agencies
COIMBATORE, Feb 23: A record 57 entries have been received for the Rally of Coimbatore which doubles up as the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021, commencing here on February 25, with a ceremonial flag-off followed by two days of competition.
The championship, with MRF Tyres as the associate sponsor, is a spill over from last year due to the pandemic and will now comprise three rounds - Rally of Coimbatore (Feb 25-27), Karnataka-1000, Bengaluru (March 11-13), and the South India Rally, Chennai, (March 25-27) - promoted directly by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), the governing body for the sport in the country.
FMSCI President Akbar Ebrahim said: "At the outset, the Federation welcomes all the participants and stakeholders to the first round of the INRC 2021 in Coimbatore. It was a challenging year due to the pandemic, and the Federation has taken it upon itself to promote the 2021 edition of our flagship championship.
Headlining the entry list is reigning, seven timesNational champion and Arjuna Award winner Gaurav Gill (New Delhi). Ranged behind the 40-year old three-times FIA Asia Pacific Rally champion are a clutch of young guns like Karna Kadur (Bengaluru), Fabid Ahmer (Palakkad) and Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru), besides a sprinkling of seasoned campaigners such as 2019 National champion Chetan Shivram (Bengaluru), Amittrajit Ghosh (Kolkata), Arjun Rao (Mangaluru) and Rahul Kanthraj (Bengaluru), with proven track records.
In a major departure from the past, the organisers, Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, have moved the event out of the iconic windmill farms in Kethanur, about 30 Kms from city, to a fresh location just off the L & T bypass road on the western side of the city and with a much smoother terrain. The two physical Special Stages will be run four times - twice in forward direction on Saturday and twice in reverse direction on Sunday.
The total rally distance is 203.33 kms of which 120 kms is competitive section.
As per the format, there are five National championship categories - INRC, INRC-2, INRC-3, INRC-4 and Junior INRC (up to 26 years of age and not having won any event in any category) with vehicles regulated by various specifications. Bringing up the rear are the stand-alone FMSCI Gypsy Challenge and the FMSCI SUV Challenge, neither eligible for INRC classification. |
