance of the car. I had good pace today and hopefully, we will do better tomorrow,” said Thakur.
Mascarenhas, supported by JK Tyres, came away with a bent rear wheel after his Volkswagen Polo slammed into a tree, but had enough pace to lead in the INRC-2 category. “We hit a tree sideways. One of the wheels got bent, but I managed to keep the car on the track. The pace, otherwise, was good. Tomorrow, I will continue with the bent wheel and hopefully, will be able to make time on the leaders,” said Mascarenhas.
Meanwhile, fancied Fabid Ahmer (G Sanath) from Palakkad, who is considered a front-runner for a podium finish, had a disappointing day after suffering a puncture on SS-1 and he continued with it in SS-2 before changing the tyre at the service halt. It pushed him to fourth in Overall standings. “We lost some two minutes due to the puncture. We had no time to change the wheel between the Stages. In the second loop, we made about 40 seconds. So, I will push hard tomorrow,” said Ahmer.
Provisional results (after Leg-1):
Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports, Bengaluru) (01hr, 00: 06.2secs); 2. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal Pradesh) (01:01:42.2); 3. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Virajpet) (01:02:03.3).
INRC-2: 1. Mascarenhas / Karumbaiah (01:02:03.3); 2. Sahil Khanna (Gurugram) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (01:02:16.0); 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / AG Somayya (Mangaluru) (01:03.03.1).
INRC-3: 1. Thakur / Kashyap (01:01:42.2); 2. Maninder Singh Prince (Delhi) / Vinay Padmashali (Bengaluru) (01:02:18.0); 3. Byram Godrej (Pune) / Varun (Bengaluru) (01:02.58.1).
INRC-4: 1. Vaibhav Marathe (Goa) / Dinesh S (Shivamogga) (01:07:22.7); 2. Mujeeb Rehman (Kasargod) / Ravindra Kumar (Bengaluru) (01:07:24.8); 3.Shivani Parmar / Dr Vani Parmar (both Mumbai) (01:08:35.4).
Junior INRC: 1. Pragati B / Trisha Jagannath (both Bengaluru) (01:04:03.6); 2. Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) / Bharath Sargur (Bengaluru) (01:05.52.3) 3. Shivani Pruthvi (Davangere) / Deeksha Balakrishna (Bengaluru) (01:14:16.2).
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Malik (Faridabad) (01:05:12.8); 2. Sanjay Agarwal / Smitha Prasad (both Bengaluru) (01:06:26.0); 3. Mettuchetty Venkatapathy / S Santosh Kumar (both Coimbatore) (01:08:38.2).
-
Gill terms new Coimbatore stages at twisty and tricky
Coimbatore, 25 Feb 2022: Seven-time National champion Gaurav Gill feels that the new dirt terrain is challenging as it is very twisty and tricky despite some parts of flowing corners and fast stretches as he looks forward to the Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the 3-round fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2021 which was flagged off here on Friday.
Organised by the Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) with MRF as the associate sponsors, the 120-km stage rally has attracted 57 entries in the four National championship classes for INRC Overall championship, INRC2, INRC3 and INRC4 spec cars.
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif will start as strong favourites as they look for the record-breaking eighth INRC National title with young guns Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai looking to upset the applecart of three-time APRC champion. The others in the 7-team INRC line-up are teammates Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik also in a Mahindra SUV while experienced campaigners Arjun Rao and navigator Sathish Rajagopal (Baleno) along with Younus Iiyas and Aniruddha Ranganekar in a Cedia and newcomers, Arnav Pratap Singh and Suraj Keshav Prasad in a VW Polo 1.6.
The INRC2 class spearheaded by 2020 champion Sahil Khanna, who have seven cars including Fabid Ahmer, who moved up after winning the INRC3 title last year. INRC3 has attracted a huge number of 23 cars and INRC4 category has 9 cars. The Gypsy Cup (11) and Junior INRC will be support classes. There will three all-ladies cars among the nine lady entries, as they will be competing on equal terms.
Earlier, CASC President and Clerk of the Course (CoC) welcomed everyone to the new INRC season and said the club had found new stages which are smooth and fast. “The earlier windmill stages at Kethanoor had their own charm but are very harsh and hard on the drivers and cars. The new dirt stages are smooth but challenging and we hope the drivers will like them,” he said about the two 15-km physical stages, Black Thunder and SM Agro, which will be run twice in the forward direction on Saturday and twice each again, in the reverse direction on Sunday.
In the pre-event Press Conference, Gaurav Gill said: “It was a long break for all of us and it is good to be here as rallying is what we love to do. The terrain is not the typical Coimbatore stages. The dirt stages are slippery and it is difficult to generate traction in some parts of the stages. So it is important to keep the right momentum as it will be no walk in the park.” Preparing the pace notes after the recce on Friday morning, his co-driver Musa Sherif, who is doing his 294th rally, agreed and said: “I had to do 95 pages of notes for the 60km.”
-
Anil Abbas and Sini win Mangaluru RRPM TSD event
Mangaluru, 26 Dec 2021: RRPM Adventure Regularity Run, an Open event TSD rally sponsored by JK Tyre concluded here with local couple Anil Abbas and Sini Anil bagging the Overall Victory on Sunday. The event is also supported by AJ Hospital and Research Centre.
Indian Motor Sports Club (IMSC), founded by celebrated navigator Musa Sherif and INRC rally co-driver Ashwin Naik, two decades back, handled the event meticulously. IMSC ran the event for Ramakrishna Race Performance Management (RRPM) of Kolkata in the coastal city of Mangaluru.
Anil Abbas and his wife Sini completed the Time, Speed, Distance rally clocking a penalty time of 00:00:49 beating another local pair Dr Vikram Jain and navigator, a champion co-driver Shruptha Padival, a regular for Deam Mascarenhas in INRC (Dean did not take part in this TSD event). Vikram logged a penalty of 55, as they took 6 seconds more to complete the undisclosed course of the rally using the Road Book and maintaining the required slow speeds consistently. Anoop and Devakanth GM, missed the second place on the podium, by a narrow margin of one second, and came a creditable third.
TSD specialist Lalitha Gowda (right) with a new driver in Manjula Gowda receiving the trophy from IMSC’s Mrs Ramya Ashwin. Akhil Nayak and Nausha KM came fourth ahead of Dr Raghavendra Pidamale and Muralidhara Rao in fifth. Popular pair of Manjula Gowda and Lalitha Naik, could only finish sixth. Another JK Tyre lady driver, a INRC regular, Athira Murali, a gifted AutoVlogger from Kerala, combined with Saumya PN, and it was a top-10 finish for the only all-ladies team. The Speed Demon from Kottayam must have found the pace too slow for her liking. TSD drivers get a speed chart according to which the navigators need to calculate the Time, Speed, Distance to match the average speeds in different sections, that are usually less than the normal road speeds for general traffic in that area. Navigators with the help of odometres and special devices calculate and follow the ‘tulip’, a road book with directions prepared by the Route Setter.
Athira Murali (2nd from right) and Saumya (right), the all-ladies team at Mangaluru. IMSC are experts in Route survey, Time Control rallies, preparing Marshals, and doing Paper work for a rally, especially in preparing Supplementary Regulations. “We have organised many rallies in Karnataka, we are associated with many INRC events and other biggies like The Desert Storm, The Hornbill Rally of Nagaland, the Rally of Arunachal, and other events all over North-East region,” said Musa Sherif, who has completed 298 rallies till now as a motorsports athlete. Organisers of motor sports events look for Clubs like IMSC to run events professionally in India.
-
FMSCI statement: Rally de Vizag, INRC 4w season
As expected, the Federation of Motors Sports Clubs of India (fmsci) released a Statement on the INRC 4w 2021 fiasco as the season failed to take off. However, it absolves itself and appears to have blamed only the Promoter for all the ills and the circumstances leaving the Drivers in the lurch. However, it has to be seen how much money would the Clubs receive to host the remaining three rounds.
It is also clear that the privateers, drivers and teams, will not get any compensation as expected and demanded by the Promoter. Only solace for the Factory team drivers, as JK Tyre is likely to compensate the 8 or 9 drivers who are in Yellow colours. With not many in the Red colours, virtually all the other 45 will have to fend for themselves.
-
INRC 4w 2021 season curtailed to 3 rounds
By David Bodapati, Indian Rally Historian (Check-out INRC Hall of Fame)
Bengaluru, 23 Dec 2021: Many a rally lover might feel sad that there was no National rally in India in the year 2021, thanks to the second wave of Carona. But there appears to be a much worse killer virus that has been doing the rounds and, haunting the sport. However, the good news is that the fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for four-wheelers for the year 2021 will begin in the New Year (2022) but it will be restricted to three rounds. The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs (fmsci) in India is preparing to put out a “Statement” on the eve of Christmas, according to reliable sources.
As already announced by the “erstwhile” Promoter, the season was scheduled to begin with the first round in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, from Dec 16 to 19 but the local city police chief, an IAS officer, played spoilsport and the lack of Police Permission to run on the “street roads” adjacent to the Bay of Bengal beaches forced the organisers to abruptly call off the rally, leaving all the 54 drivers who landed in the “City of Destiny’ on a forced vacation around the picturesque beaches, but with no joy.
Vizag is a cosmopolitan city, with a culture similar to Bengaluru and unlike Hyderabad and Vijayawada, a commercial hub, the port city is a popular tourist destination. The planned stages were supposed to be held on the Vizag-Bheemli beach road, which saw many Hill Climbs and TSDs, that have been running here for over three decades, one of the main organisers two decades back being Kalinga Naval base. But with most of the riders and drivers moving to Cities, the local organisers became inactive. Near the beach road, there also existed an fmsci-approved Karting track that hosted the 2012 Nationals final round of Rotax Max event. It was washed away by the cyclone in 2017 and rendered useless as the tarmac became bumpy.
Coming back to INRC, the remaining three rounds, the K1000 in January, the Rally of Coimbatore in February and the South India Rally in March are expected to take place on the same dates which were announced earlier and confirmed by the the Federation (FMSCI) calendar on Dec 21. Former Federation Presidents Bharath Vivek Chandhok of MMSC, Prithiviraj of CASC and current Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) President Gautam Shantappa, an F1 Marshal, confirmed that the clubs are ready to host the three rounds as scheduled. KMSC appears to be ready with the SR, as the route for this year’s rally is expected to be the same one that was prepared for last year’s K1000 (but not held). Supplementary Regulations are usually released one month before the event to facilitate smooth logistics for the participants. So the SR should be out in a day or two, if everything goes well.
However, the finances are an issue but the Rally Commission for four-wheelers which met on Dec 22 seems to have addressed the issue. The clubs are likely to get Rs.8 lakhs each from the Federation, from the money that was paid by the Promoter to the Federation as INRC bidding fees. The Promoter has paid Rs.75 lakhs for the three-year contract which began in 2019, but the Federation exteneded the rights for one more year for all the Promoters of all the 12 National championships due to COVID 19. There is no clarity on how it works for those who have bid for five years like Madras Motor Sport Club, which is the promoter for three Nationals. The clubs are expected to fend for themselves and look for sponsors to raise the remaining money to organise one round of the Rally Nationals. Conservative estimates, experts feel, put the cost at around Rs.20 lakh to run one round of rally, while a decently-run rally with minimum facilities for all the participants and other stakeholders needs an amount of about Rs.30 lakhs, a former RallyCom member said.
The cureent Rally commission is headed by chairman Farokh Commissariat. There are rumours that the Promoter has resigned after Rally de Vizag failed to take off while some claim that the Federation has used the termination clause. Either way, the INRC will be without a Promoter for 2021. The worst-ever Calendar year in the three-decade INRC history was the two-round 2012 season. Most of the years had five rounds while nine rounds were hosted in 1995 and 1996. Leelakrishnan, Gaurav Gill, Naren Kumar and Hari Singh and navigators Musa Sherif, Farooq Ahmed, Ram Kumar, are some of the most decorated stalwarts in INRC 33-year history. Many unsung heroes too had their occasional glory but suffered team orders or reasons beyond their control.
Driver-friendly news?
Whatever may be the situation, the good news is that the Promoter recommended to FMSCI that each participant who registered for Vizag rally be paid a compensation of Rs.1.5 lakh from the Rs.50 lakh which he claimed is with the Federation as the 2021 season is yet to start. It is a simple logic that all the monies a Sports Federation earns must be pumped back into the sport. It is time for all the stakeholders to realise that, ultimately it is the Sportpersons, who keep the sport alive. Not the Federation, not the organisers, not the former sportspersons, not the Media, et al. Will the Drivers and teams get back the money they spent on Rally de Vizag is a million-dollar question. All the drivers know and organisers know these answers.
TIME TO RESPECT THE RIDERS AND DRIVERS! They have been taken for granted for too long. Only when this simple issue is sorted out, one will know who are the sinners, who are the saviours of Motorsports in India!
