Harkrishan, Kunal duo takes lead after Day 1 at Rally Robusta: INRC Ro5

David Bodapati November 18, 2023

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Harkrishan Wadia and co-driver Kunal Kashyap, leaders after Day 1 at the Robusta Rally of Kodagu on Saturday. INDIAinF1 photo

Kodagu, 18 Nov. 2023: Delhi driver Harkrishan Wadia, along with Himachal’s Kunal Kashyap did a splendid job to take the overall lead in the Round 5 of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship at the end of Day 1 at the Special Stages near here on Saturday. The Blueband Robusta Rally of Kodagu, organised by Robusta Adventure and Sports Academy, offered a tricky and tough terrain that saw 21 cars, of the 61 that started, fail to finish the course on Day 1.

Arka Motorsports’ Harkrishan (co-driver Kashyap), driving an INRC2 spec Volkswagen Polo 1.6 did a commendable job to finish the tough Anandpura and Polibetta competitive stages after Day 1. The duo also topped their INRC2 class. Talented Jahaan Singh Gill of Chandigarh with Bengaluru co-driver Suraj Keshav Prasad of Snap Racing came overall second and topped the INRC3 class after six Special Stages on Saturday. The Mangaluru-Bengaluru pair of Aroor Vikram RAo and co-driver AG Somayya of Chettinad Sporting were placed overall third with six more stages to go on Sunday.

“The day was full of adrenaline. The stages were fast and flowing but down to narrow and bumpy at places from time to time. I thank Arka Motorsport for giving us the perfect car even after the damages at Hyderabad rally. The strategy for Sunday is to do nothing different but follow up on today’s pace. keep the car on road and drive fast,” said Wadia after a tough day.

Vikram Rao and Sahil Khanna (co-driver Harish KN) are following Wadia in INRC2 class while Jahaan Singh Gill is also leading his INRC3 class with Daraious Shroff (co-driver Shahid Salman) and Sheshank Jamwal (Harish KN) trailing him in that order. Abin Rai and Aravind Dheerendra of Ammyfied Rallying were leading INRC4 class while Darshan Nachappa and co-driver Abhinav Ganapathy topped the Gypsy class on Day 1.

Provisional Results after Day 1:

Overall: 1. Harkrishan Wadia/ Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (1min, 0min, 55.7seconds); 2. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Snap Racing) (01:01:27.5); 3. Aroor Vikram Rao/ AG Somayya (Chettinad Sporting) (01:01:47.0).

INRC2: 1. Harkrishan Wadia/ Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (1min, 0min, 55.7seconds); 2. Aroor Vikram Rao/ AG Somayya (Chettinad Sporting) (01:01:47.0); 3. Sahil Khanna/ Harish KN Gowda(Snap Racing) (01:02:41.8).

INRC3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Snap Racing) (01:01:27.5); 2. Daraious Shroff/ Shahid Salman (Chettinad Sporting) (01:02:51.8); 3. Sheshank Jamwal/ Ashish Sharma (Arka Motorsports) (01:03:08.2);

INRC4: 1. Abhin Rai/ Aravind Dheerendra (Ammyfied Rallying) (01:04:52.4); 2. Vivek Ruthuparna/ Athreya Kousgi (Snap Racing) (01:05:34.7); 3. Prajwal HM/ Vinay SM (Pvt.) (1:12:19.2).

Gypsy: 1. Darshan Nachappa/ Abhinav Ganapathy (Ammyfied) (01:10:14.6); 2. Sanjay Agarwal/ Phalguna Raghavendra (pvt) (01:11:28.6); 3. Michu Ganapathy/ Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt.) (01:11:40.3).

Ladies: 1. Anushriya Gulati/ Sherwin Dalmeida (Dark Don Racing) (01:06:22.8); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale/ Raghuram Saminathan (Snap Racing) (01:06:52.9); 3. Shivani Parmar/ Arjun Dheerendra (Chettinad) (01:07:45.7).

Junior INRC: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Snap Racing) (01:01:27.5); 2. . Abhin Rai/ Aravind Dheerendra (Ammyfied Rallying) (01:04:52.4); 3. Vivek Ruthuparna/ Athreya Kousgi (Snap Racing) (01:05:34.7).

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