INDIA in F1

Tag: Arjun Balu

  • Aditya Patel to race against Arjun Balu in ITC class: Indian National Racing Championship

    Aditya Patel to race against Arjun Balu in ITC class: Indian National Racing Championship

    Chennai, 16 August 2019: Popular international driver Aditya Patel will replace Karthik Tharani Singh for the Volkswagen Works team in the ITC class and he will be racing against his mentor and former coach Arjun Balu, as the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2019 flows into a critical phase with the fourth and penultimate round scheduled to start at the MMRT on Saturday.

    Karthik Tharani escaped with a one-race ban after a grave violation in the third round. Though he is serving only one-race suspension, Volkswagen Motorsport, who promised `clean racing’ as they made their debut in the National Championship this year at Coimbatore, decided to keep him out for the entire round and Tharani will miss three races. Incidentally, Aditya is set to make his saloon car debut in the championship and will be racing at this track after a lapse of 11 years.

    With the front-runners in the championship stakes tightly bunched in all the categories that will be on view this week-end. The expectations of close racing are high in all the classes including premier MRF Formula 1600, Indian Touring Cars and Volkswagen Ameo Class.

    Aditya Patel is set race against his mentor and former coach Arjun Balu, left, in the ITC races on Saturday for Volkswagen team. Photo: Anand Philar

    In the previous rounds, winner-picking was a hazardous guess and it would be much the same this weekend with a clutch of India’s top racing drivers, ranging from bubbling teenagers to battle-hardened veterans, lining up on the grid, each seeking precious championship points.

    The MRF F1600, with four races scheduled over two days, and a maximum of 100 points on offer, has four drivers – Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai, 63 points), Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad (58), teenager from Bengaluru Sohil Shah (56) with two wins from four starts and A Bala Prasath from Coimbatore (43) – heading the leaderboard, but wary of others who have them in their sights.

    The popular Indian Touring Cars category, a triple-header for this round, has developed into a bitter fight involving veteran racer from Coimbatore Arjun Balu (80 points), driving a Race Concepts-prepared Honda Vtec car, and championship leader Chennai’s Karthik Tharani (86) in a factory-supported Volkswagen Vento.  Tharani, winner in two of the five outings, failed to take a drive-through penalty and ignored the black-flag in the previous round to attract the suspension.

    Tharani is replaced by Aditya Patel, the 2007 Formula Rolon champion, who has been a participant in various international touring cars series abroad (VW, Audi, GT Asia) in the past decade.

    “Obviously, I am quite excited to be racing at the MMRT, virtually my home circuit, after over a decade (his last outing was in 2008, a one-off race). Interestingly, my Formula Rolon car in 2007 when I won the championship for NK Racing, was prepared by Arjun Balu and his brother Sanjay. So, it’s quite extraordinary that this weekend, I am racing against Arjun!” said Aditya.

    The Super Stock category, to be run on a combined grid with the ITC class, presents a similar picture with Bengaluru’s Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) leading RP Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) from Chennai by eight points. The pair has won three races apiece and with three more to be run this weekend, a thrilling battle between the two is on the cards.

    The VW Ameo Class, which was upgraded to National Championship status, and boasting of 18-car grid, has three drivers, Pratik Sonawane (Pune), Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) and Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai), in that order separated by eight points with Delhi’s Anmol Singh Sahil in fourth, a further nine points behind.

  • Double for Sohil Shah; Karthik Tharani banned for a race: Car Racing Nationals

    Double for Sohil Shah; Karthik Tharani banned for a race: Car Racing Nationals

    MRF F1600 race winners (L to R) – Nayan Chattjerjee (Mumbai), Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) who won a double and Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) on Sunday. Photos by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 21 July 2019: Bengaluru schoolboy Sohil Shah completed a fine double in the premier MRF F1600 category as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship drew to a close at the MMRT, here today.

    Elsewhere, VW Motorsport’s Ishaan Dodhiwala from Hyderabad notched his maiden win in the Indian Touring Cars class after his team-mate Karthik Tharani was disqualified for a couple of infringementse.

    Ishaan Dodhiwala

    The stewards subsequently banned for one race, while Bengaluru’s Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) chalked up his third win of the season in the Super Stock category.

    Other winners of the day were Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) in the Formula LGB 1300 race and Mumbai’s Saurav Bandyopadhyay who took the honours in the Volkswagen Ameo Class.

    Sohil Shah, who scored a double in the MRF F1600 category on Sunday.

    The saloon car race was fiery with Tharani being disqualified for his violations. The Stewards subsequently slapped a one-race ban which will take effect for the next round of the championship scheduled for August 16-18. Consequent to the disqualification, team-mate Dodhiwala was declared winner followed by Nikanth Ram (ARKA Motorsports) and Arjun Balu (Race Concepts).

    The Stewards, following the post-ITC race hearing with Tharani, ruled: “The competitor was called to give the explanation as to why he ignored the ‘drive through’ penalty board for five laps and ignored the ‘black flag’ for the remaining three laps of the race.

    “In view of the fact that the competitor is a highly experienced driver and he is also a driver-trainer, the Stewards were of the opinion that exemplary sanctions should be imposed on this driver and a sentence of not being permitted a start in the next race of this championship (One race only).”

    Ireland’s Lucca Allen completed a double by winning both the Formula 4 SEA races to make up for disappointing outings in yesterday’s double-header.

    The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF F1600 (Race-3): 1. Sohil Shah (Bengaluru) (13mins, 28.460secs); 2. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (13:34.321); 3. Manav Sharma (Faridabad) (13:34.945). Race-4: 1. Sohil Shah (13:25.572); 2. Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai) (13:27.330); 3. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) (13:30.166).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-2): 1. Ishaan Dodhiwala (VW, Hyderabad) (15:41.905); 2.Nikanth Ram (Arka Motorsports, Coimbatore) (15:42.130); 3. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts, Coimbatore) (15:51.488).

    Super Stock (Race-2): 1. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (16:27.646); 2. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (16:28.805); 3.R Rajashekar (Race Concepts) (16:41.742).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-2, 7 laps): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) (17:43.357); 2. Sohil Shah (M Sport) (17:43.957); 3. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) (17:46.458).

    Volkswagen Ameo Class (Race-2): 1. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) (15:49.972); 2. Pratik Sonawane (Pune) (15:52.896); 3. Avik Anwar (Bangladesh) (15:53.007).

    Formula 4 SEA (Race-3, 11 laps): 1. Lucca Allen (Ireland) (21:16.050); 2. Shihab Al Habsi (Oman) (21:16.480); 3. Muizz Musyaffa (Malaysia) (21:19.262). Race-4 (13 laps): 1. Allen (21:29.615); 2. Al Habsi (21:31.570); 3. Elias Sappanen (Finland) (21:34.061).

  • Ashwin Datta leads podium sweep for Momentum Motorsports; Arjun Balu, Vishnu, Nayan win

    Ashwin Datta leads podium sweep for Momentum Motorsports; Arjun Balu, Vishnu, Nayan win

    Chennai, 20 July 2019: Chennai young gun Ashwin Datta spearheaded a momentous podium sweep for his team Momentum Motorsports in the highly competitive Formula LGB 1300 category, holding off two Bengaluru schoolboys while Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai) and local challenger Vishnu Prasad won a race apiece in the premium MRF F1600 class on Day Two of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship at the MMRT, here today.

    Also in the limelight was Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) who shrugged off a poor qualifying session where he finished fifth, and won the popular Indian Touring Cars race with a measure of comfort, while Chennai’s RP Rajarajan took the honours in the Super Stock category after a tough fight and Pune lad Pratik Sonawane topped in the Volkswagen Ameo Class race.

    Datta, 20, who was runner-up to Sohil Shah in the LGB 1300 championship last season, overcame a sluggish start when he dropped from second to third before recovering to grab the lead and chalk up his second win of the season. Finishing second and third behind him, respectively, were two Bengaluru schoolboys, Tijil Rao (16), who had started from pole position and Chirag Ghorpade, only 14.

    In the first MRF F1600 race, Chatterjee benefitted from a drive-through penalty for pole-sitter Sohil Shah from Bengaluru for jump start and once in front, he opened up a comfortable lead to win from Chennai’s Nirmal Umashankar and Coimbatore’s Bala Prasath. Sohil Shah, who posted the fastest lap of the race, eventually was placed ninth. In the next race, Vishnu Prasad, starting fourth on the grid, rocketed off the blocks to take the lead in the first lap itself and then hung on to win ahead of two other Chennai drivers, Sandeep Kumar and Raghul Rangasamy.

    Ace drdiver Arjun Balu from Coimbatore after winning the ITC Race on Saturday.

    Earlier, Balu, who had a poor qualifying session due to a technical hitch with his car, was not to be denied when the eight-lap race got underway. Some four corners before the end of the first lap, the Coimbatore star jumped four positions to take the lead and never looked back.

    Behind him, after the initial jostling for track positions, Karthik Tharani (VW Motorsport) seemed content to hold his second spot behind Balu while further back, Nikanth Ram (ARKA Motorsports) won a tight battle with another VW factory driver Ishaan Dodhiwala, to complete the podium.

    Meanwhile, Oman’s Shihab Al Habsi and Finn Elias Seppanen shared the top honours in the two Formula 4 SEA races.

    The results (Provisional – all 8 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF F1600 (Race-1): 1. Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai) (13mins, 31.977secs); 2. Nirmal Umashankar (Chennai) (13:34.309); 3. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (13:34.805). Race-2: 1. Vishnu Prasad (Chennai) (13:34.363); 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (13:35.140); 3. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram) (13:35.732).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race-1): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15:22.141); 2. Karthik Tharani (VW Motorsports) (15:31.209); 3. Nikanth Ram (Arka Motorsports) (15:38.667).

    Super Stock (Race-1): 1. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (16:23.257); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (16:25.808); 3. Sudanand Daniel (Race Concepts) (16:27.363).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race-1): 1. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) (15:23.678); 2. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsports) (15:25.447); 3. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports) (15:33.840).

    Volkswagen Ameo Class (Race-1): 1. Pratik Sonawane (Pune) (15:36.937); 2. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) (15:41.501); 3. Jeet Jhabakh (15:45.786).

    Formula 4 SEA (Race-1, 11 laps): 1. Shihab Al Habsi (Oman) (20:40.847); 2. Elias Seppanen (Finland) (20:43.526); 3. Alister Yoong (Malaysia) (20:44.174). Race-2 (12 laps): 1. Seppanen (19:57.398); 2. Young (19:57.948); 3. Al Habsi (19:58.826).

  • Triple for Ashwin Datta in MRF F1600; Arjun Balu dominates Touring Cars class

    Triple for Ashwin Datta in MRF F1600; Arjun Balu dominates Touring Cars class

    Ashwin Datta (No.7) in action on Sunday. Photo: Anand Philar

    Coimbatore, 24 June 2018: For the second day running, young Ashwin Datta (MRF F1600) and veteran Arjun Balu (Indian Touring Cars) hogged the limelight with a triple and a double, respectively, as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Sunday.

    Datta, a 19-year old from Chennai and making his debut in the MRF F1600 class, finished the weekend by winning all the three races while Balu, 43, marked his return to racing after a five-year break by dominating the premier Indian Touring Cars class where he won both the races in imperious style.

    Ashwin Datta. Photo: Anand Philar

    In the morning, Datta, who had won the first race of the triple-header on Saturday, was off to a great start as he made three places in the very first lap before an incident brought out the Safety Car. On re-start, Datta wasted little time to ease past the front-runners and gradually opened up a commanding lead to emerge a creditable winner with Bengaluru teenager Yash Aradhya and Chennai’s Nabil Hussain following him over the finish line.

    Datta, in just his third full season of racing, having graduated from junior Formula competitions, sustained the momentum by winning the third MRF F1600 race in the afternoon, this time, from flag to lights despite two Safety Car interruptions.

    “The wins are unbelievable. I had good pace through the weekend. My progression in the past couple of seasons has been mainly due to my initial training at Meco Motorsports and later at Momentum Motorsports who nurtured me. Frankly, my target for the weekend was to finish in the top five, but am happy that everything came together,” said the 6ft, 2in tall Ashwin who dropped his weight from 94 Kgs to 72 Kgs in two months to get fit for the races.

    Earlier today, Datta, representing Momentum Motorsports, clinched his second podium in Formula LGB 1300 class races by finishing second behind Nabil Hussain (MSport) while Sohil Shah (MSport) came in third. Incidentally, the trio won a race apiece in this weekend’s triple-header.

    Arjun Balu on a charge. Photo: Anand Philar

    For Balu (Race Concepts), it was a memorable comeback this weekend. Watched by his family, he started the race from fourth on the reverse grid, but quickly moved to second as the pack braked into Turn-1. By the second lap, Balu had taken the lead when an incident brought the Safety Car out. On re-start, the former champion stepped up the pace, unaware of the hectic battle raging behind him. Ashish Ramaswamy (ARKA Motorsports), winner of two races in the first round in February but a non-finisher in yesterday’s first race, moved up from 11th to finish second ahead of veteran B Vijayakumar (Prime Racing).

    Later, Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) from Bengaluru came up with a brilliant performance while winning the Super Stock race after starting from 13th on the grid. He cut through the field with ease and then, after chasing front-runner Deepak Ravikumar (Infinite Piston) for a few laps, made his move to hit the front. Thereafter, it was a virtual one-horse race as Veeresh Prasad ran out winner by a fair distance ahead of Ravikumar and K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing).

    Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) from Mumbai and Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) took the honours in the Indian Junior Touring Cars and Esteem Cup categories, respectively, that were run concurrently with the Super Stock cars.

    Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite dominated the Volkswagen Ameo Cup double-header by achieving a double. Starting eighth on the reverse grid, he showed impressive pace in winning today’s second race from Affan Sadat Safwan Islam (Bangladesh) and Saurav Bandyopadhyay from Thane. The race was reduced from the scheduled 15 to 12 laps following incidents that led to a red flag after five laps and a Safety Car period on re-start.

    The results (Provisional, all 15 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF Formula 1600 (Race 2): 1. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) (17mins, 20.586secs); 2. Yash Aradhya (Bengaluru) (17:23.803); 3. Nabil Hussain (Chennai) (17:24.995). Race 3: 1. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) (20:00.619); 2. Nayan Chatterjee (Mumbai) (20:03.107); 3. Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram) (20:04.163).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race 2): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (21:00.044); 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (21:06.030); 3. B Vijaya Kumar (21:09.814).

    Super Stock (Race 2): 1. Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) (19:00.180); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Infinite Piston) (19:07.638); 3. K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing) (19:18.869).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 2): 1. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (20:08.939); 2. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (20:14.901); 3. Prabhu AS (ARKA Motorsports) (19:15.470). Esteem Cup (Race 2): 1. Raghul Ramasamy (Performance Racing) (19:33.803); 2. Vinod S (Team N1) (19:39.926).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race 3): 1. Nabil Hussain (MSport) (17:25.704); 2. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) (17:32.692); 3. Sohil Shah (MSport) (17:32.936).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race 2, 12 laps): 1. Dhruv Mohite (Kolhapur) (16:05.547); 2. Affan Sadat Safwan Islam (Chittagong, Bangladesh) (16:10.334); 3. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Thane) (16:10.930).

  • Winning comeback by Arjun Balu; Teenager Ashwin Datta catches the eye: Racing Nationals

    Winning comeback by Arjun Balu; Teenager Ashwin Datta catches the eye: Racing Nationals

    Multiple National Racing Champion Arjun Balu made a winning comeback after 5 years for Bengaluru based Race Concepts team at Coimbatore on Saturday. Image by Anand Philar

    Coimbatore, 23 June 2018: Teenager Ashwin Datta and Arjun Balu delivered standout victories in the MRF F1600 and Indian Touring Cars categories, respectively, to set alight the second round of the MRFMMSCfmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Saturday.

    Also notching wins were Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) in the Super Stock class, Chris D’Souza (Unimek Racing) from Goa (Indian Junior Touring Cars) and Erode’s Vinod S (Team N1) in the Esteem Cup. The trio emerged unscathed from an incident-filled race of combined 16-car grid that witnessed two Safety Car periods.

    The two Formula LGB 1300 races witnessed close competition with Sohil Shah (MSport) from Bengaluru winning the first outing after a hectic scrap with team-mate Nabil Hussain from Chennaiwhile Ashwin Datta took the second race that witnessed a couple of crashes, but drivers escaping unhurt. Datta, only 19, drove brilliantly after dropping from second to fourth and overtook three cars to jump to the front and eventually win the race.

    The 19-year old Ashwin Datta overtook three cars in one corner and went on win the MRF1300 race (in pic) after a facile win in the MRF1600 for a grand double on Saturday. Image by Anand Philar

    In sharp contrast, Ashwin Datta earlier enjoyed an untroubled ride to victory in the first of the three MRF F1600 races scheduled for the weekend. Having started from pole position, Datta drove a near-flawless race to win by the proverbial country mile. Behind him, RaghulRangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram, fought his way to second spot ahead of Chennai’s Nirmal Umashanker. The remaining two races will be run on Sunday.

    Meanwhile, Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite put in a command performance to win the Volkswagen Ameo Cup race, initially losing track position after starting from pole. Finishing second behind him were Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad), who led briefly, and Thane lad Saurav Bandyopadhyay.

    For 43-year old Balu from Coimbatore, it was a comfortable lights-to-flag victory. Starting from pole position, he gradually built up a sizeable lead with Ashish Ramaswamy (ARKA Motorsports) and veteran Vidyaprakash (Prime Racing) in tow. However, Ashish, winner of two races in the first round in February, retired after his engine expired and it allowed Vidyaprakash and team-mate B Vijayakumar, also from Coimbatore, to second and third positions which they maintained till the finish.

    “Everything went well in the race and my focus was to put in consistent laps without sacrificing my pace. I could see that after three laps, I had pulled a decent gap. More importantly, this victory is dedicated to my team Race Concepts who worked so hard in the past few days to prepare the car. We were a bit nervous after the last minute changes to the car to comply with the regulations. I always respected my competitors and so did not take anything for granted despite qualifying on pole position,” said Balu who began his motorsport career in 1992 as a racer before getting into rallying in 1995, followed by an odd appearance in racing competition.

    The results (Provisional, all 15 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF F1600 (Race 1): 1. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) (15mins, 52.195secs); 2. RaghulRangasamy (Mamallapuram) (15:59.749); 3. Nirmal Umashanker (Chennai) (16:03.412).

    Indian Touring Cars (Race 1): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (16:38.541); 2. D Vidya Prakash (Prime Racing) (16:46.128); 3. B Vijay Kumar (Prime Racing) (16:47.238).

    Super Stock (Race 1): 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (22:43.752); Deepak Ravikumar (Infinite Piston) (22:45.806); 3. K Srinivas Teja (Performance Racing) (22:48.777).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 1): 1. Chrys D’Souza (Unimek Racing) (22:54.799); 2. Prabhu AS (ARKA Motorsports) (22:57.507); 3. Nikunj Vagh (Team N1) (23:01.287).Esteem Cup (Race 1): 1. Vinod S (Team N1) (22:50.081). Only one finisher.

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race 1): 1. Sohil Shah (MSport) (19:20.665); 2. Nabil Hussain (MSport) (19:21.179); 3. A Balaprasath (DTS Racing) (19:22.636).Race 2:. Ashwin Datta (Momentum Motorsports) (17:32.137); 2. Rupesh Sivakumar (MSport) (17:51.678); 3. Nabil Hussain (MSport) (17:55.093).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race 1): 1. Dhruv Mohite (Kohlapur) (17:44.976); 2. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) (17:49.205); 3. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Thane) (17:54.758).

  • Stylish rally star Arjun Balu wins maiden K1000 with navigator Sujith Kumar

    By David Bodapati

    Bangalore, 23 Aug 2009: Team MRF painted the City Red sweeping the podium as Arjun Balu, the most stylish driver in the Indian rally scene, won his maiden IMG Sports K-1000 rally, the second leg of the SPEED Indian National Rally Championship at the Manyata Tech Park here on Sunday.

    “This win means a lot for me. Though it was tough for the last three days, I enjoyed every bit of it,’’ said the champion driver from Coimbatore driving the 200+ horsepower Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia machine.. The 34-year old Speed Master switched off and went on a safe mode but his racing line and the sliding turns showed his class in the Super Special Stage today when he gave a joy ride to the Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the brand ambassador of SPEED, the high-quality product of Bharat Petroleum.

    However, it was his teammate Gaurav Gill who stole the limelight with two blistering laps of the 2-km Super Special Stage providing seat-edged thrills and the adrenalin rush to over 5000-odd Sunday crowd. Taking an acute right before the hair-pin bend in front of the Grand Stand, Gaurav Gill, gave spectacular moments of speed and thrill with his sliding dash without letting off the gas and the crowd enjoyed every bit as he clocked a time of 2 min and 7 seconds, the best today. That also helped Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sheriff to bag all the three stage points of Leg 2 pipping Arjun Balu and Sujith Kumar with a tie, which went in favour of Gill and Sheriff as they had fast times in more Special Stages on Day 2.

    Arjun Balu and co-driver Sujith Kumar with trophies after winning the K1000 rally, the second round of INRC 2009 in Bangalore on Sunday. An INDIAinF1 Photo

    Arjin Rao Aroor and Satish Rajagopal, also of MRF, completed the top-three in the the 2000cc N+ Category. The splashing at the water spot and the airbourne cars at the jump spot in front of the spectator gallery made the Super Special Stage spectacular for the spectators and the presence of Dhoni added excitement.

    Joseph C Jos and Royce Kizhakoodan of Team DDL Kochi who has won many autocross events has entered the rally championship this year and quickly adopted to the circuit. He won the 1600cc class where Sujay S and Varun S finished second and local pair Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhatt came third.

     Local lad Vikram Devadasan, navigated by Nikhil Pai of Secunderabad, who showed his promise in the Rally Star Cup last year with good performances, won the the 1400cc class.  Jose Francis and Manoj M of DDL Sports, Kochi came second while Samarth Gowda and Bharathi SM finished third.

    In the Rally Star Cup, the entry class, Phalguna V Urs and Anup Kumar edged out Balram CG and Raghuram CG to the second place. Harikeshav Nambiar and Ashwin Nadig were third.

    Sandeep Sharma and Anmol Rampal of Team Thunderbolt brought their Gypsy to the podium while Kushwant Randhawa and co-driver Harminder Singh finished second ahead of local team Sanjay Agarwal and Chetan Shivaram.

    Provisional, unaudited results:

    Overall/2000cc: Arjun Balu/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 1 ; Gaurav Gill/Moosa Sherif (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 2; Aroor Arjun Rao/Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 3

    1600cc (Baleno): Joseph C/Royce 1; S Sujay/Varun 2;  Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhat 3;

    1400cc (Esteem): Vikram Devadasen/Nikhil Pai 1; Jose Francis/ Manoj M 2; Samarth Gowda/Bharath SM 3.

    Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): Phalguna Urs/Anoop Kumar 1 ; Raghuram CG/Balram CG 2, Harikeshav Nambiar/Ashwin Nadig

    Gypsy class: Sandeep Sharma /Anmol Rajpal 1; Kushwant Randhawa /Harminder 2;

    Sanjay Agarwal/ Chetan Shivaram 3.

  • First international win for Arjun Balu & Kumar

    First international win for Arjun Balu & Kumar

    By David Bodapati Changchun (China), 29 August 2001: Indian rally star from Coimbatore, Arjun Balu along with navigator Kumar Ramaswamy, displayed his class and skill to claim a facile win in the fourth round of the Asian Zone Rally Championship (AZRC) on the final day of the Changchun Rally here on Wednesday.

    Teammate and lead driver of Team MRF, VR Naren Kumar’s dream of a another successive win came to an end with a gear-box issue but the compatriot of Balu already clinched the title, along with navigator Ramkurm. The duo to an unbeatable lead of 46 points in the Asian Zone Championship. Thus Arjun Balu came out triumphant as he notched up his maiden win on the international circuit.

    Balu, took an overnight lead after the first six special stages on Tuesday, and continued to attack with the same consistency despite having to deal with the left-hand drive, which the Indians are not used to. Still he took a comfortable lead of 3 minutes 10 seconds to win with a time of 2 hours 02.58 minutes to beat the Russian team of Diamantidi Aristotel and Skliar Vladimir. The Russian did an admirable job taking the podium after trailing in fifth place overnight.

    Balu, the 26-year Speed Maestro, has played a second fiddle to Naren Kumar and his navigator and also saw his car suffer mechanical failures in the first two rounds. Thus Balu and Kumar could not finish the first two rallies in Coimbatore and Indonesia in that order as gear-box issues cropped up. However, the win here catapulted him to second position in the five-leg rally as they garnered 16 points, taking their total to 27.

    “I am thrilled to get this win finally and it is a fantastic feeling. I have been waiting for long to get a victory and I am so glad we won today. It was very close in the last leg in Thailand,” Arjun Balu told this reporter.

    (Disclosure: This report by David Bodapati was first published in the Indian Express. This reporter’s trip to China was sponsored by MRF Tyres.)

  • Leelakrishnan bags driver’s championship for 1998

    FMSCI Drivers’ Championship Final Standings for year 1998

    Madras, 15 January 1999: The National Rally Drivers Championship was won by N Leelakrishnan of Coimbatore with 115 points after he took part in six of the eight-leg calendar in 1998. Arjun Balu of Coimbatore was second with 80.25 points followed by B Sagar Muthappa of Bangalore on third with 72 points. Following is the official Standings released by FMSCI today.

    Overall Drivers
    Posn.NameNASAMMSCKMSCKASCCCASCIASCAPMSCPCRTTotal
    1N. Leelakrishnan20.0010.0025.0015.0022.5022.50  115.00
    2Arjun Balu6.0018.7518.75  18.0018.75 80.25
    3B. Sagar Muthappa 15.0015.0012.0015.0015.00  72.00
    4V.R. Naren Kumar    30.0030.00  60.00
    5Jagat Nanjappa 7.5012.50 12.009.0015.00 56.00
    6Hari Singh 25.00  1.50  20.0046.50
    7Nikhil Taneja10.00  6.0018.00  12.0046.00
    8Upkar Dicky Gill15.00     25.00 40.00
    9Karandeep Singh Sandhu  7.5010.006.0012.00  35.50
     Navaz Bhathena3.00 2.508.00 6.0010.006.0035.50
    11Manik Raikhy  10.0020.00    30.00
    12B.S. Pruthvi 5.005.004.009.00   23.00
    13Nihar Modi 2.50 2.00  12.50 17.00
    14V. Ram Narayan12.00 3.75     15.75
    15Satkiran P.S. Hara       15.0015.00
    16Satish Bhat1.0012.50      13.50
    17Sandeep Sharma       10.0010.00
    18Ravi Jouhari2.00  3.004.50   9.50
    19Farad Bhathena8.00 1.25     9.25
    20Sanjay Sikand       8.008.00
    21P.G. Abilash4.003.75      7.75
    22George Antony      7.50 7.50
    23R. Thiagarajan      5.00 5.00
    24V. Thiagarajan     4.50  4.50
    25Homi D. Dhunjibhoy     1.502.50 4.00
    26N.K. Ramesh   1.00 3.00  4.00
     Aniruddha Jain       4.004.00
    28D. Shriram      3.75 3.75
    29Vijayant Chaudhry    3.00   3.00
    30Harish Samtani 1.25      1.25

    Last Updated on 1/15/99 on FMSCI Infomot
    By V.S. SHRIAKANT