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Tag: Sidvin Engineering
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Sidvin-supported Pragathi Gowda takes stunning victory in Rally4 class: French Rally Nationals
Sancey (France), 7 October 2024: Indian rallyist Pragathi Gowda continued her meteoric rise in the international rallying scene with a first-place finish in her class at the Rallye Montbéliard on Sunday. She progressed to a Rally 4 car in this rally after the team witnessed strong performances from her in the lesser-powered Rally 5 car. Pragathi clocked 24:36.5 to claim the top spot in Rally 4 class and finished 21st amongst 115 participants.
The Rallye Montbéliard comprised two stages – Stage 1 being 10 km long, Stage 2 being 3.3km long and Pragtahi had to navigate both stages three times each. The 26-year-old opened the first stage with a stunning time of 6 min 5 seconds and an average speed of 99.17 Kmph; surprising everyone on the grid.
“To prepare for the rally we worked extensively on the pace notes and referred to the onboard videos to make corrections and make sure the notes were bulletproof to ensure a good finish. I was confident after the first day of testing with my coach Alexandre Bengue, a former WRC driver with loads of experience,” Pragathi shed light on her preparations.
The Rallye Montbéliard, a chilly asphalt rally with temperatures ranging between 7-14 degrees, had technical stages in the mountain roads, something Pragathi had to face for the first time in her first tarmac rally, on the new Peugeot 208 – Rally 4 car.
“It was my first time driving a full-blown Rally 4 Peugeot factory-prepared car. The terrain was challenging for me as it was a bit damp. We welcomed the day with the sun but it got very cloudy later on, making the track in the mountains a bit moist. The grip kept changing as the cars passed by, creating black rubber residue on the heavy breaking sections, but the pace notes came in handy,” she shared.
This rally was part of the practice rallies for Pragathi to prepare for the World Motorsport Games to be held between the 23rd and 28th of October where she will be representing India in the Rally Category. Pragathi will participate in two more long rallies before the games; one more in France and the second would be a round of the Spanish gravel championship.
“The Rallye Montbéliard turned out to be an exceptional experience but the World Motorsport Games are almost upon us. I will aim to do even better in the remaining two rallies and get as many miles in as possible to be fully prepared for the World Motorsport Games,” she added.
Team Principal and MD of Sidvin, Mohan Nagarajan also weighed in saying, “Pragathi has been progressing well in her last few rallies. Her superb adaptability is one of the biggest factors that allows her to take on new challenges and still perform to her best. Hence, we thought the Rallye Montbéliard would be the perfect juncture to promote her to the Rally 4 class and she proved that it was the right decision. We now expect her to progress even further ahead of the World Motorsport Games.”
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Pragathi excels in Rally5 class at French Nationals
France, 2nd September 2024: Pragathi Gowda continued her hot form in her maiden international gravel rally experience on Sunday. The Rallye Terre de Lozere, a round of the French national championship, which hosted 126 participants from across the world saw Pragathi finish 15th in Rally 5 class and 53rd overall with a timing of 1:42:03.7.
Pragathi reflected on the fantastic drive saying, “This is a rally where the world champions like Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier have learnt and come up in. To make my gravel rally debut here is a special feeling on its own but to be the only Indian to have achieved this feat in a European/ French national championship round is the icing on the cake. I cannot thank Sidvin Engineering enough for this tremendous opportunity.”In a rally with challenging terrain in the volcanic mountains, which was a first for Pragathi, with ruts as deep as 3-4 feet dug up by the 4 wheel drive cars and all top French drivers participating in cars including the WRC -1, 2 and 3 spec and Rally -4 cars, Rally-5 cars and historic cars, Pragathi faced a steep learning curve ahead of her.
She was slower off the blocks, coming in 31st in her class in the first special stage. But she wasted no time in adapting to this unique rally which features a reconnaissance in the rally car in the morning, followed by the rally stage after 1 hour, instead of the regular reconnaissance which is done the previous day, in a normal car and has 2 passes on the road; a tight program the French drivers have been used to for the past 10-15 years.
Pragathi was helped by Arnaud Dunand, a championship winning WRC co-driver in improving her pace notes and her trainer, Alex Bengue who is a former French National champion and has driven alongside the likes of Sebastien Loeb. With a total of 6 stages on Saturday and 4 stages on Sunday, she took huge steps after the first special stage, improving her pace by almost 2.5 seconds per KM during the 2 days, a fact highlighted by all top drivers.
“The stages were very rough and I haven’t ever seen such rough stages in my career. The ruts created due to the very powerful WRC and WRC2 cars , was something I had never seen . I made a goal yo kept it clean and had only one puncture in stage 2 of the rally. After crossing that hurdle, I knew how to drive clean and not damage the car, a top 15 finish was very satisfying and kudos to PH sport that gave me a very reliable car ” Pragathi explained the challenges she braved.
She registered the 13th fastest time in the last stage and finished 15th in class with 27 cars following her past the finish line. Pragathi also achieved average speeds of 82 km per hour – a very high figure for a gravel rally.Pragathi is supported by Sidvin Engineering, who were the first to take an Indian to the WRC in the year 2009.
