Vicky Chandhok-Lal conquer South India Rally on a Lancer
By George Francis
Chennai, 30 July 2000: The 36th South India Rally 2000 will go into history as the event that ushered in the World Rally proven car Mitsubishi Lancer to Indian Motorsport.
Two Group A Modified Mitsubishi Lancers, sponsored by JK Industries Limited and driven by JK Tyre Rally Team prized driver and four-time National champion Hari Singh (navigated by Mann) and veteran racer, rally driver and ace tuner Vicky Chandhok (navigated by Sandeep Lal) entered the rally which was organised by Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC).
The Second Rally fo the FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India) National Championship brought to the fore many young drivers who would be the future. Team MRF Tyre, as expected, did not participate in the Chennai event, blaming FMSCI of vindictiveness and foul play (as per MRF’s press release dated March 3, 2000).
Team Chettinad Sporting chose to field only one car, driven by PG Abhilash and navigated by CK Chinappa.
Among the 19 entries for the SI Rally, there were five Group A cars and five Group N cars sponsored by JK Industries Limited.
The rally attracted a host of small sponsors. THe Taj Connemara was the official host, Bisleri, the official water supplier, and Coca-Cola, the official soft drinks supplier. The other who chipped in were UCAL, AVT, DSR Senator Lines and Excellior Plastics.
On 28th of July, after a day’s postponement, 19 cars assembled at the pits in the MMSC circuit and proceeded on a recce (reconnaissance) of the rally route. Three basic stages formed the rally, which was run in the forward and backward directions, with a total of 14 stages making up the competitive part of the event. A fourth stage originally planned was abandoned due to the flooding of the stage by monsoon showers. The competitors were to run each of the three stages twice.
The pre-event scrutiny was conducted on July 28. On the Saturday July 29, the vehicle of Hari Singh and navigator GS Mann rolled out of the start ramp at Hotel Connemara in the downtown Chennai, ushering Mitsubishi Lancer into the Indian Rallying scene. The remaining 18 cars rolled out at two-minute intervals. Running on a Transport of about 40 kilometres, the rallyists reached the MMSC track.
There were five stages run on the first leg, on Day 1. The first stage was the dirt stretch between the tarmac and Amco barriers at the track, the second was on the dirt around the fencing of the track, and the third stage was the run at the embanking road of the Krishna water canal near the circuit. The fourth and fifth stages were a repeat of the first and second stages in the same direction.
The sheer power of the Lancers and the Esteems, coupled with the dare-devil driving was awesome to watch, as each one tried to outdo the other. Vicky Chandhok showed that he still had it in him to push a rally car, and his driving showed a marked difference when handling the powerful Lancers. “It is like driving a Mercedes Benz,” said Chandhok at a Service stop. “The only negative point is that it is 230 kilograms heavier than the Esteems. But the reliability is more,” he added.
Hari Singh, who also drove in for service, said: “The car sits pretty well and the chances of breakages are very low. It feels very different from the Maruti Esteems.” This was at the end of the third stage and Vicky was leading Hari by 20 seconds. “I am sure the car will last, but my chances of victory are very low because of my8 poor physical fitness. Anyway, the flow of adrenalin should see me through,” chuckled Chandhok, who is competing after five years.
As the rally progressed, JK Tyre’s Manik Raikhy drove his Esteem into a fence at about 80kmph and pulled out. Harish Samtani broke his Esteem’s drive shaft while Narain Shankar pulled out due to mechanical problems.
The Super Rally concept allows a competitor who pulled out of a leg to go through the other legs so as to gain valuable leg points for the championship as well as leg prizes, if any. While Harish, Manik and Narain decided to call it off and not participate in Leg 2, Siddharth Bose and Among Ikmong of Nagaland, who both had minor problems with their cars, decided to run Leg 2. Thus, 16 cars ended the day at the Parc Ferme at the MMSC.
At the end of the five Special Stages, CHandhok and Sandeep Lal (JK) led the Overall and Group A, followed by Hari Singh and GS Mann (JK), who were 21 seconds behind. Gaurav Gill and Aditya Jaiswal (JK) led the Group N category while PG Abhilash and CK Chinappa (Team Chettinad Sporting) were second. In fact, Rohitaaz Kumar’s timings would have been much better had he not gone into the fence once.
The 16 Rallyists who put their cars in Parc Ferme on Day 1, continued the run on the second leg. Hari Singh, relentless that he is, could not rest content at the second spot. Stage by stage, he made time on Chandhok and started leading the rally. The Group N category found Gaurav Gill difficult to beat. The first three stages saw local lad Gaurav Dalal, the son of the Clerk of the Course Manoj Dalal, register excellent timings.
Stage 4 saw the destruction of many. Gaurav Dalal crashed out and JD Madan, Sivaramakrishnan, Jiby Malliakkal and Siddharth Bose followed suit. When the Rallyists re-grouped after six stages in Leg 2, only 11 cars remained.
While the re-group was still on, dark clouds engulfed the sky over the track. By the time 11 cars completed the canal stage for the third time, and reached the track it was raining cats and dogs, with hardly any visibility.
Hats off to these dare devils who did the last two stages in torrential rains, doing all that they could to stay on the slippery dirt tracks and drive.
The new international rules allow the use of only one kind of terrain, either dirt, gravel, or tarmac on 80 per cent of a rally route, and the MMSC chose dirt. This was to avoid constant tyre changes.
Chandhok proved that young or old adrenalin can put the spirit in you to win. Chandhok and Sandeep romped home with 30 seconds to spare over second placed Hari Singh and GS Mann. Sameer Thapar and Rajiv Khanna finished third, making the top three Group A placings an all-JK Tyre affair.
In the Group N category, Gaurav Gill and Aditya Jaiswal confirmed victory with an easy five minutes lead over second-placed PG Abhilash and CK Chinappa of Chettinad Sporting. A creditable third place went to Sonam Gnutu of Arunachal Pradesh, navigated by bike rider Rohan Rego of Mangalore.
Gaurav Gill and Aditya Jaiswal were also placed third Overall, to make the top three Overall placings an all-JK Tyre affair.
Praise should go to Radha Selvaraj and Shriram, who in their maiden rally, finished fourth in Group A. “Rallying is very interesting. But without sponsors we just cannot dream of competing in the other rounds,” said Radha.
Sandeep Sharma and Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal of Delhi finished fifth in Group A. Kamlesh Patel, with Sanjay Bhatt as navigator, the oldest driver among the 19, finished fifth in Group N while Among Ikmong and Roop Kumar completed the second leg.
After two legs the Leading Driver Overall went to PG Abhilash of Chettinad Sporting.
Provisional Results:
Overall: 1. Vicky Chandhok/Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:42:16); 2. Hari Singh/ Gurinder Singh Mann (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:42:46); 3. Gaurav Gill/ Aditya Jaiswal (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:49:35); 4. Sameer Thaper/Rajiv Khanna (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:52:39); 5. PG Abhilash/CK Chinappa (Chettinad Sporting) (1:53:04).
Group A: 1. Vicky Chandhok/Sandeep Lal (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:42:16); 2. Hari Singh/ Gurinder Singh Mann (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:42:46); 3. Sameer Thaper/Rajiv Khanna (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:52:39); 4. Radha Selvaraj/Shriram (Privateer) (2:17:24); 5. Sandeep Sharma/Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal (JK Tyre Rally Team) (2:21:57).
Group N: 1. Gaurav Gill/ Aditya Jaiswal (JK Tyre Rally Team) (1:49:35); 2. PG Abhilash/CK Chinappa (Chettinad Sporting) (1:53:04); 3. Sonam Guntu/ Rohan Rego (Privateer) (1:59:47); 4. Rohitaaz Kumar/ Satish Kumar (JK Tyre Rally team) (2:09:57); 5. Kamlesh Patel/ Sanjay Bhat (Privateer) (2:38:58).
(Editor’s note: This article is manually migrated from database to support INRC Winners: Hall of Fame in July 2020)
