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Sailesh Bolisetti first Indian to drive in the British GT Championship
22 January 2012:
Indian racer Sailesh Bolisetti will be racing for Lotus Sport UK in the 2012 Avon Tyres British GT Championship. The 23-year old from Visakhapatnam will pilot the Lotus Evora in the GT4 class of the series according to a Press Release from Motorsport NewsWire
Having made touring cars the focus of his career since he started racing in 2008, Sailesh quickly proved his competence in a field packed with highly-experienced saloon car racers. He went on to win the inaugural Indian VW Polo Cup title in 2010 and was consequently offered a drive in the VW Scirocco-R Cup for the 2011 season. With tightly packed, limited-time sessions on new racetracks, the Scirocco Cup was a steep learning curve but he showed commendable improvement and was a much more rounded driver at the end of his debut international season.
Aspiring to compete in top-flight touring and sportscar championships like DTM and Le Mans, Bolisetti thinks that the hard-contested British GT championship will be the right step up in terms of competition, equipment and team involvement.
“This will be a completely different experience when driving to one-make series – the car’s obviously quicker than whatever I’ve driven before and handling is in a different league, given the mid-engined layout.”
“But it is more than the car alone – this is a factory team with a test-track, which is also used for F1 testing. Hence all their efforts and resources will be focused on making our car/driver combination as competitive as possible. It is a great commitment since brand Lotus will compete in the same grid as Ferraris, Porsches and Aston Martins, leaving no room for complacency.”
“It is definitely a privilege to get an opportunity to represent a marque with such a rich pedigree across a uniquely wide range of racing disciplines – some of the best drivers in the business have been associated with Lotus, so I am extremely motivated and can’t wait for the season to kick off.”
Even though Sailesh has already sampled the 355bhp Evora GT4 race car at the factory test track in Norfolk, he will get some more seat time under his belt in the next two months before the British GT season kicks off at Oulton Park on April 7. The official pre-season tests will focus on more specific set-up work, with qualifying and race distance simulations on the menu as well.
Lotus Sport UK team manager, Gary Ayles, has had a tryst with India, being involved with the A1GP India team and having raced Formula 3 at the Chennai Circuit in the 1990s. “Sailesh is a strong talent that hadn’t been discovered in Europe, until now. I first got to know him and his father through my contacts in India and we kept in touch. Now he has come of age and is ready to race here in Europe with our team – you need to keep an eye on this lad, he has immense potential”, he quipped.
In addition to the pre-season testing duties in the run up to the season opener, Bolisetti will also contest the five-round i1 super series in February and March, where he’ll compete in Radical SR3 cars with the final round of the series scheduled at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.
LOTUS EVORA GT4 SPECS
ENGINE: 4.0-litre DOHC V6, Naturally-Aspirated with dry-sump
MAX POWER: 355bhp@6500rpm
MAX TORQUE: 445Nm@5500rpm
REDLINE: 7000rpm
DRIVETRAIN: Mid-Engined, Rear Wheel Drive
GEARBOX: Sequential 6-speed
WEIGHT: 1190kg
2012 AVON TYRES BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR
Oulton Park, UK April 7th
Nurburgring, Germany May 17th
Rockingham, UK June 9th
Brands Hatch, UK June 23rd
Snetterton, UK August 4th
Silverstone, UK September 9th
Donington Park, UK September 29thAbout Sailesh Bolisetti:
Born September 28th, 1988 Sailesh made his debut driving a couple of rounds in the JK Tyre National Racing Championship in 2008 – having decided to go the tin-top route instead of the more commonly opted single-seater formula racing. This focus allowed him to excel from the get go and he managed to finish third in the Indian Touring Car championship in 2009 – his first full season in racing.
In 2010, he was on the cusp of the Super Saloon title but had to settle for a close second but more than made up for the disappointment by winning the inaugural Volkswagen Polo Cup India title, which he raced concurrently. The prize? A drive in the European VW Scirocco-R Cup for the 2011 season.
The Scirocco Cup campaign saw Sailesh fight long and hard throughout the year, battling against the odds of new tracks, new machinery and a race environment that was a huge departure from his experience in India. Taking away from the experience of his international debut season, Sailesh is now set to compete in his first professional GT series with a factory team and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.
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Sailesh Bolisetti poses with the car MN release
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FMSCI enters 40th year; Vicky re-elected president
By David Bodapati
Chennai: January 20: Following what was an iconic year for Indian motorsport in 2011 which included the success of the first Indian Grand Prix and 336 other events under their banner. The FMSCI, at their 38th AGM in Chennai on 22 Dec, has unanimously re-elected Vicky Chandhok to continue as President according to a Press Release from FMSCI on Jan 17.
Karnataka Motor Sports Club’s president Bharat Raj is elected as Vice-President. Bharat has made a great contribution to bring professionalism into the Indian National Rally Championship after his company IMG took over as promoters along with PSP, headed by Annabelle Manwaring.
Having been involved with International motorsport, the President has been pushing very hard for people from India to get involved in various commissions of global motorsport and not just as members of the World Motorsport Council with Dr. Vijay Mallya as the delegate and himself as the Deputy. The FIA, taking recognition of the FMSCI and of India, has for the first time ratified the nominations of eight Indians to the various global commissions of the FIA. The nominees that were carefully hand-picked have all contributed and can significantly contribute to the growth of Indian motorsport in the future.
President Chandhok said, “2011 was a historic year for Indian motorsport as we hosted our first ever Formula One Grand Prix and the year ending FIA AGM and Gala. It is imperative that we continue to develop the sport and the infrastructure. It is very important for India now to be seen as a team player and therefore all people nominated to the commissions are delegates with experience and people that can contribute to the running and administration of global motorsport. While it’s important to contribute to global motorsport, our delegates however need to strike a balance to ensure India benefits as a motorsport destination from the appointments of various Commissions. This worked very well in the case of Formula 1 where years of solid interaction finally resulted in the Olympics of motorsport coming to India. Similar are the goals for our various delegates in these commissions.”
The FMSCI, at its 38th AGM chaired by Dr. Vijay Mallya in Chennai elected its Office Bearers for the year 2012 with Mr. Chandhok continuing as President and Mr. Bharat Raj from the KMSC being duly elected as Vice President.
For the first time in 2011, the Annual FIA Awards Ceremony was held outside of Europe, in New Delhi. Also, for the first time in its history the Annual General Assembly Gala was combined with the Awards Ceremony, making it the largest contingent of FIA delegates, with over 750 delegates from 120 countries marking their presence in our capital.
The FMSCI AGM also marked the end of a successful three-year contract with Rally promoters, IMG Sports& PSP. The JK Tyre National Racing Championship also completed 14 years and 2011 also saw the emergence of the MRF 1600 Championship. The Gulf Dirt Track, MRF Supercross, National Drag Racing, MRF National Two Wheeler, Honda Two Wheeler Racing, Yamaha Two Wheeler Racing and the JK Tyre Rotax Karting Championships have all established themselves as annual features on the FMSCI calendar.
The Formula 1 event at Noida was a success in itself but it also saw full feature grids in the Delhi Championship with MRF and the hugely popular JK Tyre Asia Series which ran as a support event to three Formula 1 races in 2011. 2012 will hopefully see the materialization of the i1 Super Series which will give no less than 9 Indian drivers the best platform to showcase themselves on the International racing scene.
“The FIA flagged off their Action for Road Safety campaign in 2011 as well and were very keen that the FMSCI align with some of the aspects of road safety in India. To make further rapid strides in Indian motorsport, involvement from vehicle manufacturers is of paramount importance. The last fortnight has been hectic in meeting with International Auto Manufacturers such as Audi, VW, Toyota, Mercedes, Maruti, Yamaha, TVS and Honda to further the growth in all forms of Indian motorsport”, President Chandhok concluded.
Nominated delegates and respective Commissions:
Single Seater Racing – B. Vijay Kumar
Drag Racing – J. Balamurugan
Historic Motorsport – Manvendra Singh
Rally – Shivu Shivappa
Cross Country Rally – Manjeet Bhalla
CIK Karting – Vicky Chandhok
Circuits – Farhan Vohra
Officials & Volunteers – Prabha Shankar
The following clubs were elected to the council for the forthcoming year:
o MMSC (Madras Motor Sports Club)
o CASC (Coimbatore Auto Sports Club)
o KMSC (Karnataka Motor Sports Club)
o Sportscraft , Mumbai
o WISA (Western India Sports Association, Nasik)
o BMSC (Bengal Motor Sports Club)
o HMSA (Himalayan Motor Sports Association)
o Spitfire Motorsports Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore.
edited 2 times after publishing
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Gaurav Gill, Musa Sherif finish season in style with emphatic win
By David Bodapati
Kolkata, 18 Dec 2011: Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill and experienced co-driver Musa Sherif finished the 2011 rally season in style with a resounding victory at the Rally de Bengal, the 7th and final round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) to assert their supremacy as the best rally driver and co-driver respectively in the country at Durgapur, about 80 kms from here, on Sunday.
Having clinched the National title for 2011 in the penultimate rally at Orissa, the 30-year-old MRF driver Gill and Sherif put paid to the hopes of challenger Lohit Urs and co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy, who finished second here. Urs-Murthy duo driving a Cedia prepared by Red Rooster Performance posted faster times in two stages today and won the runners-up place in the overall category of the National championship. Ghosh and Naik could not complete the rally as their car stalled in the transport section. But for the break-down their third place finish would have been enough to clinch the runners-up spot in the National Championship 2011.
Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Y Bhatt managed to stay on top despite losing times in all the stages today to win the 2000 N class and also came overall third pipping Bangalore youngster Karna Kadur and Kolkata’s Somonnita Ghosh to the second place. However, a second place was enough for Team Kadur, who drove their Cedia on Yokohama tyres, to have the last laugh in clinching the National title. Soham Hazra/ Jeevarathinam finished third in the Rally de Bengal.
Gaurav Gill, left, and navigator Musa Sherif after winning the Bengal Rally on Sunday. The duo clinched the National INRC title last week in Bhubaneswar. An INDIA in F1 image. Local stars Azgar Ali/ Debasish Ghosh did well to win the 1600 cc class edging out Aniruddha Rangnekar and co-driver Anoop Kumar to second place. Aniruddha of Pune won the national championship for drivers’ in this class. Rohan Pawar and Nitin Jacob came third.
Team Woodlander had a double bonanza with both their drivers winning their respective classes. In 1400cc Star Cup, Mangalore teenager Dean Mascarenhas with co-driver Shruptha Padival kept their cool to thwart the challenge of Vikram Aroor/ AG Somayya while Pritul Dey and Mukesh Thakkar finished third. Mascarenhas and Padival won three of the four rallies they took part this year and were supported by Woodland for the last two rallies. The other Woodlander team who came out with top honours is Sanjay Agarwal-Venu Ramesh Kumar pair in the Gypsy class. Rafeeq Ur Rehman (co-driver Ajith KP) came second followed by husband-wife duo Sachin Singh/ Shree Latha of Hyderabad. Dean Mascarenhas, the youngest competitor in INRC, showed enough talent, aggressive speed and control; if nurtured well he has the potential to go places.
Final Results (Unaudited provisional classification):
Overall : 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour, 03 minutes, 47.2 seconds; 2. Lohit Urs/ Srinivasa Murthy PV(privateers)1: 04:29.1; 3. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Y Bhatt 1: 09: 46.9;
2000 cc N-plus : : 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour, 03 minutes, 47.2 seconds; 2. Lohit Urs/ Srinivasa Murthy PV(privateers)1: 04:29.1;
2000cc N: 1. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Y Bhatt 1: 09: 46.9; 2.Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh 1: 09:55.8; 3. Soham Hazra/ Jeevarathinam 1: 15:43.7;
1600 cc: 1. Azgar Ali/ Debashis Ghosh 1:21:05.0; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 1:21:32.4; 3. Rohan Pawar/ Nitin Jacob 1: 25:05.9;
1400cc: 1. Dean Mascarenhas/ Shruptha Padival 1: 12: 42.3; 2. Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya 1: 12: 51.8; 3. Pritul Dey/ Mukesh Thakkar 1: 26:43.7.
Gypsy: 1. Sanjay Agarwal/ Venu Ramesh Kumar 1: 17: 34.6; 2. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/ Ajith KP 1: 17: 35.6; 2. Sachin Singh/ Sri Latha1:44.08.9.
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Four OGQ Badminton Players in Finals
Saturday 17th Dec 2011 turned out to be a great day for OGQ Badminton Players as all 4 of them, Saina Nehwal, Guru Saidutt, P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, stormed into the finals of their respective tournaments. Interestingly, all 4 of them won their respective matches in straight sets,
The first player in action was Saina Nehwal and she created history by becoming the first Indian singles player to reach the summit clash of the BWF Super Series Finals. Saina, who topped Group B by winning all 3 of her group matches, played an attacking game to beat Tine Baun of Denmark 21-17 21-18. She will now play against World#1 Yihan Wang of China in the finals.Next up was 10 year old Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals of U-11 Singapore Youth International Seriesand he beat Ling Wei Jie of Malaysia 21-10 21-10 in a one-sided affair. He will now play against Syabda Perkasa of Indonesia in the finals.Back home in Mumbai, Guru Saidutt and P.V. Sindhu were in impeccable form and had easy victories in their semi-final matches in the Tata Open International Challenge. #2 seed Guru Saidutt beat Hiren Shesar of Indonesia 21-12 21-8 in just 29 minutes and now takes on #1 seed and defending champion Yunus Alamsyah of Indonesia in the final. #2 seed P.V. Sindhu beat Tsz Chan of Hong Kong 21-16 21-14 and now plays against #8 seed Sayali Gokhale in the final.OGQ is very proud of all of them and we wish them luck for their finals tomorrow. Do watch their matches Live on TV and support them.You can catch all the action live on Sunday evening at the following timings:Saina Nehwal vs Yihan Wang: 01:00 pm on Neo SportsP.V. Sindhu vs Sayali Gokhale: 5:15 pm on DD SportsGuru Saidutt vs Yunus Alamsyah: 6:45 pm on DD SportsCourtesy: Team Olympic Gold Quest -
After a long wait, Force India confirms Hulkenberg to pair Paul di Resta for 2012
16 Dec 2011: Sahara Force India Formula One Team confirmed on Friday 16th Dec 2011 that Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg will form its line-up for the 2012 season in a press release today. Paul continues with the team for his second season in a race seat, while Nico steps up from his role as reserve driver.
Together they form one of the most exciting pairings on the grid. Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “I am delighted to present our line-up for the 2012 season. In Paul and Nico we have two extremely talented drivers with tremendous potential. “I think Paul caught the eye of everybody in the pit lane during his rookie season. His speed, maturity and racecraft confirmed that we were right to believe in him and we look forward to working with him again next year. “As for Nico, we identified him as a rising star at the end of 2010 and chose to evaluate him during the course of this season. Despite having only limited time in the car, he convinced us that he deserved a race seat for 2012.
“Our new line-up means we say ‘goodbye’ to Adrian Sutil, who has been with the team since we entered the sport. He has been an integral part of our success over the past four seasons and we wish him well for the future.” Paul Di Resta: “I’m really looking forward to my second season of Formula One and continuing to grow and develop with Sahara Force India. I’ve said all along that I love being part of this team: they are ambitious, hungry for success and we work well together. I’m really excited about 2012 and there is a real sense of belief that we can continue to push the top teams and take another step forward. I’d also like to thank the team for all their hard work this year and for all the support they’ve given me. I’ll take some time out over the next few weeks to recharge my batteries and hopefully come back even stronger in 2012.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m obviously delighted to be staying with Sahara Force India and to be given the chance to race next year. It wasn’t easy to watch from the sidelines this season, but I did my best to help the team and show what I was capable of. I’m extremely motivated for 2012 and would like to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me this chance. I’m keen to get down to work over the winter to develop our new car and help the team build on this year’s achievements. The first test in Jerez can’t come soon enough.” Images are free for download for any editorial use, please credit Sahara Force India Formula One Team. Commercial use should be approved by Sahara Force India. -
Gill wins Indian National Rally Championship for third time
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif of Team MRF on the podium after winning the Rally of Odisha. Bhubaneswar, 11 Dec 2011: With a facile win at the Rally of Odisha,Delhi driver Gaurav Gill along with celebrated co-driver Musa Sherif of Kasargod, representing Team MRF, won the Speed Indian National Rally Championship 2011 with a round to spare, taking an unbeatable 72-point lead over the nearest rival Amittrajit Ghosh and (Aswin Naik). For the 30-year speed maestro, who is arguably the fastest rally driver in the country, the victory at the maiden National rally event in Orissa helped him achieve the third national title. Gill won the INRC title in 2007 and 2009. Making the right calls and ably supporting the speed of Gill is his navigator, Musa Sherif, who is a top navigator in the country with more than 207 rallies to his credit.
Aniruddha Rangnekar, too won the driver’s national title here with a round to spare, in the 1600 cc class.
Jointly organised by Kalinga Motor Sports Club and Bengal Motor Sports Club, the Rally of Odisha, the sixth of the seven-round Speed Indian National Rally Championship held under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and promoted by IMG Sports and Pro-Sports Promotion (PSP) concluded here today. Rally de Bengal will be held atDurgapurnext Sunday.
With an eye on the national title, Guarav Gill drove his Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia mixing caution with aggression but never let the pedal off the gas, clocking the fastest times in all the three special stages held on Sunday. He increased the lead over the nearest driver to 6 minutes 18 seconds clocking 11 minutes 18 second in SS-5, 11.08 in SS-6 and 11.19 in SS-7, the last special stage of the rally. He touched speeds of 160 kmph in SS-6 over a distance of 14.18 kms for an average speed of 76.30 kmph for that stage. Gill now has 172 points in the championship table while Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) by virtue of their overall third place (23 points) here taking second in the table standings with 100 points. However, with Lohit Urs (co-driver Srinivasa Moorthy PV), who retired in this rally with an engine failure on Saturday, having 77 points, the last rally of the calendar will witness a fight only for the second overall position in the national championship.
In the 2000 N class, Karna Kadur (co-driver Somonnita Ghosh) took the lead in the National title over Rahul Kantharaj (Vivek Bhatt) despite his second place finish here and the battle is expected to continue I Kolkota. Yogeshwar Gill of US, with TN’s Jeevarathinam as navigator, won the 2000N class here and also finished overall second ahead of Ghosh and Ashwin.
Pune driver Aniruddha Rangnekar’s second place here was enough to clinch the National Driver’s championship in the 1600 cc class with a round spare as he took an unbeatable lead over his nearest rival Balram CG, who skipped this rally. Aniruddha and co-driver Anoop Kumar ofBangalorefinished second here clocking 1 min 26.26.1 while Hanoosh Surapneni and co-driver Ravindra Kumar won this rally with a handsome lead to beat the champions at 1 min 24: 47.4 seconds. Ajgar Ali and Debashis finished third.
Talented Mangalore teenager, who made a stunning debut winning the K-1000 rally inBangaloreearly this year, made the motorsport pundits to stand up and take notice. He suffered a loss in the next rally in Chikmaglur but came back with a bang to win the 1400 cc class in the Rally of Odisha. He was blocked by a slow car yesterday and got minus (-) 42-second penalty from the stewards but proved his worth by winning with over a 50-second margin. Vikram Rao Aroor (AG Somayya) finished second while championship leader Karan AM along with Shanmugha SM was content with a third place.
Rafeeq Ur Rehman (co-driver Ajith KP) won the rally in the Gypsy class pushing the husband-wife duo Sachin Singh/ Shree Latha to second place and veteran Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh Kumar Venu came third.
Unaudited provisional Results (final classification):
Overall – 2000 cc N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour 13 minutes 02.5 seconds; 2. Dr Yogeshwar Gill / Jeevarathinam 1:19.20.8; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 1: 19: 33.8.
2000cc N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour 13 minutes 02.5 seconds; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 1: 19: 33.8.
2000cc N: 1. Dr Yogeshwar Gill / Jeevarathinam 1:19.20.8; 2. Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh ; 1: 20:25.9; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/ Honey Narulla 1: 29: 26.4;
1600 cc: 1. Hanoosh Surapaneni/ Ravindra Kumar 1: 24: 47.4; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 1: 28:26.1; 3. Ajgar Ali/ Debashis Ghosh 1: 30:28.8;
1400cc: 1. Dean Mascerenhas/ Shruptha Padival 1: 22.08.2; 2. Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya 1: 22: 58.6; 3. Karan AM/ Shanmugha SM 1: 24: 15.6.
Gypsy: 1. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/ Ajith KP 1:28: 10.7; 2. Sachin Singh/ Sri Latha 1:37.44.1; 3.Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh Kumar V 1: 41: 54.7.
Gaurav Gill of Team MRF -
Gill takes control as Lohit Urs slips – Odisha Rally
Bhubaneswar, 10 Dec 2011: Dare devil Delhi driver Gaurav Gill along with celebrated co-driver Musa Sherif, of Team MRF, displayed controlled aggression but still enjoyed driving the fast but technically challenging dirt tracks of the Utkal Stage to record the fastest times in all the three special stages (SS) run on Saturday and virtually sealed the championship as the main challenger Lohit Urs (co-driver PV Srinivasa Moorthy) suffered a casualty after their car stalled on the third special stage of the Rally of Odisha, the sixth round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship, about 55kms from here on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Gill drove the Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia in a relaxed manner but still managed to take a 38-second lead and 7 leg points for being the fastest driver which took his tally in the National championship to 140 points against 91 for second-placed Lohit Urs. “We are clocking high speeds and I was pushing the car to the limit. Unfortunately, with just a kilometer to the finish, the engine failed,’’ said a disappointed Lohit. Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) finished second on Saturday with a time of 39 minutes 54.4 seconds.
In the 2000N class, Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Y Bhatt had a `break-down’ in SS 2 while in the 1600 cc class Pritul Dey/ Mukesh Thakkar suffered a mechanical failure in SS3. Only 15 of the 18 cars finished the day.
In the 2000 N category, talented youngster from Bangalore Karna Kadur and his lady navigator from Kolkota clocked fastest times in all the three special stages to take a 42-second lead and with Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek retiring, Dr Yogeshwar Gill of US along with co-driver Jeevarathinam are placed second.
Championship leaders in the 1600 cc class, Aniruddha Rangnekar of Pune and co-driver Anoop Kumar ofBangalorehad a spin in SS 4 and lost about 55 seconds as Hanoosh Soorapaneni/ Ravinder Kumar took the lead. Ajgar Ali and Debasish Ghosh are following the leaders in the third place.
Rafeeq Ur Rehman (co-driver Ajith KP) are ahead of husband-wife duo Sachin Singh/ Shree Latha while Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh Kumar Venu are in third in the Gypsy Class. In the 1400 cc Rally Cup, title contenders Karan AM and co-driver Shanmugha SN took a narrow lead of over 12 seconds over talented Mangalore youngster Dean Mascerenhas and Shruptha Padval while Vikram Aroor and Somayya are trailing third.
Jointly organised by Kalinga Motor Sports Club and Bengal Motor Sports Club, Rally of Odisha, the sixth of the seven-round Speed Indian National Rally Championship is being held under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and is promoted by IMG Sports and Pro-Sports Promotion (PSP).
The rally will run three special stages named Konark in the same direction at Gurudjhatia, about 50km from here off NH 42 and will return to the city for a podium finish and champagne shower at 3pm.
Results (Unaudited provisional classification) after Day 1:
Overall – 2000 cc N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 39 minutes, 15.9 seconds; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 39: 54.4..
2000cc N: 1. Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh ; 41:46.7; 2. Dr Yogeshwar Gill/ Jeevarathinam 42: 29.3; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/ Honey Narulla 48: 18.0;
1600 cc: 1. Hanoosh Surapaneni/ Ravindra Kumar 46: 29.1; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 47:40.1; 3. Azgar Ali/ Debashis Ghosh 47:48.2;
1400cc: 1. Karan AM/ Shanmugha SM 44: 52.4; 2. Dean Mascerenhas/ Shruptha Padival 45: 04.8; 3. Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somaya 45: 16.1;
Gypsy: 1. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/ Ajith KP 47:54.1; 2. Sachin Singh/ Sri Latha 53:37.2; 3.Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh KumarV 1 min: 04.33.6.
Gaurav Gill of Team MRF, who tightened the grip on the Indian National Rally Championship 2000 N+ class with a comfortable lead at the Rally of Odisha, the sixth and penultimate round of the Speed INRC at Bhubaneswar on Saturday. -
Gill thrills the crowd as Orissa enters Rally map of India
Bhubaneswar, 9 Dec 2011: Speed king Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF thrilled the 1,000-strong audience with `sliding turns’ at high speeds and received a thunderous applause at every turn as the motor sports fans of Orissa got their first taste of a National event at the spectator friendly Super Special Stage held in the City here on Friday. The Stage kick started the Rally of Odish, the sixth round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship.Gill drove his Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia with aplomb to clock 2 minutes 30.72 seconds to emerge fastest after finishing the 1.5 km 2-lap section while his challenger and former teammate Lohit Urs (co-driver PV Srinivasa Moorthy), who is a private entry here, was more cautious as he timed 2 min 34.18 secs. The other car in the 2000 N + category, Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkota (with Ashwin Naik as navigator) was a second slower than Urs at 2: 35.24 in the third place.
Jointly organised by Kalinga Motor Sports Club and Bengal Motor Sports Club, Rally of Odisha, the sixth of the seven-round Speed Indian National Rally Championship is being held under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and is promoted by IMG Sports and Pro-Sports Promotion (PSP).
“There is a long straight where the cars are expected to touch top speeds of 180 kmph but the route is also technical and challenging as there is a lot of `pea gravel’ and cars can slip and slide off the road,’’ said Gill, who is leading the table in the top class.
In the 2000 cc N+ category, Lohit Urs and co-driver PVS Murthy will be the only competition to Team MRF, who fielded only two teams instead of the regular four. It may be recalled that veteran Arjun Balu announced his retirement after 17 years of rallying at Chikmagalur last month to leave Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif as the leading contenders while youngster Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkota will be the other entry for Team MRF with Ashwin Naik as his navigator.
Gaurav Gill who is leading the overall championship needs to stay ahead of second-placed Lohit Urs to clinch the issue here, with only the last leg at Kolkota remaining. To stay in contention for the National title, Urs should win here with at least a three point margin ahead of Gill. In the 2000 cc class, a fierce fight is expected between Rahul Kantharaj (Vivek Bhatt) the table topper lost three seconds to Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh, to gain advantage in the mind games ahead of the special stages on Saturday and Sunday.
Newcomers Pritul Dey/ Sumit Mukherjee were a second ahead of leaders Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar in the 1600 cc class while Karan AM /Shanmuga topped the time charts. Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh Kumar Venu were ahead by a fraction of a second in the Gypsy class.
Results (Unaudited provision classification) after SSS:
Overall – 2000 cc N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill, Team MRF, 2 minutes, 30.7; 2. Lohit Urs/ PV Srinivas Moorthy (Privateer) 2: 34.1; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 2: 35.2.
2000cc N: 1. Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh ; 2:35.8; 2. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Y Bhatt 2: 38.0; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/ Honey Narulla 2: 46.9;
1600 cc: 1. Pritul Dey/ Sumit Mukherjee 2: 50.8; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 2:51.4; 3. Azgar Ali/ Debasish Ghosh 2:54.3;
1400cc: 1. Karan AM/ Shanmugha SM 2: 43.8; 2. Dean Mascerenhas/ Shruptha Padival 2: 37.2; 3. Aroor Vikram Rao/ AG Somaya 2: 49.0;
Gypsy: 1. Sanjay Agarwal/ Ramesh KumarV 2: 42.0; 2. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/ Ajith KP 2:42.9; 3. Sachin Singh/ Sri Latha 2:42.9.
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Sanjay Takle occupies top spot in Time, Speed, Distance Rally
Kohima (Nagaland), 4 Dec 2011: The 37-year-old veteran rally driver from Chandigarh, Sunny Sidhu won the 5th JK Tyre Hornbill International Motor Rally 2011 here on Sunday.
Sunny was competing for the Autocross event with participation from countries likeUK, Japan, Thailand & Laos on the course of 100 kms, competing for prize money of Rs 20,000. Sunny said, “I’m extremely happy to win on my debut. The competition was tough but with a mixture of sweeping and tight corners, the track was nice. But how you get your clean lines in the corners will decide you times,” the Chandigarh driver said.
Hari Singh, five-time National Rally Champion and Asia Zone Rally winner, now Manager-Motorsports, JK Tyre flagged off the rally which saw more than 100 cars and motorcycles from UK, Japan, Thailand and Laos at the start at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Kohima. The two-day rally covered a distance of 100 kilometers through different parts of Kohima district and touched the historic battle ground of the Battle of Kohima, which was one of the fiercest battles of the World War II.
The Time, Speed, Distance (TSD) rally which was organized by the Nagaland Adventure and Motor Sports Association (NAMSA) and sponsored by the Government of Nagaland saw Sanjay Takle, along with his navigator Satish Gopalkrishnawas the winner of the 4 Wheeler TSD rally, bagging a prize of Rs 50,000. He said, “The event was fantastic and I had a great come back this year.I thank the sponsors and the organisers for organsing such a great event.Competing with Sunny Sidhu and Chandrashekhar Mouli is not an easy task but then I put in my best and made it to the finish line first,” he further added.
Sanjay Sharma, Head-Motorsport, JK Tyre said: “We are extremely delighted to be associated with the Hornbill International Motor Rally for five years now. JK Tyre has always been investing in tapping motorsport talents from every corner of the country and this rally has further accelerated the craze not only amongst the motorsport lovers of India but also of neighboring countries.”
The rally coincides with the famous Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, a seven-day extravaganza of cultural performances, ethnic food courts, handlooms and handicrafts bazaars, film and art festivals, fashion shows and national rock contest.
About JK Tyre Motorsports
JK Tyre has always been closely associated with the world of sports. Almost three decades back the company laid down a long term and sustained approach to promote Motorsport. Participating in this form of the sport has helped the company in continuously updating its products to meet the challenges of grueling Indian conditions. The sport at that time in India was perceived for elite but JK Tyre took upon itself to package and redesign the sport to suit the masses. The company not only made the sport affordable but also equivalent to International operating standards. JK Tyre’s foray into Motorsport was a well thought out strategic decision to not only use and develop this virgin branding platform but also to realize the dreams of making India a force in the field of motor sport. (JK Tyre Release)
