K-1000, scheduled on the Indian GP race day, postponed

David Bodapati August 29, 2013

398 1 minute read

Bangalore, 29 Aug 2013: The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) on Thursday confirmed the postponement of Round 4 of the India National Rally Championship (INRC), the K-1000 rally to be held Bangalore, Karnataka. The K-1000, India’s oldest running rally, which has been running for 38 years, will be postponed to November 8-10, 2013 due to operational reasons. The K-1000, which is organized by the Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC), was supposed to be held on September 21-22.

Though the Federation release states that the K-1000 is postponed due to operational reasons, it is a foregone conclusion from the very day the calendar was announced that the Bangalore leg would be postponed as FMSCI goofed up once again by clashing the dates of K-1000 with the F1 race in Delhi. Most of the motorsports lovers, including many of the drivers, were regular visitors to the Formula One race. In the first year, many of the senior officials of K-1000 were on duty as Marshals in different capacities at the Budh International Circuit for both the F1 and support races. However, the controversial selection of Marshals saw that many experienced marshals were dropped from the line-up for the second year.

The official version, however, is given here from the FMSCI Press Release:

President Vicky Chandhok said: “This is unfortunate that we have to postpone the Rally. The INRC has had a fantastic first half and we want to continue in the same vein. The Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) is committed to putting on a good show and we have all the confidence that the magic of the K-1000 will continue this year.”

Though KMSC President Bharath Raj said he was disappointed with the postponement, he added: “We are excited about ensuring the event lives up to the hype in November. Due to operational reasons we have had to postpone the K-1000. We have already informed all participants and they have been very supportive. The K-1000 is extremely popular among

File photo of a Subaru Impreza, driven by Zuhin A and Musa Sherif

all rallying drivers and fans and we are committed to putting on a great event come November. The K-1000 will have a completely new route this year which will challenge the competitors even more.”

The 5th and final round of the 2013 Indian National Rally Championship will be held in Chikmagalur on November 29 – December 1.

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