Team Nutulapati, an Andhra company, enters INRC as a sponsor with 3 cars
Team Nutulapati to line-up with Kerala’s Bikku Babu, Bengaluru’s Dhruva Chandrashekar and Delhi Aditya Thakur
Hyderabad, 2 Nov 2020: Construction giants from Andhra Pradesh, Venkata Rama Constructions, have announced that they will be entering the Champions Yacht Club FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2020 (INRC), which is set to begin at Itanagar in December before Christmas with a double-dhamaka of back-to-back rounds in five days.
Nutulapati Mallikharjuna Rao, the man behind the move, announced that they are roping `Dr Speed’ Bikku Babu from Kerala, a veteran rallyist who is known for his consistency and speed over the years. He will be joined by another aggressive driver from Bengaluru, Dhruva Chandrasekhar, and young talent from Delhi Aditya Thakur. It is impressive to note that the Real Estate giant had preferred to support established and talented drivers rather than go for drivers from his own state.
As INRC is gearing up for the new season in a new avatar, after announcing their association with Yokohama Tyres, they now joined hands with Sri Sai Venkata Rama Constructions who will be fielding a team for this year’s competition.
India’s premier rally championship has indeed hit the ground running and in a year where all the other major sporting entities are struggling to run their show, INRC not only announced a five-round season but also have managed to draw attention from the corporate world.
Owned by Nutulapati Mallikharjuna Rao, Venkata Rama Constructions, giants from Andhra Pradesh will become the first real estate company to own a team in INRC and shall field a team comprising of last season’s INRC overall second runner-up and INRC 2 champion Dr Bikku Babu of Kerala, Dhruva Chandrashekar of Bengaluru and Aditya Thakur of Delhi. They will be rallying under the banner ‘Team Nutulapati’.
Bikku Babu and Dhruva are expected to take part in INRC 2 category while Aditya will spearhead the team’s challenge in INRC 3 category. All the drivers will be driving a Volkswagen Polo and will be on MRF Rally Tyres.
“It is indeed a great sign for INRC as well as for the overall motorsports scene in the country. Apart from car and tyre companies, no one else has shown shown interest in the motorsports and have invested their time and money in the sport. We promised to take INRC to a different level and we certainly are on the move. We are in talks with other big companies as well and very soon we will announce new partners and teams. We express our gratitude to Mallikharjuna Rao and his team to have understood and decided to support our vision,” said Vamsi Merla, promoter of INRC said.
“We are very excited with this new venture as this is the first time that we are involving in sports in a big way. When we were presented with the opportunity to own a team, at first we were a little apprehensive. But after due diligence by our team, we decided to go ahead and take a plunge. We are confident of our chances in the season, with the kind of drivers we have at our disposal, and we fancy our chances,” Mallikharjuna said.
INRC 2020 will begin on December 15 in Arunachal Pradesh with two rounds in the scenic North-Eastern State. Then INRC will move to Southern India, with three rounds to be held in Coimbatore, Hampi and the season-finale K1000, in Bengaluru.
