Athira Murali, makes INRC debut

Coimbatore, 31 Jan 2021: Athira Murali, 27, made her debut in INRC at Coimbatore in INRC4 category here at the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship for cars 2020 season. The Kerala girl from Kottayam, exhibited rich driving skills to clock good timings and beat many male counterparts at the Windmill farms of Kethanoor in January 2021.

Inspired and supported by her father, VN Muraleedharan, she fell in love with cars and took up the sport at a late stage but made an impressive debut and looks forward to continue her passion. She rented a rally-prepared car funded by her family and unless a sponsor comes forward, the promising talent may fade away before it blossoms. But with right support and hardwork, and if her energies are channelised properly she has all the talent to go places.

She not only won the Ladies class, but finished fifth in INRC4 category which had 12 entries. Navigated by experienced and disciplined George Varghese, the 4×4 lady driver managed to beat another debutant in Ladies class Amandeep Kaur and Madhi Elangovan, and experienced drivers in higher classes including Pragathi Gowda and Shivani Pruthvi. She was also faster than six other male drivers despite losing much time in SS1 due to a slower car of Madhi, ahead which had suffered technical issues and stalled in SS3 midway through the stage.

Though entered as privateer, Athira is from Team R Sports, her tuner is Raja Padmanabhan from Palakkad, who did his best to support her. She is also a URF and India book of Records holder and a journalist with Kaumudy, with her popular weekly show aired on Tuesday at 8pm prime time in Malayalam. A popular Vblogger in Malayalam, she commands a following of close to 70,000 and her Auto Vlogg reaches to more than 1.5 lakh audience on YouTube channel @AthiraMurali.