Indian National Rally Championship: Displaying controlled aggression, Delhi’s Harkrishan Wadia, along with Himachal’s Kunal Kashyap, of Arka Motorsports bagged their maiden overall victory as they emerged triumphant in the Rally of Kodagu, the fifth Round of the fmsci Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for four-wheelers here on Sunday.
The penultimate round offered a tough terrain, like the last rally in Hyderabad, with only one INRC spec car finishing in the top 10.
With top guns faltering once again, like in Hyderabad, Wadia and Kashyap, unfurled their magic in a lower spec INRC2 Volkswagen Polo 1.6 to win the Overall honours in an INRC event. They also won their class, INRC2. Aroor Vikram Rao and co-driver Somayya, who were third overnight finished a creditable Overall second with young Jahaan Singh Gill and co-driver Suraj Keshav Prasad taking overall third.
“We are over the moon. This is our first overall victory and first INRC2 win. And our first stage wins, too. We are thankful to everyone who helped us in this journey. Especially, my father, who’s always been my No.1 supporter. Thanks to the whole team at Arka but for whom this sweet victory would not
have been possible. They gave us the perfect car throughout the weekend. And Phil bhaiyya (Philippos Matthai) who’s helped improve my driving massively,” said a visibly delighted Wadia. Chandigarh’s Jahaan Gill also won the INRC3 class while Abhin Rai and co-driver Aravind Dheerendra of Ammyfied Rallying won the INRC4 class. Privateers Mitchu Ganapathy of Gonikoppa and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar of Coimbatore won the Gypsy class.
Provisional Results:
Overall: 1. Harkrishan Wadia/Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (1min, 45min, 07.2seconds); 2. Aroor Vikram Rao/AG Somayya (Chettinad Sporting) (01:46:35.8); 3.Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Snap Racing) (01:46:51.3).
INRC2: 1. Harkrishan Wadia/Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (1:45:07.2); 2. Aroor Vikram Rao/AG Somayya (Chettinad Sporting) (01:46:35.8); 3. Jacob KJ/Shanmuga SN (Arka MS) (01:47:27.8).
INRC3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Snap Racing) (01:46:51.3); 2. Sheshank Jamwal/Ashish Sharma (Arka Motorsports) (01:48:25.4); 3. Daraious Shroff/ Shahid Salman (ChettinadSporting) (01:48:32.8).
INRC4: 1. Abhin Rai/Aravind Dheerendra (Ammyfied Rallying) (01:52:28.0); 2. Vivek Ruthuparna/Athreya Kousgi (Snap Racing) (01:56:15.4); 3. Sefeekudheel/Arun V (pvt.) (02:11:09.2).
Gypsy: 1. Michu Ganapathy/Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt.) (02:03:30.5): 2. Abhishek Gowda/Dheeraj Manae (Pvt.) (02:04:09.7); 3. Jayanth Somanathan/R Rajashekar (Pvt.) (02:04:13.0).