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Jehan Daruvala wins another race; Kush adds some points: Asia F3
Abu Dhabi, 7 Feb 2021: Mumbai Falcons’ Jehan Daruvala brought down the curtain on two back-to-back rounds here on a glorious note, winning Race 3 of Round 3 of the Formula 3 Asian Championship from start to finish on Sunday evening.
His three victories and two second-place finishes over four days elevated him in the points table to second position after he had briefly slipped to third in the morning. Debutant Mumbai Falcons too climb to the second place in the Team Standings, with 2 rounds and 6 races remaining in the Championship.
“As a new team, we are constantly learning and getting better. For the first time in the championship, we have had both our cars in the points in every race. It’s great to be second in the Team’s Standing, and we hope to get even better,” Moid Tungekar, CEO of Mumbai Falcons, said.
“I was happy with the pace we had in Race 3. I was able to control my pace the way I wanted. It feels good to be back on the top step of the podium. The race in the morning was not ideal. I’m looking forward to relaxing for a few days and then focusing on a good Round 4,” Jehan said.
Every racer is allowed two sets of tyres per weekend and India’s top racing star smartly held back his fresh set of tyres for the last race, to make the most of his pole advantage that he had won during the qualifying rounds on Saturday.
Jehan Daruvala, car #19, in action before he won the Race 3 in Round 3 of the Asia F3 series at Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Photo by Ishaan Bhataiya / Red Bull Content Pool Jehan had an excellent start from pole, and led into the first corner. China’s Guanyu Zhou, starting second, followed Jehan while the two Frenchmen behind them were almost side by side. Isack Hadjar, starting from fourth, however, managed to overtake Championship leader Pierre-Louis Chovet to climb into the third position.
Zhou soon mounted a challenge on Jehan and came right beside him, but couldn’t get past him. The Indian held his nerve and soon settled into a good rhythm and reeled out a series of quick laps to open up a small gap on Zhou.
A brief safety car period neutralised Jehan’s lead, though. But once the safety car pulled into the pits, Jehan made an excellent restart and immediately pulled away from Zhou. Jehan posted a couple of fastest laps and cemented his lead to win ahead of Zhou, while Hadjar finished third.
Mumbai Falcons picked up a few more points, thanks to Kush Maini having another good race. Kush also had a good start and quickly gained two positions. He was involved in a thrilling battle with Lorenzo Fluxa, who tried to overtake him for most of the race. Kush drove a highly intelligent, defensive race to keep Fluxa behind and finished eighth.
The grid for Race 2, earlier in the day, was based on the fastest lap from Race 1. Kush Maini continued his fine form from Saturday. He started tenth and soon made up a couple of places. He then made an incredible move to dive down the inside of Williams F1 Junior Driver, Roy Nissany.
Kush somehow made it stick and got ahead of Nissany, who then mounted several overtaking attempts, with the duo banging wheels on more than one occasion. The Indian however held on and eventually Nissany had a separate incident and retired. Kush climbed up to eventually finish seventh, right behind Jehan who had a forgettable race starting and finishing sixth.
Round 4 will take place next weekend at the Dubai Autodrome.
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Jehan Daruvala manages 2nd for fourth podium
Abu Dhabi, 6 Feb 2021: Mumbai Falcons’ Jehan Daruvala continued to sparkle in the Formula 3 Asian Championship, grabbing the second position in Race 1 of Round 3 here at the Yas Marina International Circuit late on Saturday evening.
After winning two out of the three races in Round 2 over the last two days, India’s top racer underlined his form by grabbing a Double Pole in the two qualifying sessions in the morning.
This is his fourth consecutive podium finish over three nerve-wracking days. On Sunday, the last two races of the round will take place.
The Mumbai Falcons duo of Jehan Daruvala and Kush Maini seemed to be in their elements as the action began. Jehan straightaway went to the top of the time sheet, on his first flying lap itself. His laptime of 1:53.399 earned him his third pole position of the Championship.
Chovet, 0.190 slower, came in second while Alpine F1 Junior Guanyu Zhou from China took the third position.
Jehan did well in the second qualifying session too, immediately going to the top of the time sheets to earn his second consecutive Pole position. Zhou and Chovet were second and third respectively.
Jehan did not have the best of starts from Pole in Race 1 though. Chovet made the best of the opportunity to reach the first corner even before Jehan. Zhou also had a sluggish start but managed to retain third.
Chovet steadily began to openup a small lead and Jehan could not catch him. But Zhou who was close on his tail made sure that he remained alert.
Mumbai Falcons’ Kush Maini, meanwhile, had a good race even though he started from eleventh. He overtook 2 cars on the run down to the first corner moving into ninth. A few corners later Kush managed to overtake yet another car, to move into eighth. A few laps later Kush was up into seventh and drove an excellent defensive race. Eventually he dropped back down to eighth.
The starting grid for Race 2 is based on the fastest lap from Race 1, which means Chovet will start on Pole while Jehan will from sixth position and Kush from tenth. Race 3, though, will see Jehan start from pole.
“After the bad luck I have had with engine issues and a brake pump failure and multiple incidents on track which were out of my control, I just wanted to have a clean race and get some points for the team. I am now much happier and confident of doing better tomorrow.” Kush Maini said.
“After being on pole in both qualifying sessions, it is disappointing to fall to second. I did not have the pace to challenge for the lead. But we will work hard, and I am looking forward to the races tomorrow,” Jehan, who relinquished his championship lead to Chovet, said.
Moid Tungekar, CEO of Mumbai Falcons, said: “The championship is very competitive at the top. We have had 3 separate championship leaders before the halfway mark in the championship. Tomorrow’s races are going to be exciting to watch.”
Race 2 and Race 3 will be streamed live from Abu Dhabi, on the Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited YouTube Channel.
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FMSCI curtails INRC 2020 for 4-Wheeler season to 3 rounds
Chennai, 5 Feb 2020: The Rally Commission of the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India (FMSCI) announced on Friday that the 2020-21 Indian National Rally Championship stands concluded after penultimate Round 3 in Coimbatore as the minimum criteria for the Championship to hold was three rounds taking into account the Covid-19 pandemic.
The points accumulated in each category over the three rounds will help in deciding the respective winners, according to a press release by the FMSCI.
Rally Commission chairman Farokh Commissariat revealed that the Council deliberated at length the circumstances and issues that had developed in the last few days.
Gaurav Gill, left, and Musa Sherif after winning the 7th title at Coimbatore recently. “But due to unavoidable operational and non-operational issues it became virtually impossible to even consider postponing as that would adversely affect next year’s calendar, which has to begin shortly.” it added.
It may be recalled the 2020 season had got severely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns across the country.
“Despite all hiccups all our prime National championships for 2020 were completed. The INRC also seemed to be on course but due to unforeseen circumstances all 4 rounds as planned before launch, could not be completed within the stipulated time frame,” the Chairman Rally Commission said.
Champions of INRC 4w 2020 (Provisional)
Team Anumolu sponsored Sahil Khanna of Snap Racing team along with co-driver Vidit Jain emerged as the Champions in INRC2 class for 2020 season. Photo by David Bodapati With the cancellation of the K1000 round, the fourth and final round of the Indian National Rally Championship 2020 for four-wheelers, the following emerged as champions from the points they garnered after the three rounds. The first two back-to-back rounds were held at Itanagar on Dec 16 and 17, and Dec 19 and 20. The third round was held in Coimbatore on January 30 and 31.
Gaurav Gill, who swept all the three rounds winning with much to spare, emerged as a deserving champion as he conquered the INRC for the 7th time to join all-time legends club along with Naren Kumar as he surpassed another giant N Leelakrishnan’s number of 6 Driver Championship titles. His Co-driver Musa Sherif too is on seventh heaven with his 7th title.
In INRC2, Sahil Khanna emerged as the champion in INRC2 ahead of Dean Mascarenhas (77) and Rahul Kantharaj (65).
In INRC3, while Fabid Ahmer with 98 points from three rounds won the class, Aditya Thakur (90) and Maninder Singh Prince (84) finished second and third respectively.
Defending champion Vaibhav Marathe became champion in the INRC4 class garnering 67 points with Mujeeb Rehman second with 61 points and Mysore’s Rohit Iyer third with 58 points as the three leg 1 points helped him to edge out Khyati Mody who did not take part in the third round.
Yokohama manager flanked by Vaibhav Marathe, right, and Suhan M Kabir at Coimbatore on Jan 31. Photo by David Bodapati As per Final Audited Points Table:
Champion Drivers: INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill; 2. Karna Kadur; 3. Fabid Ahmer. Co-Drivers: 1. Musa Sherif; 2. Nikhil Pai; 3. Eldo Chacko.
INRC2: 1. Sahil Khanna 78; 2. Dean Mascarenhas 77; 3. Rahul Kantharaj 62; Co-drivers: 1. Vidit Jain 83; 2. Shruptha Padival 77; 3. Vivek Bhatt 66;
INRC2 Team: 1. Snap Racing; (Sahil Khanna 117; Lakshay 24) Total=141;
INRC3: 1. Fabid Ahmer 98; 2. Aditya Thakur 90; 3. Maninder Singh Prince 86; Co-drivers: 1. Eldo Chacko 98; 2. Virender Kashyap 90; 3. Vinay Kumar Padmashali 86;
INRC3 Team: 1. Snap Racing; (Maninder 77; Amer Beg 7; Arjun Rao 7) Total =91.
INRC4: 1. Vaibhav Marathe 68; 2. Mujeeb Rehman 65; 3. Rohit Iyer 55; Co-drivers: 1. Suhan MK (68); 2. Goutham CP (65); 3. Manjunath (62); (Corrected restoring Goutham to 2nd)
Junior INRC Drivers: 1. Harikrishan Wadia 77; 2. Pragathi Gowda 70; 3. Rohit Iyer 49;
Gypsy Challenge (No National Championship Status): 1. Sanjay Razdan 90; 2. Daksh Gill 74; 3. Mohd. Kaif Khan 64;
Gypsy Co-drivers: 1. Karan Aukta 90; 2. Mrinmoy Saha 82; 3. Arjun Dheerendra 68.
Editor’s note: Rankings were corrected with official rankings released on 19feb2021 by official time keeper VGoNext; Results will be provisional and only treated as final post 25 Feb 2021 after 5pm.
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Honda extends commitment to MotoGP for 5 more years
Aalst (Belgium), 5 Feb 2021: Honda will continue to add to their illustrious history in Grand Prix racing as an agreement is signed with Dorna Sports S.L. to compete for the next five years, from 2022 to 2026, a similar release from Dorna and Honda said.
A journey which began in 1954 when Honda’s founder, Soichiro Honda, declared entry into the Isle of Man TT, the premier motorcycle racing event of the era, with the aim of becoming the best in the world. This journey has so far seen 100 different riders win on Honda machines and amass over 800 wins across all categories. In the premier class alone, Honda has claimed 850 podiums and 25 Rider World Championships, more than any other brand in history.
The journey will continue for at least five more years as Honda have agreed with commercial rights holder and series promoter Dorna Sports S.L. to guarantee their place on the grid until 2026.
Noriaki Abe, Managing Officer, Motorcycle Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd: “First, I would like to express my respect and gratitude to Carmelo Ezpeleta and everyone at Dorna Sports for their hard work in organizing races during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am very pleased that we have renewed our contract to compete in MotoGP from 2022 to 2026.
“Honda has been competing in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship since 1959, and won its 800th Grand Prix last year. Honda believes MotoGP racing is vital to our motorsports activities. MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing – it allows us to develop various technologies, and through fierce competition, teach our engineers and nurture their skills. With these engineers working on the development of production vehicles, Honda can create better products for its customers. Honda will continue to bring dreams and joy to its customers worldwide through its motorsports activities, including MotoGP.”
Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports: “This important announcement brings great pride to MotoGP because Honda is one of the first names that comes to our mind when we think about motorcycling racing. The Japanese manufacturer has been such an important part of the past, present and future of the FIM MotoGP World Championship and this renewal reinforces, even more, the commitment between both parties.”
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Jehan Daruvala wins a thrilling battle for 2nd Asia F3 win for Mumbai Falcons
Abu Dhabi, 5 Feb 2021: Mumbai Falcons and Jehan Daruvala continued their winning spree with a 2nd consecutive victory in the Asian Formula 3 Championship. A thrilling battle kept fans on their toes as Jehan had to fight tooth and nail to win Race 2 and also completed a hat trick of podiums to finish second in Race 3 and move into the championship lead.
The Mumbai resident and the Red Bull Junior driver, had a near perfect launch from pole position and held his position into the first corner. Behind him, Isack Hadjar of France also held onto second, while championship leader Guanyu Zhou dropped a position to allow Dino Beganovic into third. The first few laps were uneventful and once the top few settled into a rhythm, Hadjar seemed to have more pace than Jehan. He soon started piling on the pressure, with numerous attempts which did not stick. Hadjar then had a good run out of the corkscrew section and came alongside Jehan. The two entered the corner side by side, but Jehan held on.
A few laps later a similar situation repeated, this time however, the duo went side by side for more than one corner. This allowed Beganovic in third, to also pull alongside Jehan. In the run down to the braking zone, it was three cars wide with barely centimetres between the cars. The Mumbai Falcons’ racer in the middle of the sandwich, momentarily fell behind the duo. He was the bravest though, and braked last, allowing him to surge ahead. Jehan somehow managed to stay on track and held the lead.
Proceedings settled for a bit, before Hadjar made another attempt, but Jehan was able to fend that off in spite of Hadjar pulling ahead slightly. Jehan held off a final attempt on the last lap as well, and crossed the finish line to take his second consecutive victory. Hadjar and Beganovic were second and third respectively.
The grid for Race 3 of Round 2 was based on the second qualifying session yesterday. Pierre-Louis Chovet from France started on pole and straightaway went into the lead. Championship leader Guanyu Zhou was unable to get going initially and Jehan from third moved into second, with Hadjar third. The championship format allows only 2 sets of tyres per round, to be used and Chovet was on a fresher set of tyres, while Jehan and Hadjar were on an older set, and therefore unable to challenge Chovet, who comfortably won the race. The Mumbai Falcons’ racer was second, ahead of Hadjar.
“I was under a lot of pressure from behind, and was fighting hard to hold my position. Hadjar drove well and I really enjoyed the moment when we were three wide. It was an enjoyable battle and it is good that we were all able to race close and clean.” said Jehan, the new championship leader.
“We were all on edge, watching the really close battle for the lead in race 2. Jehan drove superbly. We must continue working hard and hope we can build on this momentum we have now. We are really proud to have an Indian from an Indian team, lead the championship.” said Moid Tungekar, CEO of Mumbai Falcons.
Racing action will resume tomorrow with Round 3 also in Abu Dhabi, on the same corkscrew layout of the Yas Marina Circuit. Fans can watch the races live on Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited YouTube Channel.
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McLaren F1 team partnership with Coca-Cola to continue
Woking (England), 5 Feb 2021: McLaren Racing on Friday announced a partnership extension with The Coca-Cola Company, which will see the iconic beverage brand continue as the Official Soft Drinks Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 team.
Since McLaren and Coca-Cola first partnered in 2018, a range of commercial activations have engaged consumers globally through the McLaren Formula 1 team. Following the success of the ‘Coke Driven to Deliver’ campaign, in collaboration with Coke customer Amazon in 2020, the brands will continue to work together on new campaigns with the new McLaren F1 driver line-up of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
As part of the partnership, Coca-Cola will maintain branding on the cockpit side of the McLaren MCL35M Formula 1 race cars and on the beverage bottles of Lando and Daniel.
Mark Waller, Chief Commercial Officer, McLaren Racing, said:“Coca-Cola is an iconic brand and one of the biggest consumer brands in the world. We introduced Coca-Cola to Formula 1 three seasons ago since then, our collaboration has created innovative campaigns and activations with fans around the world at their centre. We are delighted to extend our partnership in 2021 and continue to support Coca-Cola and its commercial partners in reaching consumers through McLaren and Formula 1.”
Matthew Tarallo, Global VP, Amazon, The Coca-Cola Company, said:
“We are excited to be extending our partnership with McLaren into the 2021 season. Since 2018, we’ve executed incredibly impactful global activations, leveraging Amazon’s total ecosystem, and providing direct engagement and exclusive offerings to our consumers around the world. I’m looking forward to continuing this powerful partnership to drive joint value and growth into 2021.”
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About McLaren Racing:
McLaren Racing was founded by New Zealand racing driver Bruce McLaren in 1963. The team entered its first Formula 1 race in 1966, since then McLaren has won 20 Formula 1 world championships, more than 180 Formula 1 grands prix, the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt and the Indianapolis 500 three times.
McLaren Racing currently competes in Formula 1 globally and INDYCAR in the US. The team will contest the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. In 2021 McLaren Racing will race in the INDYCAR Series with drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, while Juan Pablo Montoya will compete for the team at the 105th running of the Indy 500 in a third Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.
About The Coca-Cola Company:The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. Our portfolio of brands includes Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and other sparkling soft drinks. Our hydration, sports, coffee and tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo Chico, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak, Honest and Ayataka. Our nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverage brands include Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del Valle, fairlife and AdeS.
We’re constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We seek to positively impact people’s lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across our value chain. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide.
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Jehan Daruvala creates history with Asian F3 win for Mumbai Falcons; Kush 12th
Abu Dhabi, 4 Feb 2021: India’s top racer Jehan Daruvala created history in the Formula 3 Asian Championship, scoring a victory for Mumbai Falcons, all Indian-outfit, here on Thursday evening.
He started on pole and led every lap to comfortably win Race 1 of Round 2 in the continent’s premier championship.
In the first Qualifying session, earlier in the day, Jehan was the only racer on the grid to dip below the 1 min 52 second mark to grab the Pole position ahead of Isack Hadjar from France, who clocked 1:53.051. Chinese racer Guanyu Zhou and championship leader was a close third, posting a lap-time of 1:53.070.
The Mumbai Falcons racer had a good start from pole but Hadjar managed to pull alongside Jehan before braking into Corner 1. Jehan outbraked Hadjar and held his lead exiting the corner. Jehan made no mistakes with a series of consistent laps, preventing any overtaking attempts on him. He soon opened up a lead of 1 second.
Right behind Jehan there was plenty of action. Zhou was on a charge and overtook Hadjar. He soon posted a couple of fast laps and reduced the gap to Jehan to under 0.7 seconds. Soon Jehan was under pressure and the two battled it out for a couple of laps. It was then Jehan’s turn to reel out a series of quick laps and he sped away to consistently lap quicker than the cars behind. Jehan managed to open a gap of over 3 seconds at one point before backing off, to cool his tyres.
On the penultimate lap, Jehan once again gave it everything, and posted the fastest laptime of the race which gives him pole position for race 2 tomorrow. The Indian comfortably crossed the finish line to win Mumbai Falcons their first International victory and the first for an Indian Team in the Asian Formula 3 Championship.
“Qualifying well was crucial. I am happy that I could control the pace from the start. It was important that I get the fastest lap because it puts me on pole for race 2. I want to thank the entire team at Mumbai Falcons for the effort put in.” said an elated Jehan
“We are proud to be the first Indian Team to have won in the Asian F3 Championship. The sleepless nights have finally paid off. We hope to continue the strong showing and have both our cars on top soon.” said Moid Tungekar, CEO of Mumbai Falcons.
Kush Maini meanwhile has endured a tough weekend. He qualified fifteenth but had a good start to quickly make up positions to eventually finish twelfth.
Race 2 and Race 3 will be conducted tomorrow on the same corkscrew layout of the Yas Marina International Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The 4.730 km version of the F1 circuit has produced more overtaking opportunities than the previous rounds. Indian fans can watch the races live on the Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited YouTube Channel.
Jehan Daruvala, the Red Bull Junior driver in action at Asia F3 in Yas Marina on Thrusday. Photos by Ishaan Bhataiya courtesy Red Bull Content Pool
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2020 INRC season ends with a bang at Utsav de Hampi
Bengaluru, 3 Feb 2021: The COVID19-hit 2020 season ends with a bang after Utsav de Hampi, in Bengaluru with the 45th K-1000. Even as the four-wheel contender for Indian National Rally Championship 2021 gets ready to host the mega event at Hampi from Feb 5 to 7 as part of Motorsports Festival with four major events, the rally season with a reduced four-round calendar will conclude a week later on Feb 14, the valentine’s day, near Bengaluru.
Including a successfully conducted MRF MoGrip two-wheeler Indian National Rally Championship (INRC2w) that showcased nine champions of the 2020 with the 2019 FIM Baja World Cupper Aishwarya Pissay, getting her fourth National 2w Rally title in her class for the fourth successive year, the Utsav de Hampi proved that motorsport can still be organised with great vigour and passion if one makes an effort. For Aishwarya, it is a great achievement indeed, to get her 7th National title, along with the three other Road Racing titles she had won before she jumped board to Rallying and then to more demanding Cross-Country rallying.
Then there is the defending champion Rajendra, also of TVS Racing and Asad Khan winning their National titles in their class but it is Samuel Sajan Jacob, also from the stables of TVS, who hogged the limelight winning the Overall honours. The other class champions are yet to be declared but the hosts Vijayanagar Academy of Motorsports get ready to host the contender Four-wheeler rally for INRC to provide that final push to the close of the season.
Coming back to INRC contender round, one has to see if the top guns will attend the rally as the title is already won by Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, and the expenses of bringing cars to Hampi may be a little dampener. But the mood and the festival atmosphere is hard to resist and many are already on their way as a prelude to the last round to be held near Bengaluru.
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Moto2 and Moto3 pre-season test in Qatar
Qatar, 2 Feb 2021: The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports can now announce a change of venue for the 2021 pre-season Moto2 and Moto3 test. Previously set to take place at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, the test will now take place at Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
The test will be held from the 19th to the 21st of March. The Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup will also be on track for pre-season testing on the same days and each class will have their own sessions as part of the three-day test.
The change of venue for Moto2 and Moto3 has been agreed in order to create the safest and most efficient pre-season testing programme possible for the FIM MotoGP World Championship, minimising the travel necessary for each class and ensuring the first two Grands Prix of the season are able to take place safely and securely.
Northern Talent Cup
Following an announcement that the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will now race alongside the FIM MotoGP World Championship at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve rather than the TT Circuit Assen, the provisional 2021 Northern Talent Cup calendar has been updated.
Instead of visiting the new KymiRing, the NTC will now join MotoGP at the TT Circuit Assen from the 25th to the 27th of June. The Cup will therefore make two visits to the classic Dutch venue in 2021.
2021 PROVISIONAL CALENDAR*
DATE EVENT TYPE COINCIDING EVENT CIRCUIT COUNTRY
17th – 18th April TEST None OSCHERSLEBEN GERMANY
29th April – 2nd May ROUND 1 IDM LAUSITZRING GERMANY
14th – 16th May ROUND 2 MotoGP LE MANS FRANCE
20th – 23rd May ROUND 3 Speedweek OSCHERSLEBEN GERMANY
18th – 20th June ROUND 4 MotoGP SACHSENRING GERMANY
25th – 27th June ROUND 5 MotoGP ASSEN NETHERLANDS
13th – 15th August ROUND 6 IDM ASSEN NETHERLANDS
27th – 29th August ROUND 7 IDM RED BULL RING AUSTRIA- All dates, events and the attendance of spectators are subject to the evolution of the pandemic and the approval of the
corresponding Governments and authorities.
- All dates, events and the attendance of spectators are subject to the evolution of the pandemic and the approval of the
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Musa Sherif joins elite club of four with 7 National titles
Bengaluru, 1 Feb 2021: Following are the Statistics of the Indian National Rally Championship after the end of the third round of the four-round INRC 2020 calendar which is pushed to 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.
The top-most rallying personality who has a gigantic presence in Indian National Rally Championship is N Leelakrishnan, who has six National Drivers’ titles besides 19 titles as a Tuner, including his own six titles. Then we have Naren Kumar, who is the first to bag seven drivers title, which Gaurav Gill equalled at Coimbatore clinching his seventh title with a round (K1000) to spare. Then we have Musa Sherif of Kasargod, who also has topped the Co-Drivers’ list with seven titles. The only co-driver to achieve the feat.
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif have been together for 63 Rallies out of which they finished 39 Rallies, notching up 38 podiums and 36 victories. Gill was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Cedia for his first three titles while the last four came through the bulky Mahindra XUV.
Musa Sherif becomes the leading co-driver with the highest number of rallies, finishing his 293rd rally in the third round at Coimbatore, consecutively calling the notes for 29 years. He has navigated for 47 drivers in that period. These 293 rallies include over 150 rallies in INRC.
Musa Sherif navigated for the following drivers in his career spanning 29 years from 1993 when he made his debut in Karavali rally in Mangalore. In 1994, he made his debut at the Indian National Rally Riders Championship (INRC 2w, as then titled) and went on to co-drive for cars much later. The different drivers he navigated and made the call are as follows till end of 2020 season on 7 Feb 2921 INRC 2020, contender for 2021 being the last event:
Mr and Mrs Musa Sherif celebrate their Wedding Anniversary on January 12.
Photo by Musa Sherif on @InstagramFile photo of Musa Sherif after winning the Bengal rally in Dec 2011 along with Gaurav Gill (not in pic). An INDIAinF1 image - Gaurav Gill
- Karamjit Singh, Malaysia
- Naren Kumar
- Lohitt Urs
- Arjun Rao
- Samir Thapar
- Sanjay Takle
- Vijayant Chaudhury
- Manik Raikhy
- Gaurav Chirpal
- Rahul Kantharaj
- Nikhil Taneja
- Austin Mascarenhas
- Satish Bhat
- Prasanna GB
- Zuhin TKM
- Khalid Faraz
- Ravi Agarwal
- Saneem Sani
- Jasbir Singh
- Khalid Al Mohanadi
- Monsoor Parol
- Ashok Agarwal
- Shajan Daniel
- Umakanth Alva
- Saurabh Chaudhury
- Sunny Sidhu
- Rohan Rego
- Syed Mehtab
- Dr Pramod Singh
- Ashwin Naik
- UT Abdul Khader
- Naveen Chandra shetty
- Zahir Manipady
- Abbas
- Prasad Malve
- Sachin Meega
- Purujit Singh
- Bembli Gowda
- Abhilash PG
- Philippos Matthai
- Bajwa
- Dr Manender (sandy)
- Druva Chandrasekar
- Paraag Dhiwar
- Santosh and
- Samrat Yadav and
- Mujeeb Rehman (INRC contender Hampi).
