Aditya Thakur-Virender Kashyap take lead on Day 1; Gaurav, Fabid face issues

Coimbatore, 27 July 2024: Former National champions from Himachal Pradesh Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap of Chettinad Sporting managed to take the lead on the first day of the Rally of Coimbatore, the third round of the of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for four-wheelers, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club and Promoted by Blueband Sports here on Saturday.

In an unfortunate incident, unrelated to the rally, rally driver Premlal died after completing two stages due to cardiac arrest on Saturday.

Of the 68 cars that took the start flag, only 49 survived the day. However, many of them will be taking a restart on Sunday, the final day. Prominent among those who suffered causality, was seven-time National champion and Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill, who began with a blistering pace topping the first Special Stage but fell in the next stage. The Speedster from Delhi has been having an awful time for want of a reliable care for the last few rallies.

Two-time National champion Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkota and co-driver Ashwin Naik from Mangaluru were in second place behind the Himachal pradesh after Leg 1. Another former National champion and one of the favourites, Karna Kadur along with experienced Musa Sherif are trailing in third, by a narrow margin.

Aditya and Kunal are also leading their class, INRC2 while teammates Daraius Shroff  and Arjun Dheerendra, also from Chettinad Sporting, are leading INRC3 class. Abhin Rai and co-driver Moideen Jasher of A & A Motorsports are leading the Junior INRC class while Pragati Gowda, with experienced former National champion Sujith Kumar BS as co-driver, is leading the Ladies class. She put in a good show taking a creditable overall 9th place after Day 1.

The pair of Shaik Aneeshnath S and Amitha Aneesh, also from A&A Motorsports are leading the Classic class while the Mandovi Racing duo of Kavan Kariapa KG and co-driver Gaurav Aiyappa are ahead in the Gypsy Challenge.

Earlier on Friday evening,  Chief Guest  V Balakrishnan, IPS, Coimbatore City Police Commissioner, flagged off the rally R Sundar, Joint Managing Trustee, SNR Sons Charitable Trust, as guest of honour. Blueband Sports Director Premnath was also present.

The Rally of Coimbatore 2024 will feature eight stages. The total distance of the rally is 269.38 kms. Six stages will be run on Saturday with two physical stages being SM Agro and BT2 near L&T bypass road. On Sunday, the rally will return to the traditional stages at Kethanur windmill farms, near Kethanur 4-Corner Junction.

The Round 4 will be held in Hyderabad from October 18 to 20 while Round 5 in Kodagu will be from November 22 to 24. The final Round 6 in Bengaluru is scheduled to be held in December.

Provisional Unaudited classification (After Day1)

Overall:

1. Aditya Thakur/ Virender Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting) 01hours, 25 minutes; 11.2 seconds;

2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:28.2;

3. Karna Kadur/ Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:36.7;

INRC 2:

1. Aditya Thakur/ Virender Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting) 01:25:11.2;

2. Philippos Matthai /PVS Murthy (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:56.1;

3. Harkrishan Wadia / Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:56.1;

INRC3:

1. Daraius Shroff /Arjun Dheerendra (Chettinad Sporting) 01:26:47.0;

2. Jeet Jabhakh/ V Sekar (Chettinad Sporting) 01:27:06.4;

3. Sheshank Jamal/ Aseem Sharma (Arka Motorsports) 01:27:15.9;   

Junior INRC:

1. Abhin Rai/ Moideen Jasher (A & A Motorsports)  01:29:11.9;

2. Ajay Sankar/  Vybhav Mukund Rao (Mandovi Racing) 01:30:58.2;

3. Nikeeta Takkale/ Shivani Parmar (Pvt.) 01:33.34.8;

Ladies Class:

1. Pragathi Gowda /Sujith Kumar BS (Chettinad Sporting) 01:27:13.0;

2. Nikeeta Takkale/ Shivani Parmar (Pvt.) 01:33.34.8;

3. Harshitha Gowda/ M Srivatsa (A & A Motorsports) 01:36:08.9;

Gypsy Challenge:

1. Kavan Kariapa KG/ Ms Gaurav Aiyappa (Mandovi Racing) 01:3618.6;

2. Baljinder Singh Dhillon/ Goutham CP (Pvt.) 01:36:34.3;

3. Sanjay Agarwal/ Dheeraj Manae (Pvt.) 01:36:45.3);

Classic:

1. Shaik Aneeshnath S/ Amitha Aneesh (A&A Motorsports) 01:38:32.2;

2. Brian Michael/ Prakash M (Pvt.) 01: 43:41.9; (Note: only two cars finished in Classic class);

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Championship Leaders after Round 2

Overall:

1. HarkrishanWadia 40 points;

2. Daraius N Shroff 38

3. Karna Kadur 35;

4. Aditya Thakur 32.

INRC2

1. Fabid Ahmer 56 points;

2. Harkrishan Wadia 42;

3. Aditya Thakur 31;

4. Pragathi Gowda 27.

INRC3

1. Daraius N Shroff 56 points;

2. Arnav Pratap Singh 39;

3. Vishak Balachandran 38;

4. Jeet Jhabakh 31.

Junior INRC

1. Arjun Rajiv 44 points;

2. Abhin Rai 32;

3. Ajay Sankar 32;

4. Arnav Pratap Singh 31.

Ladies Class

1. Phoebe Nongrum 70 points;

2. Harshitha Raj Gowda 56;

3. Nikeetaa Takkale 40.

Gypsy Challenge

1. Baljinder Singh Dhillon 78 points;

2. Akarsh Sundar 63;

3. Jayanth Somanathan 27;

4. Sachin Singh 27.

Classic Class

1. Shaik Hussain Pasha 44 points;

2. Praveen Dwarkanath 40;

3. Aneeshnath 28.