Unofficial Provisional Championship Classification after round 4 (Revised)

OVERALL Classification of the ROM

Unofficial Classification after SS4

Unofficial Classification of SSS

PRESS RELEASE

Nashik, Nov 1: With overnight leaders intent on holding their positions by eschewing risk, the Speed’s Rally of Maharashtra which is the fourth round of the Indian National Rally Championship, concluded on a predictable note as Vikram Mathias (co-driver PVS Murthy) of Team Red Rooster Racing emerged overall winner, here today.

For 34-year old Mathias, the reigning National champion and who clocked one hour, 23 minutes, 12 seconds, it was his first win of the season following retirements in the previous three rounds.

He spared one minute, 50 seconds to Arjun Balu (co-driver Sujith Kumar BS) of Team MRF who moved to second place following retirement of team-mate Lohit Urs (co-driver Shrikant Gowda). Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driver Satish Rajagopal) came in a distant third.

Incidentally, there have been four different Overall champions this season. Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) of Team Red Rooster Racing, who retired yesterday, won the first round in Bangalore with Balu taking the honours in Bangalore, Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sheriff) of Team MRF topping in Kolkata and Mathias triumphing here.

Gill, the championship leader going into the fourth round, retired on the very first day with a broken drive shaft and rejoined the Rally today for Leg 2. He suffered a puncture in the first Special Stage and was fastest in the second, but his charge ended when got stuck in first gear for nearly five Kms in the day’s concluding Stage.

“This win is very special to me. I have driven much harder than I did here yesterday when I lost about 90 seconds when the fuel line came loose. To make up the lost time in such a short period only showed that we were on pace and what we are capable of,” said Mathias.

In the 1600cc, Joseph C Jos (co-driver Royce Kizhakoodan) of DDL Sports recorded his second win of the series following his success in Bangalore to finish ahead of championship leader and winner in Kolkata, Sujay Suresh (co-driver Varun Satyanarayan). Rahul Kanthraj (co-driver Vivek Bhatt), who was lying second in the championship standings, dropped crucial points with a third place finish here.

Also chalking up his second success in the championship was Vikram Devadasen (co-driver Nikhil Pai) in the 1400cc class. The 34-year old Devadasen had taken the honours in Bangalore.

In the Rally Star Cup class, overnight leader, 21-year old debutant Karna Kadur (co-driver Somonita Ghosh) of Team Red Rooster Racing, emerged a comfortable winner to post his third success of the championship and distance himself from his rivals on the leaderboard.

The honours in the Gypsy Cup class went to Sandeep Sharma (co-driver Anmol Rampal) of Team Thunderbolt, Chandigarh, whose win was a foregone conclusion as he had built up a huge lead at the end of Leg 1. For Sharma, it was his third win of the season.

Provisional final results:

Overall/2000cc (N+): 1. Vikram Mathias / PVS Murthy (Red Rooster Racing) (1hr, 23mins, 12secs); 2. Arjun Balu / Sujith Kumar BS (Team MRF) (1:25:02); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor / Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF) (1:26:39).

1600cc (Maruti Baleno): 1. Joseph C Jos / Royce Kizhakoodan (DDL Sports) (1:30:19); 2. Sujay Suresh / Varun Satyanarayan (1:31:11); 3. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt  (1:32:39).

1400cc (MPFI Esteem): 1. Vikram Devadasen / Nikhil Pai (1:30:43); 2. Byram Godrej / Raymond Desouza) (1:32:41); 3. Shailendar Hegde / Sheraz Ahmed (1:34:25).

Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): 1. Karna Kadur / Somonita Ghosh (Red Rooster Racing) (1:32:05); 2. Balram CG / Raghuram CG (1:37:30); 3. Phalguna Urs / Anoop Kumar (1:37:30).

Gypsy Cup: 1. Sandeep Sharma / Anmol Rampal (Team Thunderbolt) (1:35:29); 2. Kushwant Randhawa / Vinay Shekar (1:37:27); Akash Agarwal / Pradeep Mhasar (1:39:12).

==ENDS==

Nashik, Oct 31: Vikram Mathias (co-driver PVS Murthy) of Team Red Rooster Racing came up with a stunning drive in his Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia (N+) to finish the Leg 1 as the Overall leader in Speed’s Rally of Maharashtra, the fourth round of the Speed-Indian National Rally Championship, here today.

The 34-year old Mathias lost over a minute due to a faulty fuel line, but bounced back strongly to finish the day 16 seconds ahead of Team MRF’s Lohitt V Urs (co-driver Srikanth Gowda) who in turn was ahead of team-mate Arjun Balu (co-driver Sujith Kumar BS) by 34 seconds after completing six Special Stages and just three more to be run tomorrow.

In all, five of the 28 starters, including overall championship contender Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) of Team Red Rooster Racing, packed up. Ghosh retired in the day’s third special stage when the front right wheel of his Cedia came loose, but he will rejoin the Rally on the morrow along with championship leader Gaurav Gill of Team MRF who retired on Friday due to a broken drive shaft.

“We lost over a minute in the day’s third Special Stage as the fuel line came away. But thereafter, I really attacked and made ground,” said Mathias, the reigning National champion who left even his co-driver Murthy awestruck with the dream drive.

 

Mathias was understandably pleased with his showing after failing to finish in all the three previous rounds of the championship in Coimbatore, Bangalore and Kolkata. “The car was good today apart from the fuel line problem. And overall, it was a good outing today,” he said.

However, Mathias can hardly rest content as Urs is just 16 seconds behind, but the lead could well prove sufficient on the morrow. Urs said: “I pushed the car to its limit today, and cannot do anything more.”

In the other classes, Joseph C Jos of DDL Sports (1600cc), Vikram Devadasen (1400cc), Karna Kadur of Red Rooster Racing (Rally Star Cup) and Sandeep Sharma of Team Thunderbolt (Gypsy Cup) topped the time charts.

Provisional results (Leg 1):

Overall/2000cc (N+): 1. Vikram Mathias / PVS Murthy (Red Rooster Racing) 56mins, 30secs; 2. Lohitt V Urs / Shrikant Gowda (Team MRF) (56:46); 3. Arjun Balu / Sujith Kumar BS (Team MRF) (57:04).

1600cc (Maruti Baleno): 1. Joseph C Jos / Royce Kizhakoodan (DDL Sports) (1:00:52); Sujay Suresh / Varun Satyanarayan (DDL Sports) (01:01:37); 3. Rahul Kantharaj / Vivek Bhatt (01:02:15).

1400cc (MPFI Esteem): 1. Vikram Devadasen / Nikhil Pai (01:01:12); 2. Byram Godrej / Raymond D'souza (01:02:22); 3. Shailender Hegde / Shreraz Ahmed (01:03.17).

Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): 1. Karna Kadur / Somonita Ghosh (Red Rooster Racing) (01:02:28); 2. Balram CG / Raghuram CG (01:02:57); 3. Venkatapathy MR / Santosh Kumar Selvaraj (01:03:21).

Gypsy Cup: 1. Sandeep Sharma / Anmol Rampal (Team Thunderbolt) (01:04:33); Khushwant Randhawa /Vinay Shekar (1:05:39); 3. Akash Agarwal / Pradeep Mhaskar (01:07:16).

==ENDS==

Nashik, Oct 30 : Team Red Rooster Racing launched their campaign in the Speed’s Rally of Maharashtra, the fourth round of the 2009 Speed-Indian National Rally Championship, on a positive note with their entries, Vikram Mathias (co-driver PVS Murthy) and Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik), clocking the fastest timings in the Super Special Stage, here today even as championship leader Gaurav Gill of Team MRF packed up with a gearbox problem.

Both Mathias, the reigning National champion, and Ghosh returned one minute, 52 seconds, driving Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia (N+) over the 2.25 Kms circuit.

Finishing behind the leaders were Team MRF’s Lohitt V Urs (co-driver Shrikant Gowda) in 1:54, Arjun Balu (co-driver Sujith Kumar BS) in 1:56 and Aroor Arjun Rao (co-driver Satish Rajgopal) in 1:58, to occupy the top slots in the Overall and 2000cc

Meanwhile, Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) rolled to a halt after the gearbox of his Cedia packed up soon after the start. A distraught Gill, who was looking forward to consolidate his championship position, said: “What can I say? I test drove the car this morning and everything was fine. I just can’t believe the kind of bad luck I have been having this season.”

Going into first corner, Gill said he couldn’t shift gears. “I thought the gear had slipped into neutral. I tried third, fourth and even fifth gears, but there was no drive. There was a lot of oil leakage, so I guess, my rally is over,” he said.