INDIA in F1

Tag: MAI

  • Sandeep Sharma wins first Tura Challenge: INRC

    By George Francis

    Tura (Meghalaya), 13 March 2005: Sandeep Sharam and co-driver Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from New Delhi started the MAI (Motorsports Association of India ) INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) 2005, with an emphatic overall victory.

    Driving a Maruti Gypsy, the veteran Sandeep took his maiden victory in a National Championship Rally overall today. “This is the moment I have been waiting for the past 14 years and I quite didn’t expect it here. I am thrilled,” remarked Sandeep after finishing the last stage of the day. Sandeep also won the top spot in the Gypsy Class, a new class introduced in the Championship last year, that has seen many a new driver come in from Northern India.

    Rally Star Cup winner of 2004, veteran Sanjay Agarwal who was co-driven by the 2004 Overall National Champion navigator Sujith Kumar, won the honours in the 1400 cc INRC class. Sanjay, who had moved up to the 1400 cc class, proved that despite all the problems he had with his car, he was a winner on the track. “I am happy that I finished the event.We broke our front struts in the very first stage yesterday and had a lot of problems before completing the event. We drove conservatively and won the class”, said Sanjay, fizzing Champagne at the Dakopgiri stadium in front of a cheering  8000 strong crowd.

    Debutant G.S.Joshy co-driven by experienced navigator G.M.Srikanth won the Rally Star Cup category, with a very convincing drive. “I am too happy to win in the first rally that I am driving. This will encourage me to do the full season now”, opined Joshi. In addition he also placed overall second.

    The Best timing of the three Super Special Stages run went to Sunny Sidhu and co-driver H.S.Bawa from Delhi. Sunny,the Raid de Himalaya winner should have finished the rally in good placing, but had to pull out when his Gypsy wheel came off yesterday.
    Today he was driving for leg points. Dr.Mukul Sangma, the Home Minister who was there to witness the Super Special Stage was so impressed with Sunny’s driving that he went for a spin with him in the rally gypsy.

    The Tura Challenge-5 was flagged off into the stages yesterday morning at 8 a.m. where the rallyists drove two Special stages (in the Chibragre and Badadam areas about 15km away from Tura) repeated thrice and returned to Tura in the evening.

    Today morning they were flagged off at 8 a.m. again and they drove both the stages once in the reverse direction and returned to Tura. Later in the afternoon, the Super Special Stage at Dakopgiri Stadium (that was run once on Friday evening) was run twice to complete the rally. 9 of the 15 starters finished the Tura Challenge –05. One of the major dropouts was Philipose Mathai from Team Methods who had a gearbox problem yesterday.

    The organizers of the event Motorsports Association of Garo Hills who are running their maiden event in the National Championship, have proved that they have an excellent capacity to organize and this should bring in more people from Magalia into rallying. “I am very happy that all the rallyists enjoyed the rally and we will do it better next year”, remarked Ashok Agarwal, the COC. “The Government of Magalia who has supported the rally are keen on doing whatever possible for promotion of Motorsport in the region,” said the Home Minister Dr Mukul Sangma.

    The Champagne ceremony at the stadium was followed by the prize distribution function at the 2nd Battalion at 8 p.m.

    Provisional (Unaudited) Results: OVERALL: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2hours, 8min, 0.39sec); 2. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 3. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62).

    1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal & Sujith Kumar (2:18:27.98); 2. Ravi Agarwal & Pradeep Kumar (2:28:54.71); 3. Along Aier & Zachume Ezung (2:42:14.53).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 2. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62); 3.Anil Wadia & CK Chinnappa (2:16:44.84).

    Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2:08:00.39); 2. Suresh Rana & Marcus Bugar (2:12:59.08); 3. Prakash Momin & Nancy Sangma (2:26:17:85).

    /ends/

  • Vikram Mathias-Sujith Kumar top in Delhi Rally

    Vikram Mathias-Sujith Kumar top in Delhi Rally

    New Delhi, 21 Nov 2004: Team MRF’s Vikram Mathias overtook team-mate and overnight leader Karandip Singh to win the overall title in the MRF-Maruti Suzuki Rally of the North, the sixth round of the Motorsports Association of India’s Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) that concluded at the National Stadium, here, on Sunday.

    With defending National champion VR Naren Kumar out of the fray, the coast is clear for Mathias and co-driver Sujith Kumar with one more round in hand. While Naren still leads the points tally with 44, Mathias’ victory here, which fetched him 14 points, has taken his tally to 43.

    Mathias’ closest rival is Lohit Urs, who finished fastest on the second day and third overall to take his tally to 29.

    Vikram Mathias and co-driver Sujith Kumar on the podium after winning the Rally of the North 2004 on Sunday. An INDIAinF1 photo

    The 1400cc was won comfortably by championship leader Prithveen Rajan and co-driver PVS Murthy, while Sanjay Agarwal and Anil Wadia maintained their momentum in the Rally Star Cup and Gypsy Cup, respectively, by winning with ease.

    Mathias, who trailed Karandip by nine seconds overnight, pulled back two seconds on the first stage itself before conceding one in the second. However, it was in the third stage that he streaked ahead, making a princely 16 seconds on his rival from Chandigarh. The last stage saw both drivers easing up a bit, but here too Mathias was a second faster.

    “I wanted to garner as many points as possible in this round, so I can plan my drive in the concluding round (Pune, Dec 4-5),” said Mathias.

    Mysore’s Lohit Urs, winner of the Chandigarh round, was the fastest on Sunday. Urs had finished the first day in sixth position, thanks to car problems in the initial stages, but he was literally flying on the second day and finished 13 seconds ahead of Mathias. “A lot of things went wrong on the first day, or else I would have had a good chance to finish overall first,” said Urs, who was simply brilliant in the last stage, completing 8.62 km stage in 6.16 minutes.

    All the drivers praised the dirt tracks that were prepared by the organizers Northern Motorsports, which provided for smooth and fast drives. Of the 34 cars that had entered, only four did not finish.

    Provisional final results:

    Overall: 1. Vikram Mathias/Sujith Kumar (Maruti Baleno, Team MRF) (76 mins 32 seconds); 2. Karandip Singh/Jaidas Mrenon (Maruti Baleno, Team MRF) (76.41); 3. Lohit Urs/Bonnie Thomas (Maruti Baleno) (76.48); 3. Prithveen Rajan/V S Murthy (Maruti Esteem) (77.52); 4. Arjun Rao Aroor/Shanmuga N (Maruti Esteem, Team Methods) (78.11).

    1400cc: 1. Rajan/Murthy; 2. Aroor/Shanmuga; 3. Ranjith Ballal/Ramesh Kumar (Esteem) (79.33); 4. Sandeep Sharma/Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal (Maruti Esteem) (80.46).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Sanjay Agarwal/Chandramouli (Maruti Esteem) (79.32); 2. Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok (Maruti Esteem) (83.25).

    Gypsy Cup: 1. Anil Wadia/Satinder Singh (81.38); 2. Gaurav Chirpal/Sri Kantha GM (81.56).

    Ends