INDIA in F1

Tag: Karna Kadur

  • Prasaditya 46th K1000 Rally flagged off: INRC Round 3

    Prasaditya 46th K1000 Rally flagged off: INRC Round 3

    Tumakuru (Karnataka), 2 Dec 2022: The Prasaditya 46th Karnataka-1000 rally, the third round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, was flagged off here today by former Minister S Shivanna to signal the start of the event which will be run near here over two days starting Saturday, Dec 3.

    The Prasaditya K1000 rally, which has attracted 65 entries, is being organised by the Karnataka Motor Sports Club under the aegis of FMSCI, the governing body of motorsports in India and promoted by Blueband Sports.

    Following a reconnaissance run this morning of the Special Stages, most of the competitors expressed happiness at the terrain which was variously described as fast, flowing and technical.

    Championship leader, Bengaluru’s Karna Kadur (co-driver Nikhil Pai) of Arka Motorsports, said: “I am quite pleased with the Special Stages. The terrain is a good mix of fast, flowing corners, a few jumps and water splashes which should make for a good viewing for the spectators. We have prepared the car well and hope to finish strongly.”

    Delhi-based seven times National champion and Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), who is currently second in the championship, was impressed with the Special Stages. “I quite liked the stages. The organisers have put in a lot of hard work to prepare the route which I think will take rallying to the next level. The Stages are quite fast in some sections and also technical with blind corners and crests. The pace notes have to be spot-on and it will also test your driving skills. I won the 2021 event despite many setbacks and I hope I can win my eighth K-1000 title on Sunday,” he said.

    Karna Kadur holds advantage with a handsome lead

    The battle is all set to resume between championship leader Karna Kadur of Arka Motorsports on MRF Tyres and 7-time National champion Gaurav Gill, a private entry in yellow colours, supported by JK Tyres.

    The popular Karnataka-1000 rally, the oldest rally in the in the country, which has attracted 65 entries is being organised by the Karnataka Motor Sports Club under the aegis of FMSCI, the governing body of motorsports in India and promoted by Blueband sports.

    Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai, who won the South India Rally, the first round of the season, lead the championship table with 72 points while strong contenders Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif, who had a mechanical failure in first round came back strongly with a victory in the second round in Coimbatore have 44. While Gill will be gunning for his 8th K1000 victory, Kadur with a 28-point lead will be safe and cautious, looking to bag crucial points to protect his lead. With a total of 40 points on offer, the dark horse of the rally, will be defending champions from Himachal Pradesh, Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap, who are trailing third with 34 points.

    Guttedar leads INRC2

    Bengaluru pair of Ritesh Guttedar and co-driver Lokaranjan lead the INRC2 standings with 47 points followed by Thakur and Kashyap while another experienced duo Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhat are in third.

    Another Himachal pair Kuber Sharma and Kunal Kashyap lead the INRC3 table while Samrat Yadav and Chandrasekhar M leads the Gypsy class. The Junior INRC will see close competition between the top-two ladies teams. While Dr Shivani Pruthvi (Dr Deepthi) leads the table with 66points, Pragathi Gowda (Trisha Alonkar) is just a point behind with third-placed Arnav Pratap Singh (Arun SSB) on 40 points.

    27 entries for INRC3

    The top INRC class has six cars while there are nine entries in INRC2 category and ten in INRC4. The bulk of rally cars with 27 entries will feature in the popular INRC3 class. There are 13 entries in the Gypsy section for the Challenge Cup, which is a non-championship class.

    “The iconic K-1000 rally is running continuously for close to five decades, except a couple of years, and has once again attracted the cream of talent from all over the country. KMSC has put in place all safety requirements and I wish all the drivers a happy rally,” said Gautham Shantappa, the President of KMSC, who is also the vice-president of FMSCI.

    10 Special Stages of dirt tracks

    The K-1000 rally will have 10 Special Stages. There will be four physical stages with an total special stage competitive distance of 119.11km. The 15.10-km long Hatyalu and Kondli (9.67km) will be run thrice on Saturday while the cars will take on Yallapura (6.87km) and Thirtharama (15.53km) on Sunday. Along with a liaison distance of close to 105 km, the total distance of the rally will be about 224km.

    The final round of the INRC, the Rally of Nagaland is scheduled for Jan 12-14 subject to approval by FMSCI, as it is a new venue.

  • Gaurav Gill takes early lead on Saturday ahead of Karna Kadur

    Gaurav Gill takes early lead on Saturday ahead of Karna Kadur

    Coimbatore, 30 July 2022: Speed maestro Gaurav Gill, along with experienced co-driver Musa Sherif, led the overall standings after Day 1, in the Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022 for four wheelers, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, here on Saturday.

    Championship leaders Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai, who won the first round in April, also drove their MRF Tyres-shod Polo cautiously to place themselves in the second position to protect their advantage as table toppers. Mangaluru’s Aroor Arjun Rao, along with co-driver Sathish Rajagopal were overall third after the first two Special Stages on Saturday. Four more Special Stages will be run on Sunday. The 19.65-Km Black Thunder stage and 14.75-km Thunder World stage will be run twice each alternately at the familiar Kethanoor windmill farms.

    Gill, the seven-time overall INRC champion, supported by JK Tyre, was hell bent on stopping the streak of mechanical failures that he suffered in the last few rallies. The Arjuna Awardee confessed that this was probably his slowest ever rally in his career. Nevertheless, the three-time APRC champion was still the quickest on the dirt tracks, posting the fastest time in both the runs on the 26.6-km Special Stage ‘SM Agro’ on Saturday. The Agro special stage was the longest in recent years in INRC, and Gill’s team did not take any chances with the performance of the car. “This car has never done such a distance in the rally. Non-stop driving at high speed for over 20 minutes will be too much for the car… The engines,  drive shafts and gears are not designed for such heat. So the focus is to bring the car back home safely,” Gill told the reporters.

    Brothers Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan, the 2019 overall champions, combine once again after a gap, to take the lead in their class, the INRC2, after Day 1 in the Rally of Coimbatore, the INRC Round 2 on Saturday. Photo by Srinivasa Krishnan

    Bengaluru’s Chetan Shivram, is back with his brother Dilip Sharan as co-driver. The duo who won the 2019 Overall title, are leading the INRC2 class in a Polo on Yokohoma tyres, ahead of defending champions Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap of Himachal Pradesh. The Chettinad Sporting duo supported by MRF, are just three seconds behind and kept themselves at a striking distance with four stages to be run on Sunday. Another strong contender Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G), the reigning INRC2 champ began well but suffered drive shaft issues. He had mechanical problems in Round 1 too.

    Chandigarh teenager Jahaan Singh Gill along with Bengaluru co-driver Suraj Keshava Prasad are leading INRC3 while Bengaluru INRC4 defending champions Deepak Chandra (co-driver Mahesh Nandy) are ahead in the 2-car INRC4 field.

    Women in Motorsports: Bengaluru pair Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar are leading among the ladies teams with a creditable overall 23rd among 53 cars that took the start on Saturday.

    Provisional Classification after Day 1 /Saturday:

    Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill, Delhi /Musa Sherif, Kasargod, INRC (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 47 minutes, 22.000 seconds; 2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, both Bengaluru, INRC (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 48:53.300; 3. Aroor Arjun Rao, Mangaluru / Sathish Rajagopal, Bengaluru, INRC (Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 49:12.800; 4. Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, INRC2 (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:20.200; 5. Aditya Thakur, Solan, / Virender Kahsyap, Shimla, INRC2 (Chettinad Sporting/ VW Polo1.6) 49:23.200; 6. Dean Mascarenhas, Mangaluru / Gagan Karumbaiah, Kodagu, INRC (Pvt/ Baleno) 49:40.600; 7. Aroor Vikram Rao, Mangaluru / Somayya AG, Kodagu, INRC2 (Snap Racing/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:48.500.

    INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif, (Privateer/Mahindra XUV 300) 47 minutes, 22.000 seconds;2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai, (Arka Motorsports/VW Polo 1.0) 48:53.300; 3. Aroor Arjun Rao, / Sathish Rajagopal, (Mandovi Racing/ Maruti Baleno RS) 49:12.800;

    INRC2: 1. Chetan Shivram/ Dilip Sharan, both Bengaluru, (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:20.200; 2. Aditya Thakur, Solan/ Virender Kahsyap, Shimla (Chettinad Sporting/ VW Polo1.6) 49:23.200; 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / Somayya AG, Both Mangaluru (Snap Racing/ VW Polo 1.6) 49:48.500.

    INRC3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill, Chandigarh/ Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 50:06.800; 2. Syed Salman Ahmed, Mysore / BK Rishabh, Mangaluru (Pvt/ VW Polo 1.6) 50:31.100; 3. Kuber Sharma, Solan / Kunal Kashyap, Shimla (Pvt./ VW Polo 1.6) 50:33.700; 4.

    INRC4: 1. Deepak Chandra, /Mahesh Nandi, Both Bengaluru, (Pvt/Honda City) 55:41.000; 2. Ninu Mohan, Trivandrum / Goutham CP, (Pvt/Honda City) Chikmagalur, 1:03:42.400; 3.

    Non-Championship – fmsci Gypsy Challenge: 1. Himanshu Arora, New Delhi /Vikram Thakur, Chandigarh (Pvt) 52:55.100; 2. Samrat Yadav, Chandigarh/ Chandrashekar, Bengaluru, (Pvt) 53:13.000; 3. Dheeraj KV/ Pramod Raman, Both Bengaluru (Pvt).

  • Rally of Coimbatore flagged off: Blueband Sports INRC Round 2

    Rally of Coimbatore flagged off: Blueband Sports INRC Round 2

    Coimbatore, 29 July 2022: The Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022 (INRC) for four wheelers was flagged off here on Friday.

    The second round organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) has attracted 54 entries. INRC, one of the popular Nationals in the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (fmsci) calendar returns after a long break for Round 2. The first round was held in Chennai in April.

    The delayed 2021 season, was completed in March 2021 with the MMSC South India Rally (SIR) which was run along with the APRC Asia event. Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai, won their maiden APRC event. The MRF duo are leading the 2022 season Overall table.

    Chennai, also hosted the first round of the Blueband INRC Round 1, a month later in April 2022, and after tough fight Arka Motorsports Karna Kadur, in MRF colours, overcame the challenge from Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah to take the overall lead in the 2022 championship.

    Arka Motorsports’ Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai) will spearhead the MRF Tyres campaign in the top INRC class along with defending champion Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap, who moved up to INRC 2 this year. Both are leading their respective classes after Round 1. Thakur and Kashyap, the Chettinad Sporting duo, competed in the INRC-3 class in 2021 and won the Overall honours.

    Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) being flagged off at Coimbatore on Friday.

    The JK Tyre team is led by Arjuna Awardee and seven-times INRC Champion, Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) in a Mahindra XUV 300. However, with Amittrajit Ghosh,  moving abroad, and missing the Round 1, talented rallyist from Mangalore Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah) gets an upgrade to the premier INRC class. He will be driving a rally-spec Baleno R2. Ghosh’s navigator and top rallyist Ashwin Naik, who also missed Round 1, will be calling notes for Rohan Pawar of Team Slideways Industries in a INRC2 Polo.

    Others to watch out for in INRC are, former champion Chetan Shivram, who is back with his brother Dilip Sharan, with whom he won the title in 2019, and Mandovi Racing’s Arjun Rao and Sathish Rajagopal. Veteran navigator and former champion BS Sujith Kumar makes a comeback (INRC) and will be calling the pace notes for Monish in a VW Polo 1.2GT. Arka Motorsports’ Dhruva Chandrasekhar and PVS Murthy complete the six-car INRC class.

    In INRC2 class, JK Tyre’s Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Sanath G, who lost by a whisker last year, will be fighting with defending champions Adity Thakur (Kashyap) once again. Aroor Vikram and AG Somayaa of Snap Racing along with Suhem Kabir (Coorg) and co-driver Jeevarathinam will be the other experienced drivers in INRC2.

    Talented Jahaan Singh Gill, who lost in scrutiny after winning on the ground in Round 1, will be in JK colours in INRC3 class along with Kuber Sharma and co-driver Kunal Kashyap INRC-3 victory. The class will have also have strong representation from women in motorsports. Pragathi Gowda and co-driver Trisha Alonka, Davangere doctors Shivani Pruthvi and co-driver Deepti Pruthvi, along with Shivani Parmer and her mom Dr Vani Parmar will all vie for honours in INRC3 class. Another talented driver Anushriya Gulati of Formula Woman fame (DB motorsports) will have Arjun Dheerendra as co-driver. Athira Murali, another talented lady driver from Kerala, will be missing from the line-up for this round.

    There will be only three Gypsy entries this time around. The Gypsy class in a non-championship support class.

    Note. Feature image caption was corrected on 30July2022.

  • Karna Kadur keeps overnight lead; Gill suffers another let-down

    Karna Kadur keeps overnight lead; Gill suffers another let-down

    Chennai, 23 April 2022: Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) overcame teething issues to head the Overall standings on conclusion of Leg-1 in the MRF 45th South India Rally, the first round of the Blue Band Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022, here today which also saw the early exit of seven times National champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) due to a mechanical problem.

    Going into the overnight parc ferme, Kadur, winner of the Asia Cup round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship at the same venue last month, led Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gangan Karumbaiah, Kodagu) by a mere 2.9 seconds.

    The two leaders were followed by Chettinad Sporting’s 2021 National champion Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) from Himachal and Pallakkad’s Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) in the provisional Overall classification. With five more Stages to be run tomorrow, just 17.6 seconds separated the top four contenders, pointing to a thrilling finish on Sunday.

    After Gill’s retirement in the day’s second Stage, it was essentially a four-way battle for top honours, involving Kadur, Mascarenhas, Thakur and Ahmer. As the day progressed, Kadur and Mascarenhas stepped up the pace to pull away from the others. Kadur won three of the five Stages while Mascarenhas topped the other two.

    “It was not the best of the runs as we had issues in the morning in SS-2 and we lost some time. We lost the boost about 10kms into the Stage and we had to drive conservatively. After the service break, we had to play catch up. We made some time on the front-runners and we are happy to take the lead at the end of the first leg,” said Kadur.

    For Gill, his run of bad luck continued. “The drive shaft got twisted in SS-2, just a km before the finish, may be due to metal fatigue. But the car was handling good till then. We also tested a new set of tyres on all the cars and we were doing 3/10ths faster and the performance of JK Tyres was really good. We will try and get the car back into action tomorrow to collect maximum leg points for the championship,” said Gill who had to deal with similar issues last season too.

    Provisional classification (Leg-1):

    Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (54mins, 40.700secs); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (54:43.600); 3. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal, Chettinad Sporting) (54:53.400).

    INRC-2: 1. Mascarenhas / Karumbaiah (54:43.600); 2. Thakur / Kashyap (54:53.400); 3. Fabid Ahmer / Sanath G (both Pallakkad) (54:58.300).

    INRC-3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill (Chandigarh) / Suraj Keshava Prasad (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (56:07.800); 2. Kuber Sharma / Kunal Kashyap (both Himachal) (56:57.800); 3. Daraius Neville Shroff (Delhi) / Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru, Slideways Industries) (57:05.300).

    INRC-4: 1. Prakhyat Shirole / Supreet S (both Bengaluru) (59:32.700); 2. Yeshwanth Padala (Hyderabad) / Bharath SM (Bengaluru) (01Hr, 01:08.900); 3. Deepak Chandra / GM Manjunath (both Bengaluru) (01:02:11.000).

    Junior INRC: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill / Suraj Keshava Prasad (56:07.800); 2. Shroff / Arjun Dheerendra (57:05.300); 3. Arnav Pratap Singh (Delhi) / Arjun SSB (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (57:29.500).

    Fmsci Gypsy Cup: 1. Himamshu Arora (Delhi) / Vikram Thakur (Chandigarh) (01:01:49.300); 2. Sanjay Razdan (Srinagar) / Karan Aukta (Shimla) (01:02:42.900); 3. Darshan Nachappa (Bengaluru) / S Dinesh (Shivamogga

  • Stage set for MRF 45th South India Rally

    Stage set for MRF 45th South India Rally

    Chennai, 22 April 2022: The 45 competitors who will take the start here tomorrow in the the MRF 45th South India Rally, the first round of the Blue Band Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2022, are all primed for action as the new season gets underway with focus yet again on the big guns.

    After a reconnaissance of the Stages today, reigning National champion from Himachal, Aditya Thakur (co-driver Virender Kashyap) of Chettinad Sporting said having moved up to INRC-2 category for the 2022 season, he is determined even more than before to perform better.

    At the pre-event press conference here today, Thakur, who won the maiden Overall title besides topping the INRC-3 category last month, said: “I was gunning for my INRC-3 class title last season, but I tasted Overall success. It makes you yearn for more. However, my focus this season will be on winning the INRC-2 category title and I will leave no stone unturned when an opportunity presents. The car is reliable and well-tuned by Chettinad Sporting, and we will be pushing right from Day 1.”

    Seven times National champion and Arjuna Awardee, Delhi-based Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif, Kasargod) is keen to make amends for his up-and-down 2021 season. “I am happy to be back as rallying is what I love to do. My aim is to get a proper result as we had a bad year (2021 season) due to mechanical failures. We are a manufacturer’s team and I am a professional driver, so that kind of a result is not accepted. We will be pushing to go for the title again. We have made some changes to the car (Mahindra XUV 300) and we have the tyres to go all out and I am looking forward to a good run tomorrow.”

    Another top contender, Bengaluru’s Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai) of Arka Motorsports, who won his maiden international title by winning the Asia Cup round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship at the same venue last month, too fancied his chances.

    “The car is good and we are looking to continue the winning run. We did not have much time to test the car, but my MRF tyres proved reliable and the terrain is more or less the same with slight changes in the route as compared to last month. We are all set for a perfect start to the season,” said Kadur.

    Meanwhile, Kerala’s Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G), who missed the National crown last season by a whisker, has set his sights again on the top prize. “It was painful to lose the championship again by a narrow margin, but I took home a lot of learnings from the last season. Looking at the bright side, I have won the INRC-2 National championship and the target is to defend it. I have been consistent, but faced some technical issues. New season, new targets, so we are confident and looking forward to 2022 season,” said Ahmer.

    Another Bengalurean, Pragathi Gowda (Trisha Alonkar), who recently represented India in the Formula Woman McLaren GT selections struck a confident pose saying she hoped to start the new season well in the INRC-3 category. “It was a huge experience and the atmosphere was amazing. I have learnt a lot and I want to come back stronger next year. As for INRC, we are prepared well and confident to begin the season on a fast note,” said the 2020 Junior INRC champ, who displayed amazing speed ahead of many other men, but was bogged down by issues with the machine in two rounds.

    Deepak Chandra, the defending champion in the INRC4 class, said that the bar has been raised by winning the National championship last year. “We are making all efforts to defend our title and we are confident going into the first round. We did not have much time and as a private team much more effort is needed but we are game for it.”

    The total distance of the Rally, which is being held in Sripreumbudur, is about 300kms, including 123 kms of Special Stage distance, which is competitive. the Special Stages will be run on Saturday and Sunday.

  • Aditya-Virender INRC 2021 champs

    Aditya-Virender INRC 2021 champs

    Chennai, 27 March 2022: Himachal Pradesh duo Aditya Thakur and navigator Virender Kashyap lodged a hard-fought overall third in a humble INRC3 and kept a marauding Fabid Ahmer at bay till the fag-end and pulled off a stunning championship win by 1.2 seconds. Aditya and Virender join an elite club of INRC Overall winners inscribing their name as 2021 champions.

    Meanwhile, Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai of Arka Motorsports, driving a Volkswagen Polo 1.0 shod on MRF Tyres, kept their nerves to win the 44th South India Rally, thus grabbing their first win in an international event.

    The victory in the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup) first round which was held along with the Indian National Rally Championship final round of 2021, got Karna-Nikhil pair their first victory since 2018. The third round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 concluded the delayed and depleted 2021 season on Sunday but the Championship winners in other classes were not announced as there was delay in the final results.

    Even as Kadur and Pai celebrated their Asia Cup (India leg) victory on their APRC debut, Himachal’s Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting) clinched their maiden National championship title (Overall), though provisionally, and subject to the outcome of an appeal pending before the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court.

    Kadur survived another scare today when the door of the luggage boot sprung open in the day’s second Stage, but he came through relatively unscathed for his maiden success in an international event. Two other Asia Cup contenders, Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) and Younus Ilyas (Sanath G) packed up due to mechanical failures, when running second and third, respectively.

    Meanwhile, three times APRC champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), who had retired on Saturday with a mechanical failure but restarted today, eventually finished second behind Kadur.

    Kadur also topped the South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, to claim the Overall honours ahead of Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah) and Thakur. The third place finish was sufficient for Thakur to emerge National champion.

    Reflecting on his victory, Kadur said: “This is my first win since 2018 and I am very happy to break a jinx. Also, this is my first win in Chennai and the APRC victory also, and I cannot ask for anything better. As always, there is last-minute drama today with lower-arm bush popping out, but we were lucky to finish. We have learnt a lot in the last two rallies (both DNFs).

    “Till 2018, we won all the sub-categories we entered. And only in 2019 we started getting the budgets and the backing to go Overall. From there, we were developing the car, thanks to Leela uncle (N Leelakrishnan) and the whole team at Arka. Thanks also to the Volkswagen Motorsport team who have been continuously supporting me. The MRF Tyres certainly gave us the edge as the difference was only in seconds after the first stage, but it is the Tyres that allowed us to push the limits.”

    An ecstatic and emotional Thakur said: “Right now I can’t express how happy I am today. It is a dream come true. I never expected to become a National champion in such a short time after making my INRC debut in 2018. There are so many emotions and thoughts going through my mind. A big thanks to my co-driver Virender who is always spot-on.

    “I want to thank MRF Tyres and Volkswagen Motorsport for all the support. It is a dream come true that I am driving for such a wonderful rally car. I am indebted to my team Chettinad Sporting, Team PPTS and Lionnoil, that keeps my car cool every time I go out.”

    Gill was disappointed with the result. “It was the same in Coimbatore where we had a DNF (Did Not Finish) and in K-1000 that we won. Here too we were the quickest, but a mechanical issue cut short our rally yesterday. However, on restart, we had a good run today. Overall, I am quite happy with our performance,” said Gill, who plans to compete in APRC’s Japan and Australia legs this season.

    Final classification (Provisional):

    FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup, India round): 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (India) (01hr,50mins, 04.500secs); 2. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (India) (02:07:17.000)

    The FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship:

    Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:50:04.500); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (01:51:08.900); 3. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal, Chettinad Sporting) (01:52:16.100). National Overall champion (Provisional, subject to outcome of an appeal pending before the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court): Aditya Thakur (Himachal, Chettinad Sporting).

    INRC-2: 1. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (01:51:08.900); 2. Fabid Ahmer / Sanath G (both Palakkad) (01:52.17.300); 3. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (both Bengaluru) (01:56:11.400).

    INRC-3: Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (01:52:16.100); 2. Syed Salman Ahmed (Mysuru) / BK Rishabh (Mangaluru) (01:54:53.100); 3. Kuber Sharma / Kunal Kashyap (both Himachal) (01:55:32.900).

    INRC-4: Mujeeb Rehman (Kasargod) / Ravindra Kumar (Bengaluru) (01:59:08.600); 2. Prakhyat Shirole / Arjun SSB (both Bengaluru) (02:01:05.900); Deepak Chandra / Raghuram CG (both Bengaluru) (02:12:37.100).

    Junior INRC: 1. Pragati Gowda / Trisha Alonkar (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:57:42.300); 2. Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) / Bharath Sargur (Bengaluru, Kari Sports) (01:59:54.000); 3. Jahaan Singh Gill (Chandigarh) / Sheeraz Ahmed (Chikkamagaluru, SNAP Racing) (02:32:13.400).

    FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav (Chandigarh) / M Chandrashekar (Bengaluru) (01:57:22.900); 2. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Mallik (Faridabad) (02:03:23.700); 3. MR Venkatapathy / Santosh Kumar Selvaraj (both Coimbatore) (02:04:44.600). FMSCI SUV Challenge: 1. Ritesh Rai (Chennai) / Venu Rameshkumar (Coimbatore) (02:05:20.000).

  • Karna Kadur, Nikhil Pai lead APRC; Aditya inches closer to INRC title

    Karna Kadur, Nikhil Pai lead APRC; Aditya inches closer to INRC title

    Chennai, March 26: On a day of topsy-turvy results, Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) survived a puncture and a cracked windscreen to seize the Overall lead in the 44th South India Rally which is also a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup) and the concluding round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship with MRF Tyres as the Associate Sponsor, here on Saturday.

    A big shocker was the early retirement of title favourite and seven-times National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) after the lower arm of his Mahindra XUV 300 broke, but it was not known whether he will rejoin the Rally under the Super Rally format on Sunday when five more Stages would be run in the reverse direction, starting 7:27 am. “We will take a call whether or not to compete tomorrow after examining the car tonight for any collateral damage,” said team engineer N Leelakrishnan.

    In all, 33 of the 43 starters finished Leg-1 of the South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, celebrating its 70th anniversary.

    Meanwhile, Kadur, despite the puncture and damaged windscreen, put in some consistent times to take a 19-second lead over Race Concepts’ Younus Ilyas (G Sanath) from Kollam, while Kolkata’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik, Mangaluru) was running third, in the Asia Cup.

    “We lost almost a minute this morning due to a puncture. I drove the entire stage on three wheels before changing. In the Aavisa Stage, a stone thrown up by (Gaurav) Gill’s car, as we passed in the opposite direction, cracked the windscreen which we taped to prevent further damage. That apart, we had a fairly trouble-free run, but tomorrow is another day. So, fingers crossed,” said Kadur.

    In the National Championship, Kadur, followed by Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah, Kodagu) and Ilyas occupied the top three spots (Overall) at the end of Leg-1 today.

    INRC Overall championship leader, Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) from Himachal was placed fifth behind Ghosh, and has an opportunity to win the championship on the morrow provided he finishes the event.

    Thakur, winner of the first round in Coimbatore last month, said: “The going was good today, except for some issues with the ignition in SS-4. Tomorrow, we will push hard, but our focus would be on bringing the car back home safely. The set of MRF tyres were really good and provided good traction.”

    Leg-1 classification (Provisional):

    FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup): 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (India) (55mins, 30.200sec); 2. Younus Ilyas / Aniruddha Ranganekar (India) (55:49.200); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Indi) (55:49.800).

    FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship:

    Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (55:30.200); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (55:49.000); 3. Younus Ilyas (Kollam) / Aniruddha Ranganekar (Pune) (Race Concepts) (55:49.200.

    INRC-2: 1. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (55:49.000); 2. Fabid Ahmer / Sanath G (both Palakkad) (57:03.700); 3. *Chetan Shivram / Dilip Sharan (both Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (57:04.100). (*Shivram and Sharan were later disqualified by the stewards.)

    INRC-3: Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal) (56:29.400); 2. Syed Salman Ahmed (Mysuru) / BK Rishabh (Mangaluru) (57:48.400); 3. Kuber Sharma / Kunal Kashyap (both Himachal) (58:04.200).

    INRC-4: Mujeeb Rehman (Kasargod) / Ravindra Kumar (Bengaluru) (59:40.200); 2. Vaibhav Marathe (Goa) / Harsha Vardhana (Tumkuru) (59:45.600); 3. Prakhyat Shirole / Arjun SSB (both Bengaluru) (1:00:43.400).

    Junior INRC: 1. Pragati Gowda / Trisha Alonkar (both Bengaluru) (58:44.700); 2. Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) / Bharath Sargur (Bengaluru) (59:38.900); 3. Shivani Pruthvi (Davangere) / Ruthvik Praveen (Tiptur) (1:00:52.400).

    FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav (Chandigarh) / M Chandrashekar (Bengaluru) (58:18.600); 2. Rupender Sheoran (Gurugram) / Mohit Mallik (Faridabad) (1:00:52.800); 3. MR Venkatapathy / Santosh Kumar Selvaraj (both Coimbatore) (1:02:08.900).

  • Gaurav Gill set to fire in Rally of Arunachal, Round 3 of MRF FMSCI INRC 2018

    Gaurav Gill set to fire in Rally of Arunachal, Round 3 of MRF FMSCI INRC 2018

    (L-R) Aroor Vikram Rao, Amittrajit Ghosh, Gaurav Gill, Karna Kadur & Rahul Kanthraj during media interaction in Itanagar for Round 3 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018

    Itanagar, 2 November 2018: India’s top rallyist Gaurav Gill will be hoping to inch closer to his sixth national title as the Rally of Arunachal, Round 3 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018, unfolds here over the weekend.

    Gill, the Team Mahindra Adventure spearhead, who won the grueling Dakshin Dare Rally last month, has been in imperious form through the season, winning the first two rounds with consummate ease.

    Along with his trusted co-driver Musa Sherif, Gill is expected to thrill the local crowds with his speed and daredevilry behind the wheel. He will have to keep his eye on his team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik), though, who will be aiming to upstage him.

    Ghosh is currently in the second position and has been driving a lot more assuredly, even though he had to drop out of contention in the Dakshin Dare Rally owing to vehicle malfunction.

    Team Mahindra Adventure will be wary of Arka Motorsports’ Karna Kadur, who is likely to enjoy a slight edge over the tarmac stretches. Kadur has a new co-driver by his side, PVS Murthy, and is leading the charts in the INRC 2 category. He is third behind Gill and Ghosh in the overall championship standings.

    His team-mate Rahul Kanthraj (co-driver Vivek Y Bhatt) is also a strong contender, currently holding the second position in the INRC 2 category.

    Aroor Vikram Rao (co-driver Somayya AG) is leading the INRC 3 category and he will be keen to consolidate his position in the picturesque locals of Arunachal Pradesh.

    The Round 3 of MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018 being officially flagged off by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Pema Khandu (with flag) in Itanagar on November 2

    Championship standings after Round 2:

    INRC Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure) 50 points; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure) 36 points; 3. Karna Kadur & PVS Murthy (Arka Motorsports) 30 points.

    INRC 1: 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure) 50 points; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure) 36 points.

    INRC 2: 1. Karna Kadur & PVS Murthy (Arka Motorsports) 50 points; 2, Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Y Bhatt (Arka Motorsports) 36 points; 3. Jacob KJ & Nitin Jacob 24 points.

    INRC 3: 1. Aroor Vikram Rao & Somayya AG 50 points; 2. Suhem Kabeer & Jeevarathinam 30 points; 3. Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival 28 points.

  • K1000 preview: KMSC all-set to conduct 43rd edition; INRC final round on Sunday

    K1000 preview: KMSC all-set to conduct 43rd edition; INRC final round on Sunday

    K1000 KMSC logo. Courtesy KMSC facebook account

    Standings courtesy promoters RRPM, Kolkota (twitter)

    David Bodapati

    Bengaluru, 20 Jan 2018: King of Indian Motorsports, Gaurav Gill of Team Mahindra Adventure and his co-driver Musa Sherif will once again be the favourites to win the Indian National Rally championship final leg, the popular K1000 (Karnataka 1000) which began its 43rd edition with the recce on Saturday morning at a terrain about 70kms from here.

    The K1000 rally, a regular part of the Indian National Rally Championship is being organised by Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) one of the oldest active clubs in India. Except for a year or two, K1000 was continuously held for over forty years. It is also a founder member of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (fmsci). The INRC is being promoted by Kolkota-based Ramakrishna Race Performance Managment (RRPM) headed by a veteran rally ace, who was on of the winners of K1000 in its early years. Along with Amittrajit Ghosh, they are the only father-son who have taken part in INRC rallies.

    The number of entries for the popular K1000 this year is a luke-warm 28 which is one of the lowest in the recent years.

    Fresh from their victory in the fifth round at Arunachal Pradesh, the top duo who are leading the INRC class will be followed by young gun Dean Mascarenhas and Shruptha Padival of Mangalore and another seeded pair of Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik, who finished in that order in the overall standings of Rally of Arunachal. However, Dean and Shruptha are leading their class INRC3.

    Experienced stalwarts Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhat who won the INRC2 class will be gunning for a closing bang to win the championship but their job will not be easy with stiff competition coming from the likes of Younus Ilyas and Karna Kadur. The strong pair of talented Kadur and Nikhil Pai had an unfortunate DNF (did not finish) in Arunachal Pradesh, but the youngster will also be a strong favourite to win his class INRC2 besides the leading pair. Kadur slipped on the table standings after that DNF.

    In the INRC overall rankings for the season, Delhi’s Gaurav Gill is leading with 75 points with Dean Mascarenhas on 63 in second and Rahul Kantharaj on 47. Karna Kadur is only four points behind at 43 while Amittrajit Ghosh slipped to 5th place with 40 points. Musa Sherif and Shruptha Padival lead the co-driver rankings with 85 and 63 points respectively. Mahindra Adventure tops with 125 points in the team championship with ARKA motorsports in second place at 90.

    In the INRC2, Rahul Kantharaj (79), Younus Ilyas (58) and Karna Kadur (50) are leading the table in the Drivers’ championship with Vivek Bhat topping the co-drivers’ with 79 points over Harish KN (58) and Nikhil V Pai (50) in that order. ARKA is leading team standings in this class over Snap Racing.

    In the INRC3, Dean Mascarenhas with a century is leading the Driver’s Championship and has already clinched the title in the class but is found wanting in terms of sponsors to show his talent on a better platform. Darius N Shroff, Punyabrata Barma are on 51 and 46 respectively to fight for second and third positions. Likewise, Dean’s navigator Shruptha won the co-drivers title in this class. Nitin Jacob and Mrinmoy Saha will fight for the second position.

    Chettinad Sporting had won the team title in this class beating the only other team entry Snap Racing. They garnered 117 points.

    Stage Distance

    The total distance of the Rally will be 97.26 km. The Special Stage distance will be 69.15 km while the liaison distance will be 28.11km. The two stages Alpha and Beta will be run thrice. Alpha is 14.95 km long while Beta covers a distance of only 8.10km. The first car starts at Alpha 1 at 9 am on Sunday. The one-day rally will not have a spectator-friendly Super Special Stage this year.

    “It has been another exciting season of Indian rallying. I want to thank MRF Tyres, Mahindra Adventure, CARTAir, Isuzu, Arunachal Tourism, York, Arya and Century Club for their support” Arindam Ghosh, RRPM’s Director, the promoters of the MRF FMSCI INRC, said on the eve of the rally. “Gill has dominated despite missing out on one round. He has won the other three rounds but he must bring it to the finish here to win the championship”, he added.

    Supplementary Regulations on INRCindia site

    The MRF 43rd K1000 Rally is round 6 of the MRF FMSCI INDIAN NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (INRC) 2017 will run in compliance with the International Sporting Code of the FIA (and its appendices), the General Prescriptions of The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), the relevant Regulations concerning IRC championship or cup, the Supplementary Regulations and bulletins issued by the FMSCI can be found at www.inrcindia.com,

    The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) is the ASN of FIA in India. This rally is inscribed on the FIA Calendar under Asia Zone. Asia Zone competitors may take part in this rally and accrue points.

    There will be two Mahindra XUVs in fray with Gill and Ghosh behind the wheels of the Team Mahindra Adventure factory team. There will be six Mitsubishi Cedias competing for the honours in different classes but all of them will be privateers. The Kodagu team of Gagan Karumbaiah and co-driver Amrith Thimmaiah will be the lone entry in the fmsci 4w Cup in a Maruti Gypsy.

    eom/David Bodapati

  • Yokohama to enter INRC 2015 with Rahul Kantharaj, Karna Kadur

    Yokohama to enter INRC 2015 with Rahul Kantharaj, Karna Kadur

    Bangalore, 13 June 2015: In order to strengthen its Motorsports activities in India and further gain a stronger footing for future car rallies, Yokohama India Private Limited, the wholly owned arm of Japanese tyre major Yokohama has announced its team for Motorsports 2015 India.

    A press release from Yokohama said: “Team Yokohama will compete in the 1600 and 2000cc categories of the Indian Rally Championships. The team consists of experienced rallyists Rahul Kanthraj and Co-Driver Vivek Bhatt driving a Mitsubishi Cedia, competing in 2000cc and Karna Kadur and Co-Driver M Chandrashekar driving in 1600cc on a Volkswagen Polo. Yokohma also supports Prithvi Domnic and Co-Driver Pruthvi Ithal in 2000cc. Domnic is a Yokohama YCN dealer in Bangalore as well as a regular Motorsports rally enthusiast.

    Takeshi Harada, Director (Sales and Marketing), Yokohama India, while introducing the team said: “Yokohama has been part of Motorsports events the world over. I would also like to mention the completion of 10 years as a sole Tyre supplier to WTCC, an FIA World Championship, this is a proud moment. Therefore, for us participating in the IRC was a foregone conclusion as Motorsports is today part of the Yokohama philosophy.”

    “The launch of Team Yokohama is a proud moment, we have been providing Tyre support and participating for various Motorsports events in India since 2008 and excellent results have encouraged us to continue in this course,” Sanjay Chatterjee, General Manager, Yokohama India added.

    From 2008 -2010 Yokohama had been the official tyre partner to Red Rooster racing for INRC events. The results during that partnership were encouraging. Since 2008 year after year Yokohama Tyre supported cars have always found place on the Podium at Raid De Himalaya, one of the toughest Rallies. Yokohama’s IRC 2014 results have also been encouraging with the Team winner 2000cc, Team winner 1600cc and Rahul Kanthraj as Best driver 2000cc.

    Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt duo started rallying in the year 2000 and has participated in over 75 rallies. Together they have won 4 Group and National championships and finished runners up on 4 other occasions. They will participate in the 2000cc category.

    Participating in the 1600cc category, Karna Kadur, who has been part of over 95 (2& 4 Wheel) events and has won two National Championship titles and 12 National event wins. He has had 80 podium finishes with his co-driver M Chandrashekar.

    The three cars: from left: Rahul Kantharaj & Vivek Bhatt, Karna Kadur & Chandrasekhar, Dominic Pruthvi and Prithvi Ithal.

    The FMSCI was founded in the year 1971. The Indian rally championship (IRC) was renamed in 2014 but started had way back in the year 1978 and ran as the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).

    Globally other than replacement tyres business, Yokohama tyres is original equipment suppliers to many top of the line car manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota.

    Yokohama India is 100% subsidiary of The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. Yokohama Rubber Company(YRC) is already running in to 10th decade of its establishment in Japan, under its management plan GD100 (Grand Design 100, on completion of 100 years of operations in 2017) decided to foray in to Indian market in 2007. India being one of the fastest growing automobile markets got Yokohama India to invest in land for its manufacturing unit.

    Note: Updated from archives