Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik chalk up ERC3 debut win in EKO Rally Acropolis
Athens, 03 June 2018: Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik from India scored a fairy-tale underdog victory in the FIA European Rally Championship’s ERC3 category of the EKO Rally Acropolis, winning on their debut in an older-specification Ford Fiesta R2 on Sunday.
Leading his class heading into Sunday, Ghosh simply had to bring his Prospeed-prepared car home in one piece to complete his first ERC appearance – his third outside native India – in first place. He did exactly that, continuing a deliberate approach to prioritise survival over speed in Acropolis’ rough, rock-strewn stages he had taken since Friday.
“Coming here with an older generation R2, the goal was to finish. In the back of my mind, I knew that if we got to the finish we’d be on the podium, but yesterday morning, when I was only two seconds behind [Artur] Muradian in the Peugeot I knew I could do it,” he told ERC Radio at the finish line.
TBRacing’s Muradian had been ERC3’s quickest driver throughout all three days, but his PEUGEOT 208 R2 was appropriate battle-scarred from his fast approach. He was fastest in all but one stage he completed, but sheared wheel bolts in SS5 on Saturday morning forced him to retire from the lead.
“[The wheel bolts] sheared, like somebody cut them off. It’s funny because it was the first turn of the stage, 90 metres, sharp right and you can see the wheel flying in front of you! We lifted the car and when we decided to put the tyre back on, we noticed there were no bolts. We found all four of them in the corner later on!” he said.
Despite his speed, Muradian’s Saturday retirement meant he would settle for third place, well behind ERC Ladies’ Trophy frontrunner Emma Falcón in second. She bravely fought through all four of Leg Three’s stages with no brakes, her middle pedal going down to the floor and forcing Falcón to use her handbrake instead.
Chrysostomos Karellis had hoped to return for Leg Three after his retirement in Drossohori on Saturday but did not make it out of service come Sunday morning.
The Indian pair’s victory that saw them finish over 12 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals, was a foregone conclusion at the end of Saturday’s stages when they enjoyed a commanding lead despite treacherous conditions as Ghosh rightly opted for safety-first approach which put him ahead of class rivals.
Ghosh was taking part in only his third rally event outside of his native India, piloting a Baltic Motorsport Promotion-prepared Ford Fiesta R2. Much of the foundation for his victory was laid on Saturday when after Leg Two’s morning loop, he led in ERC3, taking a steady approach as others were caught out by tricky conditions.
“The whole plan for the event was not to take any risks but drive at a decent pace, so we were surprised to see that we were only two seconds off the fastest [in SS3],” said Ghosh. “For the first 7-8 km [in SS4] we took it almost at recce speed as I knew if you go hot there, you’re not going to finish that stage. When I saw our competitor [Chrysostomos Karellis] unfortunately parked, I knew the call was right.”
Though he lost 17 seconds to previous leader Artur Muradian in SS4, he then moved to the front when a wheel bolt failure ended Muradian’s day in the following stage. “In the next stage at the first corner he was parked,” said Ghosh “I immediately backed off because it doesn’t make any sense to push, and this car can’t take it. If you drive anything more than 70%, I don’t think any car is going to finish.”
His nearest competitor Emma Falcón suffered a puncture in SS5, allowing him to extend his gap and potentially set him up for a sensational debut ERC3 win.
Source: ERC
