INDIA in F1

Tag: INRC winners

  • KJ Jacob and Shanmuga triumph at Rally of Hyderabad; Big guns topple

    KJ Jacob and Shanmuga triumph at Rally of Hyderabad; Big guns topple

    Hyderabad, 29 October 2023: KJ Jacob and co-driver Shanmuga SN bagged their maiden big victory as they became the Overall winners of the Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2023 at Sanghi Nagar, near Ramoji Film City, here on Sunday.

    Thrissur’s KJ Jacob, who made his debut in the INRC in 2015 at K1000 rally in Bengaluru, took his first Overall victory. Ably assisted by co-driver Shanmuga of Bengaluru, the duo driving an INRC2 spec Volkswagen Polo 1.6 punched above their weight. Hyderabad’s tough terrain and, the longest special stage among the current rally venues in, India, proved daunting as the top-three in both the INRC1 and INRC2 and many overnight leaders, fell by the way side in the final stage. Of the eight premier class cars, driven by top guns in the country, only Younus Ilyas finished the punishing course.

    Vishakh Balachandran and Anil Abbas and young turk Arjun Rajiv and Rohit Gowda, both driving the lower INRC3 spec Polo 1.6 cars finished Overall second and third. Jacob and Shanmugha also won the INRC2 class while Vishakh and Anil took the INRC3 victory.

    Vivek Ruthuparna and co-driver Athreya Kousgi won the INRC4 while talented Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar bagged the Ladies class. Baljinder Singh Dhillon and Goutham CP won the Gypsy class.

    Revised Provisional Results: Overall: 1. Jacob KJ, Thrissur /Shanmugh, Bengaluru, Team Arka Motorsports (1hour, 54minutes, 29.2seconds); 2. Vishakh Balachandran/ Anil Abbas (1:55:18.0); 3. Arjun Rajiv/ Rohit Gowda (1:55:28.7);

    INRC2: 1.Jacob KJ/ Shanmugha SN, (1:54:29.2); 2. Ritesh Guttedar / Suraj M (1:57:01.2); 3. Chetan Shivram/ Shiv Prakash (1:58:02.9).

    INRC3: 1. Vishakh Balachandran, Thrissur/ Anil Abbas, Ernakulam (1:55:18.0); 2. Arjun Raj:iv/ Rohit Gowda (1:55:28.7); 3. Jason Saldanha/ Thimmu Uddapanda (1:56:04.7).

    INRC4: 1. Vivek Ruthuparna, Chikkamagaluru/ Athreya Kousgi, Mumbai (2:11:07.5); 2. Safeekuddin/ Arun V (2:21.41.8);

    Ladies: 1.Pragathi Gowda/ Trisha Alonka (Both Bengaluru) (1:58.07.5); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale/ Raghuram Saminathan (2:11:45.3).

    Junior INRC: 1. Arjun Rajiv; 2. Jahaan Singh Gill; 3. Vivek Ruthuparna.

    Gypsy (non championship):1. Baljinder Singh Dhillon/ Goutham CP (2:16:23.5); 2. Sanjay Lal/ V Sekar (2:17:10.7); 3. Abhishek Gowda/ Dhiraj Manae (2:18:01.6).

  • FMSCI curtails INRC 2020 for 4-Wheeler season to 3 rounds

    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.