INDIA in F1

Tag: MRF

  • Gill creates history as he becomes first Indian to win APRC Title

    Longyou (China), 2 Nov 2013: Indian driver Gaurav Gill created history by becoming the first Indian to win the top class in the 2013 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title after finishing Day 1 of the Rally of China at the wheel of his Team MRF ŠKODA Fabia S2000 here on Saturday.

    According to Adrenna Communications’ release, title rival and team-mate Esapekka Lappi was leading at the end of Day 1 with Gill in second place. Gill, with Australian co-driver, Glenn Macneall, only had to finish the rally to secure his first APRC title, while Lappi is in a position to move up to second in the championship, having finished second in the S2000 category at the recent Sanremo Rally in Italy.

    Gill’s team-mate lads Esapekka Lappi from Finland leads the event by 4 minutes. There’s still one day to go, before the finish when Gill and the team can celebrate on the APRC podium. Gill suffered a puncture which cost him 2-3 minutes but managed to get back in the rally.

    Team MRF  Driver Gaurav Gill (India), 2013 FIA APRC Champion commented “This is definitely the high-light of my career so far, we’ve come close on several other occasions and this year wasn’t easy either. I have to thank the team, my co-driver Glenn (Macneall), Skoda and a big thank you to MRF tyres too as they’ve stuck with me all these years and so it’s nice to reward them and my country. We stopped and changed tyre losing 2-3 minutes, but the main thing is to get the car back here.”

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    Gaurav Gill of India pilots the MRF Skoda to finish Day 1 and take the APRC titles in the China leg on Saturday. An Adrenna Communications photo
    Gaurav Gill of India pilots the MRF Skoda to finish Day 1 and take the APRC titles in the China leg on Saturday. An Adrenna Communications photo

  • Rupert Svendsen-Cook wins MRF Challenge Race 2

    Greater Noida, 27 Oct 2013:  British driver Rupert Svendsen-Cook managed to win Race 2 of the MRF Challenge 2013 at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida even after accidentally hitting the pit lane limiter in the final corner on the last lap. Sam Dejonghe took his first podium of the season as he fended off a charging Tio Ellinas to finish in 2nd position. Tio Ellinas with his double podium finish has taken the championship lead, a release from Adrenna said about the event conducted as support race before the Indian GP

    From left: Dejonghe (2nd), Svendsen-Cook (winner), Ellinas (3rd) on the podium after winning the MRF Challenge 2013 Race 2 on Sunday at BIC. An MRF photo
    From left: Dejonghe (2nd), Svendsen-Cook (winner), Ellinas (3rd) on the podium after winning the MRF Challenge 2013 Race 2 on Sunday at BIC. An MRF photo

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    Sean Walkinshaw started on pole for the reverse-grid Race 2 along with Svendsen-Cook on the front row. Walkinshaw got bogged down at the start allowing a stream of cars past him as Svendsen-Cook went into the lead. Dejonghe moved into 2nd place with Yudai Jinkawa following him in 3rd place. Behind them Race 1 winner Arthur Pic was in 4th place with Tio Ellinas in 5th place. Pic tried to go around the outside of Jinkawa on lap 2 but ran wide, allowing Tio Ellinas to get past as well. Ellinas then pulled off a great overtaking move at Turn 6 to get past Jinkawa and move into 3rd place. Svendsen-Cook comfortably led with Dejonghe unable match his pace due to a throttle problem. Svendsen-Cook came into the final corner on the final lap and accidently hit the pit lane speed limiter, which resulted in him coasting across the finish line. Ellinas meanwhile closed in on Dejonghe on the last lap but was unable to get past as they crossed the finish side-by-side. Vikash Anand finished in a creditable 11th position while the other two Indians were unlucky with Ashwin Sundar and Parth Ghorpade both retiring.

    Race winner Rupert Svendsen-Cook was excited to win after being contesting his last race over 18 months back. He commented, “Winning on my first race weekend in 18 months is amazing and I am really happy. Pressing the pit lane limiter on my last lap was scary but luckily I had built enough of a lead to finish ahead. I have not been happy with the car the whole weekend and have also been very rusty. The car felt much better today and I got a great start and after that it was all about maintaining the pace. The MRF team has been really supportive so a big thank you to them”

    GP3 driver Tio Ellinas was ruing the time lost behind Jinkawa but was happy with another podium finish. He said, “My start was not so good but I managed to stay 5th. Arthur (Pic) went off track while trying to pass Jinkawa and after that we were side by side but I just got ahead. By the time I passed Jinkawa the gap to Sam (Dejonghe) was too big but I managed to catch him on the last lap. I tried my best but could not get past. I am very happy to be leading the championship after the first round and look forward to Bahrain now. “

    Sam Dejonghe finished in 2nd place after struggling with a throttle problem for most of the race. He said “I started on new tyres and they took 3-4 laps to get up to maximum temperature. By the time I could start catching Rupert I had a problem with the throttle which forced me off couple of times. Tio (Ellinas) was closing in fast and was really close on the last lap. I just managed to hold him off. It feels great to be on the podium so look forward to racing at Bahrain. “

    MRF Challenge 2013 Calendar:

    Round 1: October 25-27, 2013, New Delhi, Buddh International Circuit (Formula One Support Race)

    Round 2: November 28-30, 2013, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit (World Endurance Championship Support Race)

    Round 3: December 19-21, 2013, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit (Gulf Racing Festival)

    Round 4: February 14-16, 2014, Chennai, Madras Motor Race Trust

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  • Vijaykumar leads Pradeep, CS Santosh as TVS sweeps top-three places

    Pune, 26 Sept. 2004: TVS Racing continued its dominance at the end of 4th round of the MRF National Motocross Championship held in Pune as C. Vijaykumar consolidated his overall lead to a total of 135 points in the prestigious Indian Experts Foreign Open Class, despite injury.

    In a battle that is always fought with true grit i.e., foreign open class; the first moto saw top 3 positions by TVS Racing with Vijaykumar taking the lead followed by H. K Pradeep and C. S. Santosh. Though Syed Eathasham of Yamaha Racing was leading till the 7th lap it was Vijaykumar who sprung from nowhere to emerge a clear winner. C. S. Santosh who was leading in the second position gave way to Pradeep for the third position as he struggled with two falls.

    The second moto had a different story as Karan Kadam of Yamaha Racing overcame others to bag the top position. C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing put up a valiant fight to come 2nd closely followed by Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha Racing at 3rd. The reigning champion C. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing managed only 6th position as an injury caused by a fall in Indian Experts Group B upto 150 CC 2-stroke race slowed him considerably. Karan Kadam was declared the overall winner by 33 points followed by Santosh with 32 points.

    It was truly Santosh’s (TVS Racing) day as he garnered maximum podium positions. He came overall 2nd in the Indian Experts Foreign Open and Number one in Indian Experts Group B upto 150 CC 2 stroke and Indian Experts Group B upto 180 CC four Stroke.

    The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke too saw some exciting race. C. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing who was a strong contender for the race had a massive fall and had to settle for a DNF. His counterpart C. S Santosh cruised towards the finishing line. Syed Eathasham and Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha Racing came 2nd and 3rd respectively.

    Another winner of the day was the experienced C. D. Jinan of TVS Racing who took the top honours in the Group D upto 180 CC riding TVS Fiero F2. He took a formidable lead right at the beginning and managed to maintain his pace though Sridhar Urs of Yamaha was just few yards behind him.

    The other class which Yamaha Racing took number one position was the Class D Indian Experts upto 110 CC where Sridhar Urs of Yamaha emerged winner. C.D. Jinan of TVS Racing and Shivakumar of Yamaha came 2nd and 3rd respectively.

    The Novice class was taken by Yamaha’s Wasim Mohammed closely followed by K.P Chandan and Syed Zubair of TVS Racing for the 2nd and 3rd position.

    The local class saw some interesting fight between Vishal Barguje and Abijit Jhadav. But in the end Vishal Barguje did some thrilling daredevil riding to emerge as the top rider of Pune. In the privateer intermediate class Amol Temghare of Pune emerged victorious.

    Editor’s note: Migrated from archives on 29 July 2022.