INDIA in F1

Tag: Rally of Hyderabad

  • Gaurav Gill back to winning ways; Clinches Rally of Hyderabad: INRC Round 4

    Gaurav Gill back to winning ways; Clinches Rally of Hyderabad: INRC Round 4

    Hyderabad, 20 October 2024: Celebrated motorsports driver Gaurav Gill displayed high skills and admirable car control to come out triumphant in the Blueband Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2024, which concluded in Shamshabad, near here, on Sunday. The round of the Nationals was organised by Telangana Motors Sports Foundation and promoted Blueband Sports.

    The only Arjuna Awardee in motorsports, Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar, supported by JK Tyre, began the second day with a blistering run in the first stage and the seven-time National champion, eased off to nurture the car with superb consistency thereafter, and notched a well-deserving victory. “This is one of the hottest rallies and the terrain is treacherous. So, we were calm and consistent and that paid rich dividends. We had some new upgrades and new compounds and JK Tyre has been supporting me with a lot of faith and we are happy to get back a win in the middle of the year,” said a visibly happy Gill. When asked if this win can change the fortunes, he paused for a second. “You never know. A win always changes the path to a positive one. If you have noticed, this season we had different winners in all the rallies. And two more rallies with more than 70 points to win. Despite not getting good results, JK has backed me thoroughly and it is time to get back to winning ways,” was his parting shot.

    Former champion Chetan Shivram and co-driver E Shivaprakash of A & A Motorsports took an admirable overall second, with two stage wins, and they also won their class, INRC2. Kerala’s ace driver, Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Milen George, supported by MRF, showed great resilience to grab an overall podium pipping a marauding Arka Motorsports pair, Karna Kadur and co-driver Musa Sherif, by a mere two seconds. However, Karna and Musa, supported by MRF, took the overall lead in the INRC 2024 championships with two more rallies to go.

    Gurugram’s Arnav Pratap Singh and co-driver Rohit of Bengaluru won the INRC3 class and also came out on top in the Junior INRC. Anushriya Gulati of Dehradun with Karan Aukta as co-driver won the Ladies class while the Chikmagalur-Bengaluru pair of Dr Akarsh Sundar and co-driver Ravikumar won the gypsy class.

    “The husband-wife duo of Aneeshnath and Amitha Aneesh from A & A Motorsports won the FMSCI Classic Challenge Cup. ‘We are very happy to clinch victory in this tricky rally,’ said the Bengaluru pair. When asked about having his wife as a navigator, Aneesh replied, ‘It has been wonderful over the last few rallies, and she has played a big part in my success. We share great chemistry both inside and outside the car,’ he quipped, adding a sparkle to the eyes of his life partner.”

    Out of the 55 that took the start, 12 cars logged a DNF as the terrain proved treacherous for many drivers. The next rally will be in Coorg followed by season finale, the popular K-1000 at Tumkur, also in Karnataka.

    Final Provisional Results:

    INRC Overall:

    1. Gaurav Gill (privateers, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (01hour, 48 minutes, 18.7 seconds);

    2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4);

    3. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1);

    INRC2:

    1. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4);

    2. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1);

    3. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (01:51:14.0);

    INRC3:

    1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1)

    2. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:51.59.4);

    3. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay Padmashali (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2);

    Ladies Class:

    1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka Motorsports, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (01:55:26.0);

    2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Arvind Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:58:23.3);

    3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ KP Aravind (Bengaluru) (02:11:00.7);

    Junior INRC:

    1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit N (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1)

    2. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2);

    3. Abhin Rai (Ideal Racing)/ Moideen Jasheer (both Chikmagalur) (01:53:08.3);

    Fmsci Classic Challenge:

    1. Aneeshnath S (A & A Motorsports)/ Amitha Aneesh (Both Bengaluru) (02:03:48.0);

    2. Shaik Hussain Pasha (Addons Motorsports, Hyderabad)/ Ashfaque Afrid (Sattupalli, AP) (02:30:43.9);

    3. Praveen Dwarakanath (Pvt., Bengaluru). Arun V (Tirupur) (02:39:38.7);

    Fmsci Gypsy Challenge:

    1. Dr Akarsh Sundar (Pvt., Chikmagalur)/ Ravi Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:02:51.2);

    2. Baljinder Singh Dhillon (A & A Motorsports, Delhi)/ Goutham CP (Chikmagalur) (02:04:39.8);

    3.Sachin Singh (Pvt., Hyderabad)/ Anand Raj (Erode) (02:05:47.5);

    Star of Hyderabad:

    1. Uday Pilani (Chettinad Sporting)/ Sheraz Ahmed (01:58.48.7);

    2. Amit Sanghi (Arka Motorsports)/ Dinky Varghese K (02:04:10.9);

    3. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (pvt.)/ Nash Ross 02:04:32.7).

  • Gaurav Gill cruises into comfortable lead: INRC- Rally of Hyderabad

    Gaurav Gill cruises into comfortable lead: INRC- Rally of Hyderabad

    Hyderabad, 19 October 2024: Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill began with a bang and cruised into his wonted form to take the lead navigating the tricky and rough stages in the Blueband Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2024, which began at the Special Stages around the Liberty Statue in Shamshabad on Saturday.

    Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar, took the overall lead while the pair of Daraius Shroff and Arjun Dheerendra are leading the INRC3 class and Chetan Shivram and Shivprakash, INRC2 class.

    The final stage, SS4 was red flagged after only four cars crossed the finish flag as a few cars toppled out. Three top guns, 2021 champion Aditya Thakur, defending champ Arjun Rao Aroor and INRC2 leader Harkishan Wadia, suffered causalities. Daraius Shroff is leading INRC3 after three stages and Chethan Shivram tops the INRC2 class, also after three stages.

    Earlier, Delhi’s speed maestro and 7-time National champion, Gill, clocked the fastest time in the first Special Stage and took a commanding lead of 17 seconds on former champion Chetan Shivram (co-driver Shivaprakash) of Bengaluru with Arnav Pratap Singh and Gulbarga’s Rithesh Guttedar following the top guns in the first stage. Gill kept his momentum with a combination of caution and aggression in the next three stages to cruise into a comfortable lead after Day 1. Chethan was fastest in JVR2, the second Special Stage, by 6.2seconds, by Gill bounced back with another 15 seconds margin on Chethan in the third stage and retained his overall lead.

    Of the 55 cars that took the start, 15 cars failed to finish Day 1. However, 13 of them will take a restart on Sunday.

    Provisional Results: (Day 1) (All times after SS3 only)

    INRC Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill (privateer, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (00hour, 52 minutes, 11.9 seconds); 2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (00:52:36.0); 3. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (00:53:29.5);

    INRC2: 1. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (00:52:36.0); 2. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (00:53:29.5); 3. Ritesh Guttedhar (Pvt. Gulbarga)/ Suraj M (Bengaluru) (00:53:47.9).

    INRC3: 1. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (00:54.13.0); 2. Shashank Jamwal (Arka Motorsports, Himachal)/ Aseem Sharma (Chandigarh) (00:54.03.8); 3. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit (Bengaluru) (00:54:07.6)

    Ladies Class: 1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka MS, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (00:56:43.2); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Arvind Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (00:58:14.7); 3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ KP Aravind (Bengaluru) (01:06:35.6);

    Junior INRC: 1. Abhin Rai (Ideal Racing)/ Moideen Jasheer (both Chikmagalur) (00:54:55.6); 2. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay (Both Bengaluru) (00:54:26.1); 3. Ajay Sankar (Pvt. Coimbatore)/ Vybhav Mukund (Bengaluru) (00:56:06.5);

    Note: Only five cars finished the SS4, the final stage of the day before the stage was red flagged. So all the rest of the cars were given scratch times based on SS2 times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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