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Tag: MRF
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Team MRF Tyres ropes in Italian legend Paolo Andreucci
Chennai, 1 March 2021: Team MRF Tyres is excited to announce that Paolo Andreucci, 11 times Italian Rally Champion, will compete in the Italian Gravel Championship (CIR-Terra) with Team MRF Tyres. Paolo Andreucci’s car will be shod by the Indian tyres for the 2021 Six-round Italian Gravel Rally Championship and he will drive a Citroen C3 Rally 2, on the latest generation of MRF Tyres.
Paolo Andreucci who has more than 20 years of experience in tyre development will be a valued asset as he also takes on the mantle of tyre development for Team MRF Tyres along with Fiore Brivio – renowned for his Rally tyre development. Team MRF Tyres has an aggressive 2021 testing schedule and Paolo Andreucci will play an important role in this program.
Andreucci’s signing comes after a successful 2020 season with Team MRF Tyres taking stage wins in the team’s first-ever season in top-level European Rally competition. The strengthening of their test driving team signals MRF Tyres’ commitment to International motorsport and their desire to be strong contenders for the World’s best championships. This is the next step as MRF Tyres continues to develop and build on a strong 2020 campaign.
The 2021 season started well for MRF Tyres with Emil Lindholm/Mikael Korhonen taking a podium spot in the opening round of the Finnish Championship at Artic Rally. It became two podiums from two outings on snow and ice after Craig Breen and Paul Nagle achieved a podium in 2020 in Finland.
MRF Tyres has proven pace and experience on gravel rallying around the world, producing perfect tyres for national and regional rallying. Further announcements for the 2021 campaigns will be made in due course. The next outing for Team MRF Tyres will be the SM OK Auto Ralli, the second round of the Finnish Rally Championship with Lindholm/Korhonen on March 5th and 6th.
Paolo Andreucci (Driver, Team MRF Tyres, Italian Gravel Rally Championship) said: “MRF Tyres is a very competitive team in motorsport. We have common and converging objectives, and this commitment is what has drawn me to this program. I like to challenge myself with new opportunities, and I am excited about this one. It is thanks to the passion and technical knowledge of the entire team at MRF Tyres that I believe together we can do a good job. For 2021, we want to be as competitive as possible in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship and above all to help MRF in developing the best of competition tyres.”
Arun Mammen, MRF Tyres Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, said: “We are proud of how competitive Team MRF Tyres was in the 2020 European Rally Championship season. Everyone at MRF Tyres is working hard and we are happy to be present competitively on a world stage like this. To be able to attract an 11-time national champion to MRF Tyres speaks about our commitment to rallying in Europe and the continued development of our rally tyre. We are dedicated to further our success and we look forward to the Italian Gravel Rally Championship. I would like to welcome Paolo to the team and wish him the best of luck for the 2021 season.”
About MRF Tyres
MRF Tyres was established in 1946 and now employs over 16,000 people and has revenue of around US$2.5 billion making it the biggest tyre supplier in India. MRF Tyres supplies rally and race tyres around the world. MRF Tyres entered the European Rally Championship for the first time in 2020 taking stage wins and took a podium position in the team’s first snow rally in the Finnish Rally Championship. It is part of a long motorsport heritage for the company that has seen multiple Asia Pacific Rally Championship titles, open wheeler success, national rally and racing success.
About Paolo Andreucci
Paolo Andruecci is an Italian rally stalwart, having broken onto the scene in the late 1980s. It didn’t take him long to make his mark, taking a top 10 in Rally Portugal in 1989, taking second in class in the Production WRC class. He has made his career in Italy on gravel and tarmac, starting over 330 rallies and taking 80 wins. Incredibly, he has taken 11 Italian titles overall and a further five class titles. He brings a wealth of experience to MRF Tyres and our aggressive development campaign into Europe.
Andreucci’s Championship titles:
2020 –Italy 2WD class (Tarmac), 2018 – Italian Championship, 2017 – Italian Championship, 2015 – Italian Championship, 2014 – Italian Championship, 2012 – Italian Championship, 2011 – Italian Championship, 2010 – Italian Championship, 2009 – Italian Championship, 2006 – Italian Championship, 2005 – Italian S1600 class, 2004 – Italian S1600 class, 2003 – Italian Championship, 2003 – Italian S1600 class, 2001 – Italian Championship, 1998 – Italian 2WD Championship, 1997 – Italian 2WD Championship
About the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (Campionato Italiano Rally Terra)
Formed in 2017, the Italian Gravel Rally Championship allows the finest rally drivers to take on the best gravel roads across Italy. Sanctioned by the national ASN, ACI Sport, tallies typically take place over a single day of competition with around 70km of competitive action (except for the Rally Italia Sardegna which supports the WRC round). The fields are highly competitive with more than 20 Rally 2 cars, producing exciting finishes – to the point that the 2020 Rally San Marino was tied with 0.0 between the first two cars! The 2020 Champion was WRC2 front runners Bulacia Wilkinson Marco/Marcelo Der Ohannesian. Andreucci took second with two victories with codrivers Francesco Pinelli and Anna Andreussi.
2021 Italian Gravel Rally Championship Calendar
1. Rally Adriatico 2021 (24-25 April);
2. Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 (3-6 June);
3. San Marino Rally 2021 (26-27 June);
4. Rally Città di Arezzo – Valtiberina 2021 (30 July – 1 August);
5. Rally dei Nuraghi e del Vermentino 2021 (11-12 September);
6. Liburna Rally Terra 2021 (6-7 November).
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Team MRF Tyres set to test ice and snow tyres in 2021 with Arctic Rally in Finland
Team MRF Tyres gets its 2021 rally season underway with the Arctic Lapland Rally, the first round of the Finnish Rally Championship to be held in Rovaniemi on 15-16 January.
Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen will compete in their Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo for Team MRF Tyres. Meanwhile, World Rallycross ace and son of two-times WRC Champion Niclas Grönholm will compete on MRF Tyres with Antti Linnaketo in a privately run Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.
Rallying in Finland at this time of year means two things – snow and ice. It is interesting to note that MRF have developed Ice and Snow tyres and have displayed the same during the MRF National Racing Championship at the Madras Motor Sports Track in during MRF Challenge in Feb 2020.
Meanwhile, “the World Rally Championship will have a winter rally in 2021 as the Arctic Rally Finland’s place on the calendar which was announced on Thursday. Rally Sweden was canceled in December due to a rising number of Corona virus cases in the Värmland region, leaving the WRC short of a snow round.
Niclas Grönholm/Antti Linnaketo will rally on MRF Tyres at the Arctic Rally. An MRF image “Based out of the city of Rovaniemi, and taking place from 26-28 February in temperatures that can dip to -30 degrees Celsius, Arctic Rally Finland is the calendar’s sole snow meeting.
“The Arctic Rally’s inclusion means the series will visit Finland two times this season, with the other coming at Rally Finland between 29 July and 1 August,” said an article in autosport.com
MRF Tyres competed in the Itäralli in 2020 with Craig Breen and Paul Nagle, taking a podium position on the Indian manufacturer’s first rally on studded tyres.
One year on, the team is back having made further developments to the tyres. It is the first of two outings in Finland for Lindholm/Korhonen with the duo due to run at the SM O.K. Auto-Ralli at the start of February.
Having fought to the very end in the 2020 Finnish Rally Championship, Lindholm has confidence heading into the rally and suggests the MRF Tyres will be on the pace despite this rally being just the second ice rally for the manufacturer.
For Grönholm, his family connection to MRF Finland and the opportunity to run in the Arctic Rally prior to his rallycross season is too much to resist.
He has competed on the rally twice before and is looking forward to rallying on ice and snow once again.
The Arctic Rally consists of a slightly shortened route this year with Covid-19 regulations prohibiting crowds and as a result the super-special stages are cancelled.
More than 120 crews will face seven stages and 217km of competitive action. The Friday stages get underway with the 23.55km Aittajärvi test. Kaihuavaara at 27.93 km follows before the final stage of Jyrhämäjärvi will test the concentration of the crews at 33.38 km.
Saturday’s stages will see the crews tackle four stages. A monster 42.64km Siikakämä / Hanaa will test the crews early in the morning before Heinunkierto at 24.95 km, Sarriojärvi at 32.48 km and the final stage of Ristilampi / Pohjanhovi at 31.51 km.
The stages are long, and the average speed is very high. The conditions during recce saw a good covering of ice on the stages but the snowbanks were small in some areas, meaning that drivers will have to be careful not to make any errors.
The journey into Finland will prove to be a challenging start for the 2021 rallying season for Team MRF Tyres. Further details on the European rallying plans will be announced in due course.
Keep up to date with Team MRF Tyres throughout the Arctic Rally on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Emil Lindholm, Driver, Team MRF Tyres, Skoda Fabia Rally 2 Evo, said:
“We are looking forward to rallying on snow and ice with Team MRF Tyres. Last year they had success with this tyre with Craig Breen and I am looking forward to trying it out on this rally.”“The Arctic Rally is a nice mix between fast, flatout sections and twisty sections. There are quite a few long straights which brings the pace up. The stages are in quite good condition with completely frozen ice. There is not a lot of snow, but the most important part is the surface, so it will be really good.”
“The MRF ice tyre is very good and it is impressive given how new the company is to rallying on ice. This field in Finland is very strong and there is no better place to test your tyre and gain more data than on these winter roads.”
Niclas Grönholm, Driver, Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 said:
“I am looking forward to getting back in a rally car and at the moment we are planning on doing just the Arctic Rally with MRF Tyres.”“We will be able to work with the engineers at MRF Tyres for this round and while Emil and I are in different teams, for the tyres we will work together. My dad (WRC Champion, Marcus Grönholm) is involved in MRF Finland, so it makes sense to test and develop the tyres.”
“The level of competition is quite high this year. Let’s see what happens in this rally, I don’t know to expect but we hope for a good result.”
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Data and development the focus on challenging day for MRF team: ERC
Gran Canaria, 28 Nov 2020: The weather was the deciding factor in the Friday running of the FIA European Rally Championship and the Rally Islas Canarias. For Team MRF Tyres and driving duo, Craig Breen and Paul Nagle it provided an ideal opportunity to test and develop the tyres.
The day’s running saw nine stages and 98.78km of action with Breen/Nagle starting in 15th after their very strong time in qualifying.
However, the weather became a lottery with very strong winds affecting the stages and each competitor experiencing a different version of weather, some wet, some dry and some with something in-between.
The Gran Canarias tarmac was always going to be a different and new experience for MRF Tyres. With this rally ending the first year for the team in the FIA ERC, the tarmac on the island is very different to what the Championship has experienced earlier in the season.
Normally the flowing roads would offer a very high grip and high abrasion test. In the wet, the surface was greasy. The changed conditions meant that the opportunity to test and develop for these conditions could not be missed and that is where attention turned.
At the end of the day Breen/Nagle sat in 15th position 2:14.3 off the lead. To prove the challenging conditions, Breen/Nagle spent much of the day in a battle with fellow WRC star Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger and fastest qualifier Mikolaj Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk.
There were highlights, when the conditions allowed the team to show the true potential, particularly on SS7, the 11.75km Artenara test where Breen/Nagle took the third fastest time.
Attention now turns to the 102.10km and eight stages that make up the Saturday running of Rally Islas Canarias.
It is the final competitive day of the 2020 FIA European Rally Championship season.
Team MRF Tyres came to the European Rally Championship to test, develop and measure ourselves against the best rally outfits in Europe. It has allowed aggressive data collection and development and has shown that MRF Tyres can come into a world-class competition and be competitive.
The final day of the season gets underway at 9:56 local time with the 14.17km Valleseco-Disa test. That takes place at 15:26 if you are in India. SS11 and SS17 will be livestreamed.
Follow Team MRF Tyres’ progress on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Quotes
Craig Breen (Driver, Hyundai i20 R5)
“The conditions were very challenging today with some parts of the stages being wet and some being dry. It would change so quickly which meant getting the right setup was a difficult task.”“That meant that we turned our attention to getting data for the tyres. This is the first time that we have rallied on Gran Canarias and, for us, testing and getting data for the development for MRF Tyres is more important than an outright result.”
“Tomorrow it looks like the weather will be difficult to predict as well. We will continue to concentrate on our program of data collection.”
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Can Arjun Balu clinch the title this year? Racing Nationals
Chennai, 27 Nov 2020: Arjun Balu of Coimbatore will be looking to clinch the championship in the plum ITC class as the abridged MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Championship 2020 draws to a close with the third and final round being held at the MMRT this weekend behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
The humble motorsports giant with a chequered motorsports career of over 20 years missed the Championship title last year because of certain issues beyond his control, but with a 36-point lead will be looking to garner as many points as possible in the final three races. He has to get 15 more points than second-placed Keith D’Souza of Goa to seal the title in the first race.
The two-day, seven-race programme, kicks-off on Saturday, and concludes on Sunday. The track which received a drenching from cyclone Nivar earlier this week has recovered well for the races to be held as scheduled.
The titles in all four categories – the premier Indian Touring Cars, Super Stock, Formula LGB 1300 and the MRF Saloon Car series – are up for grabs with very little separating the contenders, both individual and team championships.
As for the Championship stakes, the ITC class has Coimbatore’s Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) enjoying a 35-point lead over Goan Keith D’Souza (FB Motorsport) going into this weekend’s triple-header with a maximum of 75 points on offer. The two front-runners are followed by Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) from Hyderabad (52) and team-mate, Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite (45).
The situation in the Super Stock category is much tighter with Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (Prime Racing) ahead of Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) from Bengaluru by just one point.
Momentum Motorsport’s Tijil Rao (72) and Chirag Ghorpade (62) lead the pack in the Formula LGB 1300 category that will have four races over the weekend with a maximum of 100 points up for grabs. Trailing the duo are DTS Racing’s Viswas Vijayraj (52) and former champion Arya Singh (42).
The MMSC-promoted MRF Saloon Car series (Toyota Etios), run by Arka Motorsport in conjunction with FB Motorsport, witnessed extremely close competition in the first round earlier this month with all three races producing different winners. So much so, a mere six points separate the four contenders – Diljith TS (55), A Balaprasath (54), Chandresh Tolia (52) and Chetan Korada (49).
Reviewing the season thus far, MMSC president Ajit Thomas said: “A few months back, at the height of the lockdown, we couldn’t even visualise resumption of the National championship. However, with the government easing the restrictions thereafter, we decided to kick-start motorsport activities after a nine-month break, even if it meant drastically scaling down the various National championships.
“We began last month by conducting the two-wheeler Drag races and followed it up with the Round-2 of the four-wheeler championship three weeks back. We put in place strict safety measures such as face masks, physical distancing, thermal screening and hand sanitizing besides restricting entry only to competitors, their helpers and officials. Unfortunately, we had to also exclude our friends from the Media who, nevertheless, extended wide coverage for which we are grateful, as also to our title sponsors, MRF Tyres.”
The weekend programme will be streamed live on MMSC’s Facebook page and website.
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MRF Mogrip 2w INRC Round 1 at Puttur on Nov 29
Bengaluru, 26 Nov 2020: The first round of the MRF Mogrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for two-wheelers will begin the 2020 calendar at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on November 28 and 29.
A total number of 67 entries were received at the regular close of entries time on Nov 23 with only 8 more slots left for late entries (till Friday) as the organisers, Ace Events, restricted the number of bikes to 75 for safety and logistics convenience. Promoted by God Speed Racing of Pune, under the able guidance of former 7-time National champion, Shyam Kothari, the rally offers two Special Stages, a 9.7-km Karkala stage and 9.43-km Palangaya stage, which are run three times each on Sunday, making it six Special Stages for a total stage distance of 57.39km and along with 58.2km of transport, the first-round covers 115.59km.
TVS Racing is expected to dominate the proceedings once again in the top class but the huge number of privateers will make their presence in many other classes. Defending champion Rajendra RE in the Group A Pro-Expert SuperBike class is expected to spearhead the TVS Racing challenge once again but the other Group A class Super Bike (expert) is likely to witness stiff competition with reigning champion Jatin Jain having to deal with the likes of strong contenders Badal Doshi of Mumbai and Bengaluru’s Vishwas SD in this class. Last year, Rajendra began with a bang and won all the first three rounds before missing the fourth round at Coimbatore as Team TVS Racing pulled out, but one more win at Mangalore in the 5th round sealed the championship for him with 100 points and he did not take part in the last round, the K1000 in Bengaluru.
The Ladies class with Open Indian Motorcycles will see the presence of Aishwarya PM, the 2019 champion along with Ryhana Bee, who is fresh from the Sprint Nationals, where is she is leading the title race, and Dimpy.
Rajendra, the defending champ in the top class. Many riders like Sachin D, Suhail Ahmed, Sudeep Kottary and Sinan Francis have taken part in the Sprint Nationals to gain some valuable bike time on similar terrain and have won podium places. All of them will be raring to go in their respective classes.
Aakash Aithal will be the Clerk of the Course with the current Indian Rally Champion of four wheelers Chetan Shivaram, being the Assistant CoC. His co-driver Dilip Sharan is the CRO. Bhaskar Gupta of Karnataka Motor Sports Club is the Chief Steward. Chidananda NC and D Uday Kumar are the other stewards while Yogesh Kalro is nomiated as Technical Delegate.
You can watch a video produced by autotrack.ind.in for MRF Racing of last year’s action here.
INRC 2-W final Championship table 2019:
Class 1: Superbike (Pro-Expert):
1. Rajendra RE, TVS Racing, 100
2. R Nataraj, TVS Racing, 51
3. Nikhil Balakrishna, Privateer, 36
Class 1A: Superbike (Expert):
1. Jatain Jain, 101
2. Badal S Doshi, 65
3. Venu Ramesh Kumar, 33
Class 2 – Super Sport 130:
1. M Srikanth, 95
2. Azeeb Mohammed, 86
3. Santhosh Kour, 53
Class 3: Super Sport 165:
1. Ishan Chandra, 126
2. Francis PV, 90
3. Akshay Siddharamaaiyah, 53
Class 4: Super Sport 260:
1. Imran Pasha, TVS Racing, 118,
2. Samuel Jacob, TVS Racing, 91
3. Sachin D, TVS Racing, 90
Class 5: Super Sport 400:
1. Sudeep Kottary, 118
2. Vikram K, 58,
3. Shivan Wani, 48
Class 6: Super Sport 550:
1. Suhail Ahmed, 125
2. Arun Joy, 66
3. Devraj Venkatesh, 59
Class 7: S0 to S3 Scooters upto 210cc (S0 to S3):
1. Syed Asif Ali, TVS Racing, 143
2. Shamim Khan, TVS Racing, 102
3. Pinkesh Thakkar, TVS Racing, 93
Class 8 – Ladies Class: Ladies Class (Open Indian Motorcycles):
1. Aishwarya Pissay, TVS Racing, 150
2. Ryhana Bee, 48
3. Fazeela, 36.
ends
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MRF’s Breen encounters mechanical failure; Mikkelsen wins: ERC
While Andreas Mikkelsen celebrated a winning return to the FIA European Rally Championship, Alexey Lukyanuk fought back like a champion with a charging display on Rally Hungary’s deciding leg today, scoring eight potentially crucial points in his bid to win the coveted title for a second time.
Breen explains podium heartache
Craig Breen was firmly on course for a podium finish for Team MRF Tyres only for a mechanical failure to force him to retire his Hyundai i20 R5 on SS12 while running in second. The Irishman, a five-time winner in the ERC, explained what went wrong. “Unfortunately, a few kilometres from the end of the third stage of the loop we had an engine failure. There’s no point to point fingers and blame anyone. There was little warning and I think by the time the warning came, the damage [was] already done. There was not a whole lot more that we do to be honest. Today was very simple just to bring it home. That was the task. We took it very easy over the stages. It’s really disappointing, considering all the work that everybody has done, but it is life unfortunately. The progress of MRF Tyres has definitely been impressive. We’ve been we’ve been trying very, very hard and all the tests in the meantime to make tyre more and more competitive and we’re definitely making big improvements and we are going to try and make it even better in the future.”Lukyanuk was firmly in the victory fight, a mere 5.1s behind Mikkelsen after five stages on Saturday. But when he was erroneously checked in five minutes early for stage six, his hopes of a third 2020 ERC win came crashing down as a five-minute penalty was applied to the Saintéloc Junior Team driver’s total time.
Despite languishing in a distant P18 at the overnight halt in host city Nyíregyháza, Lukyanuk didn’t give up and went on a flat-out charge to win leg two courtesy of four stage wins in P13 overall. His performance cut the margin to winner Mikkelsen to 4m53.5s in the ultimate case of what might have been.
“We won the day so the mission is complete,” said Lukyanuk, who was competing in a Citroën C3 R5 on Pirelli tyres with co-driver Dmitry Eremeev. “Risk management is something to learn of course and we see it’s possible to be faster. All in all, we tried to concentrate on speed and consistency and it feels good.”
For Mikkelsen, his victory alongside co-driver Ola Fløene, came on the back of seven stage bests, a remarkable performance given this was the Norwegian’s first rally of 2020 and his first in his Pirelli-equipped, Topp-Cars Rally Team-run Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.
“I’m undefeated in 2020 so far!” said a jubilant Mikkelsen, a winner of three World Rally Championship events in the past. “It’s been a good weekend. As I said I haven’t been competing, only testing as most of you know, for the last couple of years on Tarmac has been really difficult for me and I think maybe people thought I couldn’t drive on Tarmac any more so it’s nice to come here and show we’ve still got it and we’re still fast. I have to say a huge thanks to our team, Topp-Cars, for delivering me this car, it’s been working flawless all weekend and as well to Skoda for making this really, really nice car. I tried it in 2017, I loved it then but a lot has happened since then and now it’s even better. I feel so comfortable driving and it’s all about confidence. I felt I’ve pretty much been in control all the rally. I felt very good,. We drove a clever strategy, not taking too big risks but we were still quick so it’s really enjoyable.”
BMA Autosport Hyundai i20 R5 driver Grégoire Munster won ERC1 for the second rally in succession in a career-best second overall with Efrén Llarena, the ERC3 Junior champion from 2019, also landing a personal best in third for Rallye Team Spain having completed leg one in fifth spot.
MOL Racing Team’s Norbert Herczig was third with two stages remaining but a puncture on SS15 denied the Hungarian a home podium. “I’m really sad, we had a puncture but I don’t know how because we drive carefully,” said the four-time national champion, who drives a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. “Unfortunately, we lose the podium and I’m sorry for everybody. I wanted very much the podium, but life is life. Next time.”
As well as benefiting Llarena, Herczig’s delay promoted Oliver Solberg – who was ninth overnight after two punctures on Saturday – to fourth and Niki Mayr-Melnhof to fifth, the Austrian dropping time with a moment through a ditch on SS14.
Callum Devine was seventh for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy to continue his strong recent run, while Erik Cais produced a succession of rapid stage times as he recovered from his second-stage off to finish eighth for the Yacco ACCR Team. Double ERC Junior champion Marijan Griebel overcame a high-speed spin this morning to finish ninth for Saintéloc Junior Team. András Hadik, from Hungary, completed the top 10 with Josh McErlean marking his ERC debut with an impressive P11 for the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy.
Dominik Dinkel (Brose Motorsport) battled back from several delays – plus no working intercom for several Saturday stages – to finish P12 ahead of the recovering Lukyanuk and Yoann Bonato. The Michelin-supported Citroën driver was delayed going off the road on the opening morning then received a one-minute penalty for an early check-in. ORLEN Team’s Polish champion Miko Marczyk, who led after SS1 but lost out on a top result due to a puncture, was P15 with Albert von Thurn und Taxis taking P16.
More Munster magic in ERC1 Junior
Grégoire Munster staked his claim on the FIA ERC1 Junior title with a second successive victory as a double puncture hit rival Oliver Solberg’s hopes hard on day one. But Luxembourg driver Munster, in his family-run BMA Autosport Hyundai i20 R5, had issues of his own when his car failed to start prior to leaving overnight parc fermé and then service this morning.“It was maybe something to do with the cold night we had,” said Munster. “Today we tried to keep the car always running to not get any more problems. I’m really happy with our weekend, it was a really, really tricky rally. On the first day we pushed and showed some great pace. On the second day we had to manage the gap we had. I did not want to take any risk this morning and we managed it a bit better in the second loop when we showed we were capable of driving fast without making any mistakes.”
Like Munster, Efrén Llarena was also competing on Rally Hungary for the first time but shrugged off his lack of experience of the event and his Rallye Team Spain-entered Citroën C3 R5. “We tried to have a good pace to do all the stages at 80/85 per cent,” said the ERC3 Junior champion. “This afternoon we were in the fight and saw we could be on the podium so we tried to attack. It was a fantastic podium for the team and also Rallye Team Spain and all the guys that support me.”
Behind Solberg in third, Callum Devine took fourth ahead of Erik Cais, Dominik Dinkel and Miko Marczyk. Emil Lindholm restarted on day two after he went off the road on SS9 while in the thick of the ERC1 Junior podium battle for Team MRF Tyres. He placed eighth. Hungarian category newcomer Ádám Velenczei retired with a technical issue on leg one and did not restart on Sunday.
Érdi Jr takes clear ERC2 win as Mabellini makes up for lost time in Abarth Rally Cup
For the second rally running, Hungarian hero Tibor Érdi Jr was fastest in ERC2 on all but two stages to take a dominant triumph, his third of 2020. Zelindo Melegari finished second with Andrea Mabellini third after Dmitry Feofanov stopped on the final day with an oil leak. Mabellini retired on Friday evening’s superspecial with suspension failure but fought back to complete the ERC2 podium and win the Abarth Rally Cup section for a third time. Martin Rada finished second but Mihnea Mureșan and Roberto Gobbin were non-starters on leg two after crashing out on Saturday. “We are very happy to win our home race,” said Érdi Jr. “We had no problems apart from a slow puncture on SS12. The feeling is amazing and we are very happy, it’s a good job. We tried to be safe without risk and this is what we did.”Torn turns on the heat in ERC3/ERC3 Junior title bid
Ken Torn did his chances of a combined ERC3/ERC3 Junior title triumph the power of good with his third win of the season at the wheel of the Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally4 he shares with co-driver Kauri Pannas. The Estonian Autosport Junior Team driver was embroiled in a close battle with Rallye Team Spain’s Pep Bassas, which ebbed and flowed for much of the event.“For sure the result is brilliant,” said Torn. “It was a tough weekend, one of the hardest weekends we’ve had, but a big job is done. It’s good experience in the pocket for the future. We had a front-right puncture on stage 15, it was not the best news but we did not lose too much time. The chances of winning the title seem good but there is a lot more to do, we can’t be lazy and we need to keep working and be stronger on the next event.”
Romanian Raul Badiu completed the ERC3 podium behind Bassas with Norwegian rookie Ola Jr Nore third in ERC3 Junior in Toksport’s all-new Renault Clio RSR Rally5. Hungarian lady driver Adrienn Vogel was a strong fifth in ERC3 with Amaury Molle battling an engine issue for much of the event to finish fourth in ERC3 Junior and sixth in ERC3.
Csaba Juhász was next up followed by impressive Romanian newcomer Norbert Maior, who was in the ERC3 Junior lead battle until a driveshaft failure forced him out on Saturday. Martin László also showed strong form but his hopes were undone by a trip into a ditch on SS5 and a gearbox issue. Csaba Viszlo crashed out, while Rachele Somaschini retired with the recurrence of an old shoulder injury.
P1 Racing Fuels Podium Challenge awards drivers
The P1 Racing Fuels Podium Challenge, run for the first time during the 2019 ERC season finale in Hungary, continued on this year’s event. It rewarded the top three finishes in ERC1 and ERC2 with fuel vouchers that can be exchanged for P1 XR5 race fuel at subsequent events, helping competitors to further reduce the cost of competing. Across both categories, the winning drivers received 150 litres of fuel, while the second and third placed drivers received 100L and 50L respectively.PROVISIONAL TOP 15 ERC POSITIONS (after 16 stages, 191.06 kilometres)
1 Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ola Fløene (NOR) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo 1h48m31.1s
2 Grégoire Munster (LUX)/Louis Louka (BEL) Hyundai i20 R5 +1m32.2s
3 Efrén Llarena (ESP)/Sara Fernández (ESP) Citroën C3 R5 +2m00.3s
4 Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo +2m04.8s
5 Niki Mayr-Melnhof (AUT)/Poldi Welsersheimb (AUT) Ford Fiesta R5 MklI +2m08.2s
6 Norbert Herczig (HUN)/Ramón Ferencz (HUN) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 +2m31.4s
7 Callum Devine (IRL)/James Fulton (IRL) Hyundai i20 R5 +2m50.3s
8 Erik Cais (CZE)/Jindřiška Žáková (CZE) Ford Fiesta R5 MkII +3m24.3s
9 Marijan Griebel (DEU)/Tobias Braun (DEU) Citroën C3 R5 +3m32.4s
10 András Hadik (HUN)/Krisztián Kertész (HUN) Ford Fiesta R5 MkII +4m13.6s
11 Josh McErlean (IRL)Keaton Williams (GBR) Hyundai i20 R5 +4m16.8s
12 Dominik Dinkel (DEU)/Ursula Mayrhofer (AUT) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo +4m35.1s
13 Alexey Lukyanuk (RUS)/Dmitry Eremeev (RUS) Citroën C3 R5 +4m53.5s
14 Yoann Bonato (FRA)/Benjamin Boulloud (FRA) Citroën C3 R5 +4m57.7s
15 Miko Marczyk (POL)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo +5m44.5sFIA ERC2: Tibor Érdi Jr (HUN)/Zoltán Csökő (HUN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
FIA ERC3: Ken Torn (EST)/Kauri Pannas (EST) Ford Fiesta Rally4
FIA ERC1 Junior: Grégoire Munster (LUX)/Louis Louka (BEL) Hyundai i20 R5
FIA ERC3 Junior: Ken Torn (EST)/Kauri Pannas (EST) Ford Fiesta Rally4
Abarth Rally Cup: Andrea Mabellini (ITA)/Nicoló Gonella (ITA) Abarth 124 rally -
Double for Raghul, Tijil Rao; Jeet, Keith share ITC wins in 2 races
Irungattukottai (Sriperumbudur, TN) 8 Nov 2020: Championship leader Arjun Balu of Race Concepts had a gear-box failure but notched up two podium places even as FB Motorsport had its finest day yet with Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh and Keith D’Souza from Goa, both driving the Volkswagen Polo, taking victories in the two premier Indian Touring Cars races as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT, about 130km from Chennai here on Sunday. Spectators and media were not allowed due to the government COVID 19 safety regulations and the event was held in a bio-bubble.
Also in the limelight was Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy of Performance Racing, who won both the races on Sunday, in the Super Stock category. Bengaluru lad Tijil Rao, also of Momentum Motorsport, completed a double in the Formula LGB 1300 class by winning the day’s first of the two races in addition to the one he won on Saturday. Viswas Vijayaraj of DTS Racing took the honours in the second of Sunday’s Formula LGB race.
Chennai’s Chetan Korada and Chandresh Tolia from Mumbai won a race apiece in the Toyota Etios MRF Saloon Car series.
Super Stock Race 2 winner Raghul Rangasamy flanked by 2nd placed Alisha Abdullah, left, and Vineet Abhiram, 3rd, ( at right) at MMRT on Sunday. Photo by Anand Philar Jeet Jhabakh, a 28-year old automotive businessman from Hyderabad, a former Volkswagen Ameo and Vento Cup champion, enjoyed a trouble-free run once race leader, Arjun Balu of Race Concepts, dropped out of contention with a gearbox issue. Jhabakh managed to nose ahead of teammate Dhruv Mohite following a brief contact, and gradually extended the lead for a comfortable win, his first of the season. He, like Mohite, have missed the opening round in February. Mohite came in second and Balu managed a distant third for some valuable points.
“It was a good race for me after I got in front. Not sure what happened with Arjun’s (Balu) car, but I passed him and Dhruv to get in front. I am really happy for this win,” said Jhabakh.
Balu started fourth on the reverse grid, but cut through to the front in the very first lap and looked set for another win when the gearbox played up. “In the third lap, I found the car weaving on the straight and I realised something was wrong. So, I let others pass me and in the final three laps, I shifted to fifth gear and stayed there as I wanted to finish and pick up points,” said Balu, who collected 15 points for his third-place to continue to lead the table.
The Race Concepts team then got to work and changed the gearbox in little over 30 minutes, but attracting a five-position grid penalty for Balu for the next race for which the Coimbatore ace had qualified on pole.
From left: 2nd placed Arjun Balu, winner Keith D’Souza and 3rd Jeet Jhabakh, in the ITC class Race 3 on Sunday. Photo by Anand Philar In the next outing, it was Keith D’Souza all the way as he made the best of a strong start to win comfortably from Balu, who made three places, and Jhabakh.
The results (Provisional, all 8 laps unless mentioned):
Indian Touring Cars (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) (19mins, 11.577secs); 2. Dhruv Mohite (FB Motorsport) (19:14.720); 3. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (21:12.781).
ITC Race-3: 1. Keith D’Souza (FB Motorsport) (15:22.987); 2. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15:28.096); 3. Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) (15:30.188).
Super Stock (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (20:08.258); 2. Alisha Abdullah (Race Concepts) (20:30.072); 3. Vineet Abhiram (Race Concepts) (20:52.326).
SS Race-3: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (16:10.165); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (16:10.728); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Race Concepts) (16:32.717).
MRF Saloon Car Series (Toyota Etios) (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (21:14.775); 2. A Balaprasath (Chennai) (21:15.945); 3. Diljith TS (Thrissur) (19:12.377+1 lap).
Toyota Race-3: 1. Chandresh Tolia (Mumbai) (17:18.519); 2. A Balaprasath (Chennai) (17:19.306); 3. Diljith TS (Thrissur) (17:28.532).
Formula LGB 1300 (Race-3): 1. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport) (15:13.237); 2. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsport) (15:13.806); 3. Arya Singh (DTS Racing) (15:19.854).
FLGB 1300 Race-4 (10 laps): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) (20:26.904); 2. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsport) (20:28.587); 3. Arya Singh (DTS Racing) (20:29.120).
About Madras Motor Sports Club
Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.
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Toyota Etios to make its debut as National Racing Championship resumes
Chennai, 5 Nov2020: Toyota Etios enters a National Championship in India for the first time as the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2020 resumes in a bio-bubble after eight months at the MMRT circuit here on Saturday behind closed doors necessitated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The MRF Saloon Car Championship, featuring Toyota Etios, makes its debut in the National Championship.
Experienced speedster Arjun Balu, made up for a bad last round in 2019 by winning both the races in the first round of the National Championship for Indian Touring Cars and leads the points table while his Race Concepts teammate Rithvik Thomas bagged both the races in the Super Stock category to sit on the top of the table. The Round 1 was held along with MRF Challenge and other classes were not held in February. The MRF 1600 and Ameo Cup were run as Support Races.
The strict enforcement of Government-mandated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) would mean the absence of spectators, guests and the Media with the entry restricted to competitors with a maximum of two helpers each and officials.
By successfully conducting the first round of the National Drag Racing Championship for two-wheelers last month, also in a closed environment, MMSC took the lead to resume motorsport activities in the country following the easing of restrictions by conducting the first of the 11 Nationals in motorsports that are scheduled for this year.
Chairman of the Meet Vicky Chandhok said: “It has been a tough year for everyone due to the pandemic, but after the government eased restrictions and allowed resumption of sporting activities, we conducted the National Drag races last month without any incident. This weekend, we go a step further by resuming the four-wheeler championship, again with protocols in place with no compromise on safety and health of all involved by implementing temperature check, hand sanitisation, wearing of masks and physical distancing. Our very popular hospitality enclosure will also, unfortunately, be sealed off, for now, to ensure that the norms of social distancing are met.
“Having said that, the MMSC would like to thank long-time sponsors MRF Tyres who have stood by us in these difficult times, and of course the competitors who have turned up in good numbers. We also welcome the very affordable newly-launched single-make MRF Saloon Car Championship, with arrive-and-drive programmes.”
The weekend card includes triple-headers in the popular Indian Touring Cars (ITC), Super Stock and the Indian Junior Touring Cars categories, as also the MRF Saloon Car Championship while the Formula LGB 1300, will have four races.
Going into the second round, Race Concepts (Bengaluru) drivers, veteran Arjun Balu (Coimbatore) and Rithvik Thomas (Bengaluru) head the ITC and Super Stock classes, respectively, with 50 points apiece after scoring a double each in the opening round in February. The Formula LGB and the MRF Saloon Car Championship classes will have their first runs of the season this weekend.
About Madras Motor Sports Club
Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.
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Team MRF Tyres eager to get on stage at ERC Rally Hungary
Nyíregyháza (Hungary), 4 Nov 2020:Team MRF Tyres returns to the stages for Rally Hungary this weekend. The fourth round of the European Rally Championship will take place near the town of Nyíregyháza in Hungary’s east.
In total, 16 stages and 191.06km of competitive action awaits the crews. Like last time out, the weather looks to be changeable and it is expected that there will be a lot of mud dragged onto the tarmac s
surface.Craig Breen and Paul Nagle return in their Hyundai i20 R5. After taking the first stage win for Team MRF Tyres in the FIA ERC last time out, the pair are hoping to bring that pace to Hungary.
Breen and Nagle currently sit fourth in the ERC standings, after being forced to run under Rally 2 rules after hitting oil on stage and taking off a wheel in Portugal, leaving them with no points from the event.
The focus continues to be on development for the duo as they hope they can get more data on the MRF Tyres in these conditions. Like the opening rounds of the season, it is important to get the information for the next generation of MRF Tyres.
Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen will join them in their Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. The Finnish duo also showed great pace last time out, topping the Shakedown stage. Their Portuguese rally ended after brake failure and they are keen to get back on stage.
2020 is the second time that this event has been held in the FIA ERC. The roads are narrow and feature a lot of short corners, making cutting and grip a priority.
In all, the crews will attack 16 stages, the first of which takes place on Friday night with the Rabócsiring Super Special Stage. The 2.4km test will be a great warm up for the Saturday action.
Saturday’s stages get underway at 9:33 local time and two loops of four stages will await. Each loop is a touch over 60km with the day seeing 121.18 km of competitive action.
The day starts off with the 14.45km Újhuta – Bózsva stage before the crews move to the 23.90km Füzér – Abaújvár stage. The 10.85km Fony – Óhuta stage and 10.19 km Mád – Disznókő stage finish the loop.
It makes tyre choice and tyre management important for the teams with just one visit to service and longs stages waiting to take time off anyone who gets the call wrong.
Sunday’s action gets underway at 8:33am and features seven stages, totalling 69.88km. The first loop sees four stages, none of which are as long as the Saturday stages.
Erdőbénye – Aranyospuszta starts the day with 11.20 km of action followed by the 13.1km stage of Telkibánya – Rakodó. The 7.75km Kőkapu – Újhuta is next and will be the final stage of the rally. However the city stage of Nyíregyháza will be a treat for the fans.
It is a world class entry list for this event with Europe and Hungary’s best vying for a podium position.
This competition is an ideal way for MRF Tyres to test and develop the tyres – in real conditions against the world’s best drivers.
As the second half of Team MRF Tyres’ first European Rally Championship season commences, the fight for development never stops.
Each stage will be streamed live on radio from ERC Radio and MRF Racing will continually update through the weekend on our social channels.
Quotes
Craig Breen (Driver – Hyundai i20 R5)Rally Hungary is another round of the European Rally Championship I have not done before. With Team MRF Tyres, I am hoping we can have some more consistent conditions with the weather! The wet-dry-wet roads in Fafe gave us a lot of data in those conditions so I hope it can be full wet or full dry to give us chances to gain data in those situations.
It would be great to capitalize on the pace Team MRF Tyres had in Portugal in the next rally. It showed we had the pace to fight for a podium and showed some of the progress we have made through the season. We will primarily continue focus on development and collecting data as we still looking to learn and develop the next generation of MRF Tyres.
Credit must go to the team for being able to hold a Covid safe event and I can say that I am looking forward to the rally!
Emil Lindholm (Driver – Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo)Rally Hungary is a new rally for me so it will be interesting to drive the Team MRF Tyres Skoda on those roads. We’ve had a bit of a mixed season this year – we had good pace our pace in Rome and Liepaja even though we were concentrating on development. We again had a lot of speed in Portugal, taking out Shakedown but the brake failure meant we couldn’t capitalize on that.
Data collection remains to the key for us as we look to develop the future of MRF Tyres rallying product. Before Fafe we were third in ERC1 and we have shown that there is potential in the tyre. So, it would be great to go to Rally Hungary and demonstrate the continued progress from Team MRF Tyres. It will be important for us to have a clean rally so we can maximize the kilometres on the tyres.
I am looking forward to Rally Hungary and congratulations to the organisers for being able to hold the event at this time.
About MRF Tyres: MRF Tyres was established in 1946 and now employs over 16,000 people and has revenue of around US$2.5 billion making it the biggest tyre supplier in India. MRF Tyres supplies rally and race tyres around the world.
About the European Rally Championship: The FIA European Rally Championship, established in 1953 is one of the oldest and most prestigious rally championships in the world. Crews rally across eight rounds from March to November with four tarmac and four gravel events.
The 2020 ERC calendar is as follows:
Round 1: Rally di Roma Capitale (asphalt), 24-26 July
Round 2: Rally Liepāja (gravel), 14-16 August
Round 3: Rally Fafe Montelongo (asphalt), 2-4 October
Round 4: Rally Hungary (asphalt), 6-8 November
Round 5: Rally Islas Canarias (asphalt), 26-28 November
Round 6: Spa Rally (asphalt), 12-13 December -
MRF’s Lindholm hoping for a Hungarian high: Jr ERC1
Nyíregyháza (Hungary), 3 Nov 2020: Emil Lindholm is a man with a plan in the FIA European Rally Championship in Hungary this week.
Keen to make up for the lost kilometres following his early Rally Fafe Montelongo exit, the Team MRF Tyres driver is eager to go the distance on the sealed-surface showcase.
“We’ve had a bit of a mixed season this year – our pace in Rome and Liepāja was impressive,” said the ERC1 Junior contender. “We again had a lot of speed in Portugal, taking out shakedown but the brake failure meant we couldn’t capitalise on that.
“Data collection remains key for us as we look to develop the future of MRF Tyres’ rallying product. Before Fafe we were third in ERC1 and we have shown that there is potential in the tyre. So, it would be great to go to Rally Hungary and demonstrate the continued progress from Team MRF Tyres. It will be important for us to have a clean rally so we can maximise the kilometres on the tyres.”
Craig Breen
Rally Hungary is another round of the European Rally Championship I have not done before. With Team MRF Tyres, I am hoping we can have some more consistent conditions with the weather! The wet-dry-wet roads in Fafe gave us a lot of data in those conditions so I hope it can be full wet or full dry to give us chances to gain data in those situations.
It would be great to capitalize on the pace Team MRF Tyres had in Portugal in the next rally. It showed we had the pace to fight for a podium and showed some of the progress we have made through the season. We will primarily continue focus on development and collecting data as we still looking to learn and develop the next generation of MRF Tyres.
Credit must go to the team for being able to hold a Covid safe event and I can say that I am looking forward to the rally!
Emil Lindholm
Rally Hungary is a new rally for me so it will be interesting to drive the Team MRF Tyres Skoda on those roads. We’ve had a bit of a mixed season this year – our pace in Rome and Liepaja was impressive. We again had a lot of speed in Portugal, taking out Shakedown but the brake failure meant we couldn’t capitalize on that.
Data collection remains to the key for us as we look to develop the future of MRF Tyres rallying product. Before Fafe we were third in ERC1 and we have shown that there is potential in the tyre. So, it would be great to go to Rally Hungary and demonstrate the continued progress from Team MRF Tyres. It will be important for us to have a clean rally so we can maximize the kilometres on the tyres.
I am looking forward to Rally Hungary and congratulations to the organisers for being able to hold the event at this time.
