Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill and co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar supported by JK Tyre overcame initial hiccups and performed admirably to win the Robusta Rally, the fifth and penultimate round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2024 organised by Robusta Adventure and Sports Academy.
BlueBand Sports brought back the INRC round to the coffee land of Kodagu for the second time in a row, witnessing rally cars cruising into the TATA Coffee Ltd plantation's technical track which tested the man and machine on the given tight and twisty estate roads.
With a overwhelming 61 entries. Record crowd turnout was very encouraging. The Coorg's sports loving Crowds gathered in full at all spectator points to cheer the participants and their favourite drivers.
Out of the four physical stages run within the TATA Coffee Ltd plantations around Pollibetta in Coorg, Anandpura was 12.30kms and Pollibetta was 8kms were the two stages that were taken on thrice on day one, while to be taken on similar times was Woshully and Margolly which were 8kms each in the menu for the final day. In all cumulating it to 108.90kms of Special stage. which tested the man and machine on the given tight and twisty estate roads.
Day 1
INRC:
The day began well for the route openers from Arka Motorsports Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif supported by MRF, managed to clock the fastest timing in the very first stage and leading by 18sec. There on the lead was declining, after first service they were unable to hold on to the lead as the previous round Rally of Hyderabad winners Gaurav Gill and Aniruddha Rangnekar supported by JK Tyre started taking command, after overcoming initial intercom hiccups and performed admirably to take the lead after Day 1.
The Speed Maestro from Delhi, Gill, was forced to start on a cautious note as their intercom failed in stage 1, resulting in no calls and he had to drive from memory. Gill bounced back brilliantly to clock the fastest times in the remaining five Stages and took a handsome lead of over 53 seconds by the end of the day.
Hassan’s Jason Saldhanha and local co-driver Thimmu Uddapanda from Arka Motorsports were running third as they were 36sec slower to finish the day. With a 31sec lead they stood ahead of the Himachal boys Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap from Chettinad Sporting who were in fourth position.
The Snap Racing pair of Jahaan Singh Gill from Chandigarh and Suraj Keshava Prasad from Bengaluru for the first time this season managed to stay within top five.
Mangalurian Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah from Virajpet who never sustained for over 2km in the previous round were looking much more comfortable with just over 2sec deficit remained in sixth.
INRC2:
Jason Saldhanha along with Thimmu Uddapanda were the leaders of the class apart from being third overall. Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap were aiming for podium after they missed it in previous round.
For the first time this season Jahaan Singh Gill and Suraj Keshava Prasad were looking comfortably placec in third position.
Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah were looking much in form and confident with 2sec difference they were one step behind for the podium.
The Bengaluru pair of Ritesh Guttedar M and Suraj M were unable to match their previous round performance but managed to finish fifth.
With a 7sec difference the Snap Racing pair of Sahil Khanna from Gurugram and Arjun SSB from Bengaluru were in sixth.
INRC3:
The championship leaders from Chettinad Sporting’s Mumbaikar Daraius Shroff and Bengalurian Arvind Dheerendra took a 20-second lead over Abhin Rai and Arvind Dheerendra from Ideal Racing. As both the drivers dominated 3 stages each against each other.
Sheshank Jamwal from Himachal Pradesh and Aseem Sharma from Chandigarh driving from Arka Motorsports were the fastest in all the three runs at the Anandpur stages, they also kept on improving on their own timing on every repeat runs.
The Chettinad Sporting pair of Jeet Jabakh from Hyderabad and V Sekar from Coimbatore lost some time in the last stage of the day as the car stalled in one of the corner and had to restart losing few seconds and completed the day in fourth.
The pair from Ernakulam Vishakh B and Ail Abbas from Chettinad Sporting were 14 sec slower to finish in fifth, Bengalurians Nikhil J and Manjunath GM were in sixth position.
Womens class:
Defending Champions Anushriya Gulati from Dehradun and Karan Aukta from Jubbal representing Arka Motorsports dominate the class and were the fastest in all the six stages they had a healthy lead of 1min 44sec over the Pune based Driver Nikeeta Takkale along with Raghuram Saminathan from Coimbatore supported by JK Tyre driving from Snap Racing, while their teammate Phoebe Nongrum from Shillong along with Nash Ross from Hyderabad with a difference of 2min 36sec were in third. Championship leaders from Bengaluru Harshitha Raj Gowda along with Pramod Raman were facing driveshaft issues in the car and stood fourth.
JINRC:
Abhin Rai and Arvind Dheerendra dominated the class followed by Arnav Pratap Singh from Gurugram and Rohit N from Bengaluru driving from Snap Racing were given scratch time in the very first stage of the day as they had no room to cross Fabid's car which was blocking the road after brushing against a rock within the bush. The Bengaluru pair of Arjun Rajiv and Vinay Padmashali from Chettinad Sporting finished third with further 2min difference.
FMSCI Classic Class:
The Mysuru boys Jenu Johnson in his debut rally along with Anirudh Ramesh with a huge lead of over 1min 46sec looked very stable, Harish KN Gowda and Mahesh Nandi from Bengaluru were in second position, Praveen Dwarkanath and Kariyappa KB with 54 sec deficit were in third.
Gypsy class:
Localites Darshan Nachappa and Abhinav Ganapathy were in full command right from the start he had a lead of 42sec over the Bengaluru pair of Sanjay Agarwal and Dheeraj Manae. Dr. Akarsh Sundar and Ravi Kumar also from Bengaluru with further 1min 12sec had finished the day in third.
Day Two:
Action shifted to the two remaining stages in Woshully and Margolly which were 8kms each to be taken on thrice. Margolly was a fast stage with a Signature jump. Woshully was the most scenic stage of the rally.
INRC:
Seven times National champion Gaurav Gill supported by JK Tyre displayed enough speed and skill to emerge triumphant in the Robusta Rally.
Notching up his second straight win after the success in the Rally of Hyderabad last month, Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill, along with co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar supported by JK Tyre was in superb form and exhibited controlled aggression on the final day as he set out with a only intention of brining back his car safely to the finish. He began the day with a 53sec advantage and which he extended it by another 27sec for a comfortable win and bagged full 40 points. The win saw Gill drawing closer to table topper Karna Kadur.
With 1min 20sec difference the pair of Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif from Arka Motorsports supported by MRF finished in second position, but managed to stay on top in the championship race with 25points advantage over the third finishers Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap supported by MRF and Sidvin from Chettinad Sporting. Inspite of bolts falling off from the sump guard in the final stage of the rally this pair managed to complete the podium with a difference of 2min 30sec.
They upped the game in the last stage to pip local favourites from Arka Motorsports Jason Saldanha and Thimmu Uddapanda by one second to take overall third place. Jason who began the day with a 31sec advantage had to drive from Stage 11 onwards till the rally finish, with a cut lower arm due to which they slided down and missed the podium.
Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbiah supported by MRF and Sidvin climbed one position up and had to finish fifth with 23sec difference. Similarly Daraius shroff and Arjun Dheerendra from Chettinad Sporting finished in sixth position with a further 10sec difference.
Managing to complete the rally for the first time this season were the pair of Defending champions Arjun Rao Aroor and Satish Kumar Rajagopal from Mandovi Racing supported by MRF in seventh.
The pair of L Monish from Bengaluru and Lenin Joseph from Erode who got back to Rallying after a long break managed to finish in eighth.
INRC2:
Himachal Pradesh duo Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap from Chettinad Sporting supported by MRF and Sidvin won the INRC2 class beating the Karnataka pair of Jason Saldanha and Thimmu Uddapanda from Arka Motorsports with one second difference. Jason failed to capitalise on his day one 31sec lead, due to lower arm issues.
While privateers Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah from Coorg powered their way from 11th to third in the class to finish the day with 23sec difference.
Sahil Khanna and Arjun SSB from Snap Racing with 1min 34sec difference stood fourth.
Ritesh Guttedar M and Suraj M from Bengaluru with further 1min 5sec difference were fifth.
Bengaluru pair of Chetan Shivram and Shiv Prakash from A & A Motorsports rejoined day two after they toppled the car in the final stage of day one to finish sixth.
The two championship front runners Harkrishan Wadia along with Kunal Kashyap from Arka Motorsports supported by MRF who rejoined on the final day and completed in ninth position after had to give up in the final stage of the day one due to drive shaft issues still stood second in the championship.
Fabid Ahmer along with Ashwin Naik from Chettinad Sporting supported by MRF for the first time came together and were the first to open the DNF account on day one, within the first 2kms of the first stage after brushing against a rock within the bush. They also rejoined on day two to finish in 11th and held on to third position in the championship.
Jahaan Singh Gill and Suraj Keshava Prasad from Snap racing who began the day from third position had to give up in the 9thstage due to clutch issues.
Aroor Vikram Rao and AG Somayya from Chettinad Sporting also met the same fate in the 8th stage of the day.
The other strong challenger and lady driver supported by MRF and Sidvin Pragathi Gowda along with Trisha Alonkar, who missed the Hyderabad Rally due to her European commitments. Was at her best, they had to pull out after they crashed on the lefthander just 20mts before the final stage finish point.
Philippos Matthai along with Murthy PVS were going good on day one but had to pull out due to crash in the fifth stage of day one.
INRC3:
Daraius Shroff and Arjun Dheerendra from Chettinad Sporting kept their day one position intact to win the class with a difference of 1min 7sec.
Arnav Pratap Singh and Rohit N from Snap Racing finished second, as they scaled 8 positions up from day one finish.
The pair of Jeet Jhabakh and V Sekhar from Chettinad Sporting did manage to climb one position up to secure a podium finish with 43sec difference.
Vishakh B and Anil Abbas were slower by 43sec and hence missed the podium.
Abhin Rai began the day two in second position and was going steady, in the 11th stage 2kms before the finish gear box issues cropped up and in the final stage of the day had to manage with only 3rd gear and lost about 2min in this stage and slided down to 5th.
After ending the day one in third position the pair of Sheshank Jamwal and Aseem Sharma from Arka Motorsports were doing well but in SS10 about 20mts before the finished they crashed as the left tie rod buckled and had to pull out.
JINRC:
Arnav Pratap Singh and Rohit N from Snap Racing climbed one position up from their overnight finish with a lead of 1min 42sec they won the class, the Ideal Racing pair of Abhin Rai and Arvind Dheerendra slipped down from the dominant day one position where they were ahead with 27sec lead to finish ahead of the third position finishers with 1min 21sec difference with the Chettinad Sporting pair of Arjun Rajiv and Vinay Padmashali. Nikeetaa Takkale along with Raghuram Saminathan finished in fourth, Tanika Shanbag in her Debut rally finished in fifth position along with her father Sanket Shanbhag they rejoined on final day as they had to pull on day one due to ECU issues.
Womens class:
It was the second straight win of the season for Defending champion Anushriya Gulati along with Karan Aukta from Arka Motorsports they attained this with a lead of 2min 48sec. Privateer Nikeetaa Takkale from Pune and Raghuram Saminathan from Coimbatore finished in second position. Shillong's Phoebe Nongrum along with Nash Ross from Hyderabad with 11min 31sec difference finished third after a dramatic drive in SS10 even as the unhooked front bonnet covered the windscreen after the jump, she managed to finish the stage in the same condition. Championship leader from A & A Motorsports Bengalurians Harshitha Raj Gowda along with Pramod Raman finished fourth, Tanika Shanbhag finished fifth in her debut rally along with Sanket Shanbhag.
FMSCI Classic:
It was a Debut win for the Mysuru youngster Jenu Johnson along with Anirudh Ramesh as they dominated the rally right from the start till the end with a lead of 2min 51sec. The pair of Praveen Dwarkanath and Kariyappa KB from Kass Motorsports climbed one position up from their previous day finish. They finished in second position. Championship leaders the Husband and wife team from A & A Motorsports Aneeshnath S and Aneesh Amitha completed the podium. Harish KN Gowda and Mahesh Nandi were unable to hold on to their day one second position and finished fifth.
GYPSY class:
Local boys Darshan Nachappa along with Abhinav Ganapathy held on to his day one top finish by the end of the final day they won with a lead of 3min 51sec over the championship leaders Baljindar Singh Dhillon and Goutham CP from A & A Motorsports , as they broke their suspension twice in the rally and managed to finish second, Localites Kariappa KG along with Gaurav Aiyappa with 9sec difference stood third. Sanjay Agarwal and Dheeraj Manae slipped two positions down from second to fourth on the final day with 2min 4sec difference, Localite Kariappa Mekerira along with Vignesh Mahalingan from OSPREY Racing finished fifth. Dr.Akarsh Sundar along with Ravi Kumar had to pull out in the first stage of the final day as they hit a dropped out car on stage while exiting.
“It is a nice feeling to win back-to-back. I must thank my team, probably the smallest with just four mechanics, who have put in a lot of hard work to give me a perfect car. JK Tyre also deserves commendation for the tyres they specially developed for my car. I think I am getting better as a driver. I would say I was in total control in both Hyderabad and here. My first aim this season has been to bring the car home and I am happy that I managed to do that in two consecutive rallies this season.” said Gaurav Gill.
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