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RALLY OF HIMALAYAS

TRANS ARUNACHAL DRIVE 2.0

Come-back victory for SUNNY SIDHU

LONG-PENDING

DRIVEN

WIN FOR

GRAND VITARA

GAURAV GILL

JK RACING

ARYA AND KYLE DOMINATE

INRC - RALLY OF COIMBATORE

FORMULA 2

JEHAN DOUBLE PODIUM AT MONZA

CAREER-BEST FINISH

IN WRC 2 ATGREECE INTERVIEW

SATISH SHARMA, CHAIRMAN

MRF 2W INRC

Rajendra RE heading for another title

RFC INDIA 2022

GILL’S ATMA

Shreyas, Jinendra to represent India at s World Serie Finals

PLUS

FEATURE

MG GLOSTER

SCOOTER RALLY

TVS' Syed Asif Ali crowned overall winner

15

th

TSD

Ajgar Ali and Md Musthafa unchallenged

HAMPI OFF-ROAD Ram Babu, Mahinder win Season 2

EDITORIAL / IMPRINT

Hi,

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Our New Look.

AUTO TRACK is on a new track...

W

e would like to convey Special Greetings to all our Readers, our Advertisers, and the Auto Track Team on the occasion of our 15th Anniversary Issue.

With great difficulty, we managed to bring the issue out, and it is one of the toughest battles fought for survival in these 15 years. We have also undergone a bad state in the Post­Covid period but managed to keep the magazine alive. The support from a handful of advertisers was very helpful and we even had to dig deep into our savings. But all this has never stopped us from the periodic up­gradation, and time and again we have provided the best of services, right from giving news to offering delightful Videos. To add to the sporting news, we have also allotted a few pages for vehicle reviews and interviews but kept our motorsports and off­roading identity intact.

Coming to motorsports, day by day the number of championships are increasing while the number of weekends remain the same. Hence, it is very important now to allot dates with minimum overlap of events so that it would be fair for the drivers, riders and other related logistics. This will also enable better visibility in most of the Media, every week. All the championships are on schedule and only the four­wheeler Sprint is yet to take off. The five­round Indian Racing League (IRL) which is supposed to take­off from November will definitely be a game­ changer in the Indian Motorsports arena, if it goes as per the plan.

Last but not the least, the big news of Indian round being part of the 2023 MotoGP calendar will be a boost for the Indian two­wheeler segment which draws huge fan­following. With great plans and ideas, we will step into our 16th year of circulation and also, after a gap of three years due to Covid, the Auto Track Awards event is set to return this season.

S. ASHOK KUMAR TIWARI Editor M: +91­9845296190 autotrack.editor@gmail.com

IMPRINT

Editor S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari Concept and Design: S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari

Staff Photographers: Prakash Rawat, Noorulla Managing Editor: Roopa A. Tiwari

Sr. Correspondent: S. Nithyanand

Correspondent: K. Manjunath Ghanshyam A Tiwari Spl. Correspondent: David Bodapati

Western Region: autotrack.west@gmail.com Mob: 09757176958

Editorial Office:

Auto Track 7/3-1, Lalitha Engineering Building, Subbanna Garden Main Road, Vijayanagar, Bangalore-40 autotrack.editor@gmail.com www.autotrack.ind.in For Subscription, contact: 9845296190

For Advertisement, E: ashok.autotrack@gmail.com The Publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazine’s contents are accurate. However, he accepts no responsibility of any effects arising therefrom. Printed at Raj Hans Enterprises, Rajajinagar Industrial Town, Bangalore-560044.

Published by S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari At # 7/3-1, Lalitha Engineering Building, Subbanna Garden Main Road, Vijayanagar, Bangalore - 560040

VOLUME 15, ISSUE 6

O1 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

CONTENTS

34

08

NEW DELHI

OCTOBER 2022

28 44

JK Tyre Natl Racing R1: 10

MRF 2W Racing R4: 14

RALLY OF Acropolis: 20

Blue Band INRC R2: 22

Rain Forest Challenge: 28

K1000 2W: 34

Hampi Off-road: 46

38 22

38: R3, Karting Nationals 40: Vega Helmets

Monsoon Scooter Rally: 60

42: ATMA

MotoGP Thailand: 74

44: Review MG Gloster

Singapore F1: 76

INAC North Zone Qualifying: 86

60

50: Rally of Coimbatore 14 04

54: MRF 2W racing R3

64: Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Drive 68: R1, Drag Nationals

70: Trans Arunachal Pradesh Drive 78: Rally of Himalayas 84: Malwa TSD

14

22 64

10 38 46

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32

30

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Will MiniGP be of any use to us?

Mark it! It will be definitely helpful to many young riders in the future.

Imagine, a few years back, all these were dreams and these big events were non­accessible and there were no opportunities for the young talent. But today's kids have a series to prove their worth. It is a golden chance of five selection rounds and the top two got a chance to race abroad. This was achieved by two young riders, Shreyas Hareesh and Jinendra Sangave. While the former is from Bengaluru, the latter is from Kolhapur. They had already found a platform to race in the TVS one­ make championship. So keep trying and the opportunities will keep coming. Prior to this, both the Manufacturers team Honda and TVS did manage to put a few of their riders in the Asian Championships while a few were taking part on their own. So keep trying to achieve your goal. Any event, small or big, has its own importance and a target.

MAHESH COIMBATORE BHOLA SINGH MADHYA PRADESH CHETAN KERALA

MotoGP should be a booster Yes, let us hope for the best, because when F1 came to India, many felt it will be a game­ changer. But F1 never returned to the Indian soil due to various reasons. It ultimately resulted in BIC ending up bankrupt and the Indian championships were unable to run too many rounds at the venue due to

high mounting costs as rent. No new tracks have come up as this track set a high standard. So India remained as a Motorsports destination without any takers. However, the present government is keen on promoting sports, and views Motorsports in a different context, unlike the previous government, and one can hope the government support in pitching for the event. We can expect a lot of changes and thanks to the Indian promoters for taking this big leap and a step forward to bring the MotoGP to India in a short span of time, that too in the 2023 calendar itself. With the kind of fan following for two­wheeler racing, we can definitely look forward for some good results, pre and post MotoGP of Bharat.

Did change of promoter help the status of the INRC 4­wheeler championship?

The INRC 4w championship was allotted to the Promoter in a short span of time and the first round

was held just weeks after the promotership was taken. The present Promoter needed some breathing time to plan and allot the rounds. This year was disappointing, as the expected six­round championship is likely to be reduced to four. While the third round, the K1000, is scheduled for the third week­end of October, the Nellore round was cancelled due to water logging. It is reported that the area selected for the track there, is still under water, and with rains expected during the Dasara weekend, it was an expected decision. Now the Nagaland round is on cards, as the Hornbill Festival has Motorsports as part of its activities, as a TSD round.

This slot might be occupied by INRC in the month of December. Let us keep our fingers crossed. As per sources, one of the directors, Vamcy Merla from the previous Promoters, the Champion Group, has planned to give back the sport its due. After overcoming the previous financial d e f a u l t s shortly, he once again plans to promote rally drivers and riders and is said to take it forward from the upcoming K1000 Rally .

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NEWS

That left him perfectly placed to battle for the win as the red flag was deployed to allow track workers to clear away Williams' stranded Trident and carry out repairs to the barriers.

The race resumed after a ten­ minute stoppage. Jehan went on to put on a master­class of tyre management and race craft as he bided his time at first, before piling the pressure on to race leader Richard Verschoor and second­placed Marino Sato.

He passed Sato on Lap 18 of 30 and was hot on Verschoor's heels. But the Trident racer, struggling with tyre wear, dived into pits with just five laps to go, handing Jehan a lead he would keep until the chequered flag.

Sprint Race: Earlier, Jehan finished third after starting in fifth position in Race 1.

I

ndian racing star and Red Bull Junior, Jehan Daruvala churned out a fantastic week­end with two Podiums from two races, including a fantastic Feature Race victory the Temple of Speed in Formula 2 Championship at Italy's historic Monza track. He finished third after starting in fifth position in the Sprint Race and finished on top in Feature Race.

Feature Race: Jehan started sixth on the grid but used a mix of strategy, race craft and tyre management to capitalise on a safety car and red flag­interruption to clinch a comfortable win around the hallowed 'Temple of Speed'.

The win was Jehan's first this season. It was two podiums from two races for Jehan this weekend and eight this year and his sixth top three finish at Monza.

“What a weekend,” said Jehan. “It's been a long time coming. We've had the win taken away from us for one reason or another on more than one occasion this year. But we've kept our heads down, kept believing, kept pushing and we've finally done it.

“And what a venue to do it at too! Monza is up there with one of my all­ time favourite tracks and standing on the top step of this incredible podium, out over the main straight with the Indian national Anthem playing out. It feels so, so special.”

Jehan made a good getaway, but starting on the dirty side of the grid got bogged down after the initial start. Nevertheless, he kept sixth as the field went through the first chicane but lost a place to Juri Vips as he lifted in anticipation of a safety car after an opening­lap shunt involving Ralph Boschung and Theo Pourchaire.

The safety car wasn't deployed until later, however, and Jehan was forced to defend from Jack Doohan on the run to the second Roggia chicane. The pair went wheel­to­wheel in the braking zone with Logan O6 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Sargeant making it three­wide into the chicane. Doohan, with Jehan on the inside and Sargeant on the outside had nowhere to go and ended up colliding with Jehan, he however suffered only minor damage and carried on as the safety car was finally deployed.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 5 with Jehan running seventh.

But a crash for Calan Williams at the Ascari chicane brought the safety car back out on Lap 8.

Jehan seized the opportunity to pit, with the perfectly timed stop eventually moving him up to third once his other rivals had pitted.

The 23­year­old, who started fifth on the grid, crossed the line seven seconds behind winner Juri Vips and runner­up Frederik Vesti.

Jehan's podium, his fifth at Monza, was founded on a lightning start. The Red Bull­ backed driver went wheel­to­ wheel with Logan Sargeant right off the line, with the pair going side­by­side in a heart­stopping battle all the way through the first chicane and the long, high­ speed Curva Grande. Jehan, on the inside, defended robustly going into the second chicane to come out ahead.

He made short work of Iwasa to move up to third and comfortably held on to the final podium spot to the end of the race.

O6 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

BENGALURU

Shreyas, Jinendra Sangave to represent India at World Series Finals

S

hreyas Hareesh from Bengaluru and Kolhapur's Jinendra Kiran Sangave qualified to represent India in the FIM MiniGP World Series Finals to be held in November in Valencia, Spain.

Shreyas and Jinendra finished first and second respectively while Nandana Mahendran from Chennai came third in the FIM MiniGP World Series India 2022 which concluded recently at the Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru.

In the World Finals, the pair will compete with toppers of respective National series held in 15 countries.

The five­round, 10­race India series, organised by RMS Motorsport with support from Meco Motorsports, saw Jinendra, 13, dominate initially by winning five races in a row.

However, 12­year old Shreyas staged a remarkable comeback by topping four of the next five races, including a double in 08 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Round­4 to finish on top of the Series points table with 220 points. Jinendra, who barely survived a difficult final weekend, finished with 213 points, well ahead of third­placed Nandanan Mahendran of Chennai (153).

Among the four girls who took part in the Series, Bengaluru's Nithila Das finished fifth overall in the points standings with 106 while Rakshitha Dave from Chennai was seventh (94). The other two girls, both from Bengaluru, Aleena Mansur Sheikh and Anastya Pol, participated only in Round­1.

Jinendra went into the fourth round with 16 points lead over Shreyas and was looking very comfortable but not safe to seal the top slot, as he had to fight it out with an equally­strong Shreyas. But he was unable to capitalise on the lead as he made some mistakes and Shreyas won both the races of the day and reduced the lead to 11 points.

Thus the qualifying boiled down to the final phase of the round. In Race 1, Shreyas was followed by Jinendra with a difference of 32sec and Rakshith S Dave from Chennai finished third with a further 6­sec difference. In Race 2, Shreyas just managed to finish ahead of Jinendra with only a second separating them.

Nandanan Mahendran from Chennai came third 31 seconds behind.

With 11 points advantage Jinendra had to just stay ahead of Shreyas in both the races of the final round. Jinendra was at his best to win the race one and further consolidated his dominant stand. The thrill to watch both the competitors fight Race 2 till the finish fizzled out as Jinendra suffered engine issues and give way to the Bengaluru rider. Shreyas took the race lead and had to just finish to qualify.

Both the riders Jinendra and Shreyas also race in the domestic

TVS One­Make Championship.

Round­5: Jinendra Kiran Sangave won the Race 1 by clocking 16:07.381. Shreyas Hareesh by clocking 17:07.958 finished second and Nandanan Mahendran with a further 13­sec difference came third. Shreyas won Race 2 with a lead of 11­sec over Nandanan and Rakshith Dave came third another 16 seconds behind. Championship leader Jinendra had to pull out due to engine issues.

RACING NATIONALS

Allwin Xavier wins GT Cup race

PHOTO BY: SHAHJAHAN

A

rya Singh from Dark Don Racing in LGB Formula 4 and Kyle Kumaran from DTS Racing in JK Tyre Novice Cup dominated the Round 1 of the 25th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway in Chettiapalayam in September.

The soaring heat did not deter the competitors who went about doing their job with earnest sweat. All they wanted to do was to make a strong first impression in the season's opening round of the Silver

1O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Jubilee edition. And, the sporting fans got to see some exciting action on both days, as Arya was on the podium for all the three races, he won the top slot in two and finished third in the final race of the day. Kyle was seen on the podium in all the four races, with a Triple top­podium finish and was second in Race 3.

LGB Formula 4: The season started with 25 seasoned race drivers from across cities including Patiala,

Nellore, Dehradun, Panchkula, Kottyam and Vadodara battling for the top glory. Team Dark Don dominated with powerful show in Race 1 led by Kolkata lad Arya Singh followed by Tijil Rao from Bengaluru in second position with a difference of half a second and Ashwin Datta from Chennai with a further difference of 0.623sec completed the podium.

Ahura Racing's Amir Sayed came short of a podium finish while MSport's Ruhaan Alva, the defending Novice Cup champion, who upgraded to the

LGB Formula 4 this year, gave an impressive performance as he finished among the Top­7.

After Aadithya's gutsy show, it was time for Arya Singh of Dark Don Racing to show his smartness and strength in the premier race. Arya won the opening race hands down the other day but this time around, he found the Ahura Racing stars Amir Sayed and Viswas Vijayaraj breathing down his neck. He did not see it coming so early in the race but defended his position well in the first two laps to gain

COIMBATORE

Kyle Kumaran was spectacular throughout the day as he defended his position in the Race 2. DTS Racing's Vinith Kumar with a 0.599sec difference finished in second position.

Hasten Performance's Aadithya Parasuram who lost out unfortunately in the first race where he was running second, finished third with over 0.766sec further difference.

Kyle after completing a grand double on Saturday by winning both the races saw a bit of a challenge around the corner in Race 3. Of course, the reverse

MAIN: LGB Formula4 winner Arya Singh in the lead

the early advantage. And, once he did, there was no stopping him. With a lead of over 9 seconds Arya, for the second time in this round was the topper followed by Vishwas in second position and Tijil with a further 3.580sec difference finished third.

Racing teammate Joel Joseph, who was behind by 1.357sec.

MSport's Dhruvh Goswami with a difference of 1.852sec to the leader came third. Last edition's

podium finisher Aadithya Parasuram was following up Kyle Kumaran closely in the second spot but lost due to a wheel spin with only a few laps left.

TOP LEFT: LGB Formula4 race2 winner on the podium BOTTOM RIGHT: JK Tyre Novice Cup winner Kyle Kumaran in the lead

The final race of the round saw Dark Don Racing dominating and sweeping the podium for the second time. All the three drivers finished within the same second. Sandeep Kumar with a total time of 28:10.333 was the winner followed by Ashwin Dutta in second in a time of 28:10.539.

Arya Singh clocked 28:10.893 to claim third.

“I always go with a clear plan not to finish below my starting position. Today, I started on P1 and am happy to have finished in that position,” said the Kolkata boy after the race.

JK Tyre Novice Cup: With youngsters battling it out for a taste of glory, after a tough battle, Kyle Kumaran emerged as the leader in Race 1 with a total time of 13:38.548 followed DTS OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 11

RACING NATIONALS

Naresh Kaname from Latur, and Varun Gowda from Mysore, in that order.

The Race 2 saw Anish D Shetty reclaiming the top spot as Race 1 winner Allwin Xavier slightly hit the back of Anish's bike and slipped on the track, midway into the race. Joseph Mathew defended his third place in this race. Ullas S Nanda finished second in the Professional category. In the Amateur category, Soorya PM defended his position from Race 1, and was followed by Varun Gowda in the second, and Raj Kumar in third.

TOP LEFT: Arya Singh in the lead in LGB Formula4 BOTTOM: Dhruvh Goswami in the Novice class followed by Joel

grid was in play and Kyle started eighth. And he had to dish out something special to secure a place on the podium.

He worked hard for it and, with the safety cars visiting the track time and again, Kyle planned his every move and went on to challenge Aadithya. But the latter, who enjoyed the front slot, kept it calm right through to take the chequered flag. That did not matter for Kyle. He was nevertheless pleased to have sealed the second spot with a difference of 5.949sec followed

by Bengaluru's Dhruvh Goswami from MSport in the third place with a further difference of 2.1sec.

Later, Kyle shot back strongly to finish on top of the podium in Race 4 with a difference of 0.966sec. Aadhithya took the second slot followed by Vinith in third with a further difference of 0.703sec.

Continental GT Cup: Thrissur­lad Allwin Xavier got the better of defending champion Anish Damodara Shetty of Hubli in the final laps. Out of the ten 12 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

laps, Anish was leading in most, until Allwin zoomed past him at the penultimate lap to emerge winner.

The Pro­Am Series format was introduced with 10 professional and 15 amateur riders competing together on the same grid from this edition.

Chennai­lad Soorya PM came as a surprise to finish third Overall, although he was from the Amateur category.

In the Pro­category, Allwin and Anish were followed by Joseph Mathew in third while in the Amateur category, Soorya PM from Chennai was followed by

TOP RIGHT: Amir Sayed in action TOP EXTREME RIGHT: JK Tyre Novice Cup winners BOTTOM RIGHT: Tijil Rao followed by Ruhaan Alva EXTREME RIGHT BOTTOM BUT ONE: Anish D Shetty in the lead

COIMBATORE

It was wheel­to­wheel action in Race 3 as Navaneeth Kumar from Puducherry led the pack by finishing first in the Pro category followed by Ullas S Nanda from Bangalore in second with a below 3­second difference.

Sudheer Sudhakar from Delhi finished third with a further difference of 0.98sec.

The Amateur category was won

by Soorya PM followed by Varun Gowda from Mysore in second with less than 4­sec deficit and Rohan R from Coimbatore in third, a further 3seconds behind.

Endurance League Cup: Twenty­five teams, most of them were first timers, lined up for the JK Tyre presents Endurance League Cup. In this new event, all the 250cc race bikes, ran successfully. The pair of Abhishek Vasudev and Amarnath Menon combined well to finish on top with a total time of 1:00:57.449s. Rakshith S Dave and Mohammed Mikail finished in second position with a difference of over 50sec.

Prathipathi Jayanth and Seshadri with a further difference of over 6sec completed the podium.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 13

RACING NATIONALS

KY Ahamed (33) holding off Deepak Ravikumar (25) at the finish to win the Pro­Stock 301­400cc Open Race­2

'Bengaluru Kid' Shreyas notches maiden win in Novice class PHOTO BY: ANAND PHILAR / ADITYA BEDRE

K

Y Ahamed and Prabhu Arunagiri notched a double apiece while Shreyas Hareesh, popular online as 'Bengaluru Kid' took his maiden victory in the Novice class. Also Rohan Ramesh from Axor Sparks Racing and Lani Zena Fernandez of RACR Castrol Power1 scored contrasting victories as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 concluded at the Madras International Circuit in Sriperumbudur recently.

Pro­Stock 301­400cc category KY Ahamed led a 1­2­3 finish for Petronas TVS Racing team while 14 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Pacer Yamaha enjoyed a double podium with Prabhu Arunagiri taking a win and teammate Mathana Kumar finishing third behind Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing's Rajiv Sethu.

Petronas TVS Racing's Ahamed, Deepak Ravikumar and Jagan Kumar came home in that order while defending champion Rajini Krishnan from RACR Castrol Power1 limped home in seventh place after his engine was stuck in fifth gear as he lost the gear shift lever from second lap onwards.

The race itself fell flat after Ahamed, starting from pole position, opened a sizable gap of over 4 seconds ahead of

Ravikumar and Jagan Kumar, and Rajini Krishnan fading from the contest, and the rest of the pack unable to match the pace of the front­runners.

Ahamed, winner of Race­1 on Saturday, led a 1­2 finish for Petronas TVS Racing in Race 2, pole­sitter Ahamed missed a gear as the lights went out and slipped to second behind teammate Deepak Ravikumar.

The two battled all the way until Ahamed passed Ravikumar on the last lap and defended his position for a brilliant victory.

Behind the lead pair, defending champion Rajini Krishnan, starting from P7, crashed in the first lap, but picked himself up to

come in third with about 10­sec difference while posting the fastest lap of the race in the process. The third place finish took Rajini's tally to 161 after four rounds followed by Ahamed 126 points and Ravikumar 125.

Pro­Stock 165cc Open category In the Race 1, Prabhu Arunagiri snatched a dramatic win closely followed by Rajiv Sethu and Mathana Kumar. The trio crossed the finish line almost locked together after championship leader Mathana Kumar conceded his track position in the last lap, running wide at Turn­11, to slip from first to third.

R4, CHENNAI

fought off a strong challenge from the Petronas TVS Racing pair of Ahamed and Jagan Kumar, and Rajiv Sethu from Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing, besides teammate and early leader Mathana Kumar.

Arunagiri kept his wits about to pull off a merited win with Sethu and Ahamed close on his heels.

Mathana, though finishing fifth, kept his lead in the points table with a tally of 126, ahead of Sethu with 109 and Arunagiri 104.

Prabhu Arunagiri (No.5) en route to winning the Pro­Stock 165cc Open Race­2

The race was reduced to five laps due to a delayed start with pole­ sitter KY Ahamed from Petronas TVS Racing starting from the pit­ lane.

Arunagiri from Pacer Yamaha ground out a thrilling win in Race 2, his second of the weekend.

Arunagiri too had to work hard for his second win of the weekend. The eight­lapper went down to the wire as Arunagiri

Novice (Stock 165cc) category Bengaluru schoolboy Shreyas Hareesh from Rockers Racing pulled off a sensational lights­ to­flag victory by defeating riders almost twice his age. The 12­year Shreyas, a sixth standard student of Kensri School in Bengaluru, started from P3 on the grid but was in the lead even before Turn­1 and then, hung on to notch his maiden win in the category. It was his first outing in the Novice class this season, having skipped the previous three rounds.

Shreyas, weighing only 31 kgs, showed consistent pace over six laps to win from Axor Sparks Racing pair of Rohan R from Coimbatore and Mumbai's Kayan Zubin Patel.

Finishing fourth was pole­sitter and championship leader

Stock upto 165cc for Girls category winners

Stock 301 to 400cc support race category winners

Shreyas Hareesh celebrating his victory in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 15

RACING NATIONALS

Shreyas, weighing only 31 kgs, showed consistent pace over six laps to win from Axor Sparks Racing pair of Rohan R from Coimbatore and Mumbai's Kayan Zubin Patel. Finishing fourth was pole­sitter and championship leader Sarvesh Balappa from Axor Sparks Racing hailing from Hubballi.

“I made some mistakes,” was all that Shreyas said after the win, referring to a marginally slower last lap that resulted in a tight finish while almost negating the comfortable lead he had enjoyed until then.

Rohan from Axor Sparks Racing emerged unscathed from a bunch of half­a­dozen riders to take the honours in the Race2.

The Novice race was a heart­stopper with half­a­dozen riders in the mix and fighting for podium spots. They took turns to lead, but eventually, it was Rohan who pulled ahead to win from Hubballi's Sarvesh Balappa from Axor Sparks Racing and Vignesh Goud from Hyderabad. Though without a win this weekend, Sarvesh picked up sufficient points to take his tally to 157 for an unassailable lead in the championship standings Stock 301­400cc Support event: Mihir Vijay Sakpal from Mumbai representing Winverve Apex Racing Academy with a total time of 12:32.066 was the winner followed by Naresh Shobha Kaname from Latur in second position with over 2 seconds difference. With just another second deficit Jayanth Prathipati from Hyderabad finished third.

Girls Stock 165cc: Lani Zena Fernandez from RACR Castrol Power1 topped the class outing earlier in the day for her maiden win of the season. Starting from pole position, Lani Zena battled with Mumbai's Jagruti Penkar from Axor Sparks Racing, all through the five laps, as the two exchanged lead. In the last lap, Zena made a decisive move to regain the lead which she nursed to the finish for her first win of the season. Local challenger Jagathishree from Pacer Yamaha came in third, ahead of Ann Jennifer from Alpha Racing.

With a round to go, Ann with 72 points leads Jagruthi with 63 on the points table while defending champion Ryhana Bee from Pacer Yamaha had another disastrous outing as she crashed in the very first lap which weighed her down to sixth in the championship.

Jagan Kumar and Mathana Kumar in Pro­stock upto 165cc Open

Deepak zooms past Rahil as Rajini follows in Pro­stock 301 to 400cc

Kayan followed by Rohan, Sarvesh and Chiranth in Stock upto 165cc Novice

Lani leads in stock upto 165cc Girls category 16 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

R4, CHENNAI

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NSF250 Open class winners

Hornet 2.0 class winners

umbai's Raheesh Mudassar Khatri recorded a double for eight wins in as many outings in the Novice CBR150 class while Chennai's Kavin Quintal also bagged a double in the NSF Open 250 class in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup and the NSF Open 250 classes.

NSF Open 250: In NSF Open 250 Race 1, Kavin Quintal from Chennai managed to win the class with a comfortable lead of six seconds even as AS James from Bengaluru finished second and Mohsin P from Malappuram came third, a further second behind.

Kavin maintained his pace in Race 2 for the second win of the round but on this occasion with a huge margin of 21 seconds over Mohsin. Chennai rider Shyam Sundar finished third.

Novice CBR 150: It was a double delight for Raheesh Mudassar Khatri from

Mumbai as he held on to a lead of over 11 seconds over Kolhapur rider Siddesh Sawant, who finished behind him.

Bengaluru boy Harshith V Bogar was another 14 seconds behind in third. In Race 2, Raheesh's win was not easy, he had to fight it out till the end as Siddesh was very close but managed to maintain a lead of about half a second. Rajender Beedani from Jangaon came third with a further difference of 17­sec.

Hornet 2.0 Support event: Allwin Xavier from Thrissur was in command in both the races and won them. In Race1, he had built a lead of just below one second on Romario John from Chennai, who had to defend his second position as G Balaji from Chennai was very close to him till the finish. In Race 2, Allwin was very closely followed by G Balaji as he finished in second with a difference of 800th of a second and Romario had a photo finish and settle for third.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 17

R4, CHENNAI

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Venkatesan in action

n the Petronas TVS One­ Make Championship, Aditi Krishnan from Bengaluru notched her fourth consecutive win in the Girls Apache RTR 200 category while Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru scored a double to remain unbeaten after eight races and four rounds in the Rookie class.

Rookie Apache RTR 200: Bengaluru boy Chiranth Vishwanath with a timing of 12:32.942 and a comfortable lead of over six seconds managed to keep Abdul Basim RS from Chennai in second position. Savion Sabu from Bengaluru finished third with nine­seconds difference.

In Race 2, Chiranth was a bit faster than the previous race with an 8­second lead, he managed to keep Abdul behind him while Shreyas Hareesh from Bengaluru

came third a further 8­sec behind.

Apache RR 310 Open class Race­1: It was a grand double for Rahil Pillarisetty from Hyderabad. He had to defend his position right till the finish in Race 1, as Ananthraj from Chennai finished within an arm's length. Venkatesan from Chennai finished third with a second difference.

There was a bit of relief for Rahil in Race2. He was about three seconds ahead of Mohan Babu P from Chennai and Ananthraj finished third which was a photo finish.

The five­lap Apache RTR 200 for girls was bagged by Bengaluru girl Aditi Krishnan by clocking 11:00.774. Second Bengalurean Nithila Das was five seconds slower to finish second and Saimah Ajaz Baig from Pune finished third.

Ananthraj in Apache RR310 Open category Apache RTR200 Rookie race2 winners

Apache RTR200 Girls category winners 18 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

RALLY

ACROPOLIS

A

ce Indian rally driver Gaurav Gill displayed remarkable skills on dirt tracks and dished out excellent performance in his third outing in World Rally Championship ­ Acropolis Rally, Greece. Gill after his memorable outing in Finland and Kenya had another fantastic drive in the rugged gravel stages of the Acropolis Rally which covering a total distance of 1192kms included 16 Special stages of 303kms, before concluding on September 11.

The weekend was the ultimate test of man and machine and JK Tyre's Gaurav Gill showed immense grit and pushed his car to extremes in the baking heat of Athens. Blinding dust trails with almost negligible visibility, bent lower­arms, completely worn out tyres made the drive even more challenging and dangerous for the Arjuna Awardee but he kept his pace in all the stages.

On Saturday after Stage 8, Gill was placed 9th in his WRC2 class with a difference of 30.8 sec from the leader Andreas Mikkelsen.

Gill who is a master of gravel and manoeuvring tough terrains, worked up his paces and upgraded himself through the remaining stages of the event. In the penultimate stage, Gill gave a tough fight to his fellow drivers and outpaced season leader Mikkelsen and seasoned WRC2 campaigner from Czech Martin Prokop.

Prokop was approximately eight seconds behind Gill in Stage 15.

Gill was just 7.49 minutes off from the WRC2 leader E Lindholm across Special Stages of 303kms out of total distance of 1192kms and concluded his campaign at 1.5 sec per km off the pace from the factory team driver. It indeed was a celebratory moment for Gill as he left the championship frontrunner Mikkelsen four seconds behind in the final stage of the rally. Clocking some of his best times, compared to seasoned WRC top category, he was just 3 seconds off per km to far superior cars of overall WRC leader T Neuville, who is Hyundai Works team driver.

At the end of three gruelling days, India's Gill sealed a sixth­place finish in WRC2 in a grid of 35 cars which is considered a historic entry of the season in the category and 12th overall in 70 grid Acropolis Rally Greece ahead of some of the biggest names of WRC K Rovanpera, T Sunninen. This achievement is no mean feat and it takes an experienced driver to conquer the toughest stages of the world and finish the rally in style.

“The Acropolis Rally has been one of the toughest rallies that has put our car and tyres to extreme tests. It was a tough weekend where we faced multiple issues but that's how this Rally treats you. Almost zero visibility forced us to stop every few kms as it was dangerous but overall it was a unique experience for me and Gabriel,” said Gaurav Gill.

2O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

GREECE

The JK Tyre driver shows his master-class at Acropolis Rally Greece

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 21

RALLY

NAITONALS

22 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

R2, COIMBATORE

Top drivers suffer 'Post-event Scrutiny' blues

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 23

RALLY

NATIONALS

INRC First runner­up Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai

T

he pair of Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, supported

by JK Tyre, won the Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the Blue Band FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2022 for 4W supported

by MRF held at Coimbatore recently.

The 'Post­event Scrutiny' changed the table­toppers in INRC2, INRC3 and Junior INRC categories as the two­day rally was run on the dirt tracks adjacent to the L&T by­pass road on Day 1 and at the Windmill sections at Kethanur on Day 2.

It was a long­pending win for Gaurav Gill, who had three DNF's (Did not finish) from the past four rallies. He did come out of this dilemma, and did so in style. He changed the tuner a few days before this rally and it seems to have worked out, too. This victory shall be a morale booster for his WRC2 outing at Finland. In 24 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

this event, he was a completely different driver as he adopted a different driving pattern as the track demanded. Gill usually known as the man of speed and action disappointed most of his fans on Day 2, who were waiting to watch his action on track. But his new strategy of taking a huge lead of over 93 seconds on Day 1 on the smooth track and not overdoing or burdening the machine on the rough track on Day 2 gave him this win. But no matter for a few of his fans, it was celebration time as he broke the winless streak.

INRC: The pair of Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, supported by JK Tyre, had not disclosed their strategy which took one and all by surprise. In spite of smoothening his aggression on a couple of occasions, he managed to dominate Day 1 with a lead of over 1min 31sec. Rough stages on Day 2, kept everyone at bay

Pre Scrutiny INRC Podium

Second runner­up Dr. Shivani Pruthvi and Dr. Deepti Pruthvi winners of JINRC

R2, COIMBATORE

INRC2 Pre Scrutiny podium

from even nearing him, and he kept his top position intact. On Day 2 he was monitoring his decreasing lead by about 9 sec in Stage 1 and 11 sec in Stage 2 and he never had to do anything apart from nursing his car back to the finish. With two more stages to go and enjoying over­ a­minute lead, the pair kept their cool and were successful to win the rally.

The only option left for the championship leaders from Bengaluru, Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai, supported by MRF driving from Arka Motorsports, was to reduce the victory margin. They did manage to

reduce the lead to 28 seconds but had to finish second.

The Kerala pair of Younus Ilyas and Milen George, supported

by MRF, were lucky enough to be on the podium after disqualification of two of the drivers ahead of him, Arjun Rao Aroor and Chetan Shivram.

Jahaan was also part of the disqualified squad, thus elevating the JK Tyre­supported driver Syed Salman Ahmed and BK Rishabh to fourth. Philippos Matthai and Kumar Ramasamy from Arka Motorsports with a further difference of three seconds finished fifth.

“I always love to be right up there but it's okay as I know the situation and condition that we were in. There's no point risking it as we have had a terrible last few rallies. I don't want to go back into that scenario for myself and the team because there's so much of hard work that has gone into it,” said Gaurav Gill, the winner.

Second runner­up INRC Younus Ilyas and Milen George OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 25

RALLY

NATIONALS

of Chetan and Dilip, supported

by Yokohama, were disqualified and they lost their top position.

INRC3: The JK Tyre supported pair of Syed Salman Ahmed and BK Rishabh won the INRC3 class with a total time of 1:53.17.

Philippos Matthai and Kumar Ramasamy finished in second position after starting Day 2 with a 24­second deficit. They managed to gain 21 seconds but fell short by three seconds and had to be content with a second place.

Syed Salman and Rishabh BK winners of INRC3

The pair of Suhem Kabeer and Jeeva Rathinam, supported by JK Tyre, finished sixth. Chandan KM from Bengaluru and localite Venu Ramesh Kumar finished seventh ahead of Kuber Sharma and Kunal Kashyap, who were also supported by JK Tyre.

The three who were disqualified as their cars did not comply with technical regulations during post­event scrutiny were MRF­ supported Arjun Rao and Satish Rajgopal from Mandovi Motors, who lost their third position. The two Bengaluru brothers, Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan, supported by Yokohama, lost their fourth position and the 19­ year old Jahaan Singh Gill and Suraj Keshava, also supported by JK Tyre, lost their sixth position.

Dean Mascarenhas driving a R­ spec Baleno for the first time, had to pass through difficult times on Day 2 with the broken exhaust manifold, was unable to get the pace during Day 2. He managed to finish the rally but had crossed the MPL. INRC2: Suhem Kabeer and Jeeva Rathinam, supported by JK Tyre, won the INRC2 class clocking a 26 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

time of 1:53.23 followed by Ritesh Guttedar, along with co­ driver Lokaranjan HJ in second place with a difference of 3min10sec. Aroor Vikram Rao and co­driver Somayya completed the podium with a further difference of three seconds.

Vikram had lost lot of time on Day 2 as his rally car stalled on the route. Fabid Ahmer and Sanath G, supported by JK Tyre, faced mechanical issues with the car and had to pull out on Day 1 as their drive shaft flange was cut. Till then they were fastest in the class and were running overall third. They rejoined on Day 2 with a 10­min penalty and were the fastest and managed to finish fourth. The pair of Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek K Bhatt had to pull out on Day 1 after the front left wheel bolts sheared off in Stage 2. They finished in fifth position after they rejoined with 10 penalty points on Day 2.

Girish Nair and Suraj Sethi pulled out on Day 1. The pair of Harkishan Wadia and Amber Udasi toppled their vehicle in Stage 2 and did not take the start on Day 2. The winning pair

Gypsy class winners Samrat Yadav and Chandrashekar M

INRC2 second runner­up Aroor Vikram Rao and Somayya AG INRC3 first runner­up Philippos Matthai and K Ramasamy

R2, COIMBATORE

INRC4 winners Deepak Chandra and Mahesh Nandi

Chandan KM and Venu Ramesh Kumar cracked windscreen in second stage as their bonnet opened up and crashed against it. After fixing it, they finished Day 1 with a 29­second difference to the previous finisher. They started Day 2 after replacing the windscreen and finished third. Kuber Sharma and Kunal Kashyap, supported by JK Tyre, missed the podium by 5sec and settled for fourth position. Jason Saldanha and Thimmu Uddapanda finished fifth.

Only in his second season of rallying, Jahaan Singh Gill finished first in his class but was later disqualified in the post­event scrutiny.

INRC4: Deepak Chandra along with Mahesh Nandi won the INRC4 class with a total time of 2:03.16. Ninu Mohan and Goutham CP stood second with a

difference of 29 minutes.

Junior INRC: Arnav Singh Pratap and Arjun SSB with a total time of 1:52.22 were the winners of the Junior INRC class. The all­ ladies team of Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar, supported by MRF, came in second with a difference of 40 seconds.

The two doctors, mother­and­ daughter pair of Shivani Pruthvi and Deepti Pruthvi, supported by JK Tyre, lost time in the first stage on Day 2 as their car was stuck on a soil mount but they managed to finish third with a further difference of 5min 16sec. Ajay Sankar, in his debut rally, and Rohit Gowda finished fourth. The 19­year Jahaan Gill with over 2min 12sec lead was the winner of the class but was disqualified after the post­event Scrutiny.

INRC2 first runner­up Ritesh Guttedar and Lokaranjan HJ OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 27

RFC, INDIA

Satish-Chethan duo tame RFC 2022

Defending champs Kabir-Dushyant from Chandigarh pushed to second

A

fter a week­long battle among 27 of India's best off­roaders, Satish Kumar and co­driver Chethan Chengappa, both in their late thirties from Karnataka, emerged as the overall champions in the Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India 2022 which concluded at Panaji.

This is the maiden RFC India win for Kumar and the third time as a co­driver for Chengappa. The duo won the eighth edition of India's toughest off­road motorsport competition with an overall score of 1895 points out of 2500. This score was based on their performance in the 25 Special Stages (SS) or challenges.

With a deficit of 70 points, the pair of defending champions Kabir Waraich and 28 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Dushyant Khosla from Chandigarh, finished in second position. N Abhinav Reddy and Vishuthi Varun from Hyderabad came third with a further difference of 91 points. Two teams from Goa finished in top­5. The team led by Cedric Jordan DaSilva and Aster Dias claimed fourth place with 1631 points and the duo of Dattaraj Raut Dessai and Siddesh Yadav Naik, with 1585 points, bagged the fifth spot.

Satish Kumar, who is an architect from Bengaluru, expressed his happiness on winning the coveted off­road motorsport championship of India. “It is so amazing that I have no words to say. It took seven attempts since 2014 when the India edition of RFC Malaysia was launched for me to make it to the overall podium. Now I feel on

top of the world,” said Kumar. “It feels really good. All our hard work has paid off,” added co­driver Chethan Chengappa.

Talking about their performance this year, Satish said: “Something would go wrong with our Gypsy every day in our first SS of the day. I have blown more than six batteries during the event and we faced constant mechanical and electrical issues.

But somehow, we managed to finish the obstacles and finished each day on a good note.”

Crediting strong team work and good communication with his co­driver for this win, Satish added: “Our communication was good enough to play the game.

Whatever Chethan used to guide me, I used to follow those lines precisely.”

Chethan, who won the 2018 and 2019 editions of RFC India as a co­driver, has an advice for off­roaders who want to make it big in the competition next year. He said: “The driver has to be a good listener. If he listens properly to his co­driver, the team will perform well. My driver listened to everything I said throughout the competition and here we are on top of the podium.”

Cougar Motorsport's Founder & Director Ashish Gupta congratulated Satish and Chethan on their win. He said: “I am very happy for all three teams that have made it to the podium this year. Last year, Kabir won RFC India for the first time after seven attempts and this year it's the same situation with Satish. I am so delighted that Satish didn't give up and came back year after year despite having major setbacks with his vehicle every year. Today is a celebration of his "never­give­up" attitude and dedication towards the sport. While Satish's driving has improved considerably over the years, we also saw in their team's performance what a difference it makes to have a good quality navigator and a better performing vehicle. It's also great to see Abinav, another old­timer at RFC India, on the podium for the first time.”

GOA TOP RIGHT: Overall winners Satish Kumar and Chethan Chengappa honoured by the organizer and chief guest

CENTER RIGHT: Aditya Varma and Mahender Reddy winner of Above 3010cc class honoured by organzer and chief guest

BOTTOM: First runner-up Kabir Waraich and Dushyan Khosla in action

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 29

the end got nil points in the stage.

Even then, they managed to hold on to second position.

RFC, INDIA

N Abhinvav Reddy and Vishuthi Varun from Telangana were going on well, 20 points in one of the stages put them in third.

The pair of the defending champion Kabir Waraich and Dushyant Khosla from Chandigarh with a five­point difference lost the top­three slot.

The second pair from Telangana Dr Chaitanya Challa and Pradeep Kumar were in fifth position after Day 1.

Satish said “Our communication was good enough to play the game.

Whatever Chethan used to guide me, I used to follow those lines precisely.”

The RFC began on July 25 and Day 1 had four stages out of the total 26 stages to be run over a week. The stages were held at various locations across Goa, including Suquerbag in Quepem for two days, Maina in Quepem also on two days, single day at Sattari in Morlem and finally at Loutolim in Verna for two days.

Md Fahed­Rajeev take lead on Day 1 Day 1 was a closely­fought battle between the top four teams as they were separated by 40 points. Dr Mohammed Fahed VP along with Rajeev Lal from Kerala took the lead of 20 points, as the pair of Satish Kumar and Chethan Chengappa from Karnataka who were setting some good examples of accurate finishes, had to face a drawback in their last stage of the day, when their vehicle had a double roll and lost a lot of battery life trying to get back to 30 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

position. They moved ahead, but the stage had a winching point and they had enough time of 4min to clear it but had to be stranded as the battery for winching had fully drained and in

BOTTOM: Manas Atrrrey and Umesh Rane

Kabir­Dushyant move to 3rd on Day 2 Dr Mohammed Fahed and Rajeev Lal continued their dominance with 662 points out of 800 upto stage 8. Satish Kumar and Chengappa too retained their second spot with 625 points while defending RFC India Champions Kabir Waraich and Dushyant Khosla climbed up one spot to grab the third position with 606 points. N Abinav Reddy slipped down one position to fourth with 573 points while Devineni Sri Venkat and Rambabu Mareedu, also from Telangana, climbed up one position to make it to the top­5 with 474 points.

Dattaraj­Siddesh score a perfect 100 on Day 3 The top positions remained the same on Day 3. Satish managed to come closer to Dr Mohammed Fahed as he closed down the points gap to 22 from 37. Similar was the case of

TSD RALLY GOA

TOP: Cedric Jordan DaSilva and Aster Dias-104 LEFT TOP: Falg-off during the stage start by the local MLA LEFT 2ND: Winners of 1601 to 3010cc class Eric Benny and Akash Gupta

BOTTOM: Dr. Mohammed Fahed VP and Rajeev Lal in action, the pair which slided down from top position from day four onwards

Kabir, as he also brought down the gap to 8 points from 19 earlier.

Abhinav and Varun lost a lot of points but managed to hold on to the fourth position despite being down from 33 points to 99. With a tremendous performance on Day 3, which included a perfect 100 in SS 12 and 90 points in SS 9, Dattaraj Raut Dessai and Siddesh Yadav Naik from Goa climbed up three spots to grab the fifth position with 760 points and were trailing by 53 points. Devineni and his co­driver slipped down to the last position.

Satish­Chethan move to top on Day 4 Coming through a nail­biting competition with a fierce fight, Satish Kumar and co­driver Chethan

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 31

RFC, INDIA TOP RIGHT: Aditya Mein and Ujjal Namshum

Chengappa from Karnataka grabbed the top spot on Day 4. The duo accumulated 1230 points out of 1600. They accomplished the feat with a perfect 100 in SS 13 and 95 points each in SS 15 and 16. Dr. Mohammed fell down to second position by a narrow margin of 4 points to the first and it looked safe enough at that stage as his follower Kabir was 48 points behind him in third.

Abhinav was comfortable in fourth position with 48 points difference to fifth­placed Dattaraj, who had 31 points.

Satish­Chethan excel in Twilight Zone The Twilight Zone of RFC India 2022 is finally over and as expected, it changed many positions in the scoreboard. While Satish Kumar managed to hold on to their first position with 1435 points out of 1900, Dr Mohammed was unable to make his car participation fit and was unable to take the start in the remaining three stages. This situation promoted all the competitors below him by one step. Kabir Waraich climbed up one spot to grab the second position with 1408 points while N Abinav Reddy rose up one spot to grab the third position with 1314 points.

Dattaraj Raut Dessai were at the fourth position with 1306 points while Dr Chaitanya Challa and Pradeep Kumar from Telangana were at the fifth position with 1175 points.

RIGHT BOTTOM: Eric Benny and Akash Gupta

BOTTOM: G Aditya Varma and Mahender Reddy in action

In a major twist, the Twilight Zone of the mega motorsport event this year also included three Special Stages (SS). Traditionally, RFC India's Twilight Zone requires the competitors to enter an uncharted territory from one point and to exit from another point within a specified time period. However, this year they also had to finish three challenges while they were in the Twilight Zone.

Dr Mohammed who were at the top position for the initial three days of the competition, could not take part in any of the Stages (SS) on Day 5.

As a result, they slid down to the sixth position in the competition.

Satish said “Our communication was good enough to play the game. Whatever Chethan used to guide me, I used to follow those lines precisely.”

32 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

GOA

NEWS

L to R ­ Mr Amit Sandill, Director Racing, Fairstreet Sports, Mr Carlos Ezpeleta, Managing Director, Dorna Sports, Mr Sandesh Jaju, CFO, Fairstreet Sports

B

uddh International Circuit will host the MotoGP from 22nd to 24th of September 2023, the FIM motorcycle World Championship soon, as Noida­ based sports company, Fairstreet Sports Private Limited, and the international promoter of MotoGP, Dorna Sports, had announced signing of an agreement at New Delhi recently.

India's maiden edition of the MotoGP World Championship, labelled as 'Grand Prix of Bharat', will bring the world's top motorcycle racers to India in what is expected to provide a significant boost to motorcycle racing in this country, it will be the 14th race of the 21races from the 2023 calendar. MotoGP is the world's third most­watched sporting event after the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. Riders from 19 countries participate in the premier road­racing event with over 20 rounds held around the world. India is likely to host the first MotoGP race in 2024, while a test event may happen as soon as 2023 itself.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed for seven years between Fairstreet Sports and Dorna. The latter is actively working with other State Governments to promote motorcycling culture in India and collectively works to promote, nurture and groom international level MotoGP riders in India. As per industry experts and economic analysts a significant boost to trade, tourism and employment is expected with an estimated 50k jobs, direct and indirect, and up to 5k jobs for the race weekend itself. Interestingly, MotoGP also has plans to also introduce MotoE into the Indian racing scenario which will not only be a first in Asia but a significant green initiative with net­zero carbon emissions.

“It is a matter of great pride for Uttar Pradesh to host such a globally prestigious mega sports event. Not only will the event boost the hospitality and tourism sectors but it will also put UP on the global platform. Our government will provide all the necessary support to make this event a huge success,” said Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 33

K1000

NATIONALS

Petronas TVS Racing team sweeps top-five places; Sarath Mohan, best privateer PHOTO BY: GNANRAJ

F

ormer champion and current championship leader Rajendra RE of Petronas TVS Racing notched up a hard­fought second­ consecutive win beating teammate and defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer in the K1000 2­ wheeler rally, the fourth round of the MRF Mogrip fmsci National 2W Rally Championship 2022 promoted

by GodSpeed and organised

34 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

by Karnataka Motor Sports Club near Bengaluru recently.

Overall:

Once again Team Petronas TVS Racing made a clean sweep of all the top­five overall places which was led by the topper Rajendra RE with a total time of 51min 21.156sec. Abdul Wahid Tanveer with a difference of 21seconds finished in second position. R Nataraj got his long­pending

due of finishing on podium with a difference of 1min 19sec.

Samuel Jacob who was consistent right from the start, missed the podium with a 4­sec deficit. Imran Pasha riding a RTR 200 managed to give his team the top­five finish with a difference of 4min 34sec with the leader. Astride a HUSQVARNA the Kerala Privateer Sarath Mohan managed to finish sixth with a difference of 1min 8sec which included 50sec Liaison

penalties. Banteilang Jyrwa from Petronas TVS Racing displayed a true example of sportsman spirit as he stopped his vehicle to help his teammate Sachin D who needed help after the crash and despite losing time managed to finish seventh.

Superbike Pro­Expert:

The whole class belonged to the Petronas TVS Racing riders who were riding a TVS RTR 450.

Gopal from Trivandrum, riding a Suzuki RM450. Mithun came third with a further difference of 13min 6sec.

Super Sport 130 Group B: Anoop Manjappa from Bengaluru was dominant right from the start. He was the fastest in all the six stages and in spite of 1min 10sec Liaison penalty time of 01:06.44, he emerged as the winner. Chalass K Bose from Kottayam with a difference of 37 seconds finished second.

Sudharshan B from Chikkamagaluru was 20 seconds behind and with 1min 20sec liaison penalty managed to be on the podium in third position. Taking another 26 seconds to finish, the rider from Erode Vinoth Kumar missed the podium as he came fourth. Dilip Raj from Chikkamagaluru began well in the first stage and set some good timing but fading out in later stages finishing fifth with a further difference of 2min 28sec.

Super Sport 165 Group B: In his second season of INRC, it was a back­to­back wins for Sasi Kumar K from Coimbatore. He won with a time of 1hr 11sec.

Tumkuru rider Gidyun Benjamin had one of his toughest days as he was unable to convert his huge lead of close to 2min, from start to finish, as he suffered 2min 50sec Liaison penalty and

Rajendra RE began the first stage at a low pace and his teammate Tanveer made over three seconds on him. There on, Rajendra stepped up pace and started gaining time. Despite losing a lot of time in the fifth stage, he managed to extend his lead in the final stage of the rally and with a 21­sec difference he finished on top. Tanveer, who took off the final stage with a 7­ second difference ended up 13 seconds adrift to give up the

top­slot aspirations. Thus, Tanveer settled for second ahead of teammate Nataraj in third. Samuel finished fourth as he lost time in the final stage due to a slide which he recovered swiftly.

BENGALURU

slipped to second position.

Bengaluru's Varun Kumar completed the podium with a further difference of 1min 45sec.

Nirmal E Paret from Kottayam was behind by another 33sec and was pushed down to fourth.

Kodagu rider Stephen Roy finished fifth with a difference of 56sec. Ajin Abraham, one of the front runners had to drop out after covering a major portion of the stage, due to chain issues.

The class leader till the fourth stage from Chikkamagaluru Francis PV had a very major crash in fourth stage and had to end his season's run due to injury.

Super Sport 260 Group B:

Imran Pasha from Petronas TVS Racing came out triumphant clocking a total time of 55min 55.636sec as he beat teammate Banteilang Jyrwa by 1min 56sec to second place. Adnaan Ahmed from Mangaluru with 1min 20sec Liaison penalties managed to finish third, a further 43 seconds behind. M Karan Kumar from Coimbatore with a huge difference of 3min 24sec was fourth while Trinesh V from Hoskote stood fifth, a further 4min 43sec away. JB Purab from Chikkamagaluru finished sixth.

Front­runner Sachin D from Petronas TVS Racing was the first person to crash in Stage 1 and was assisted by his teammate to be clear of the track and

WINNERS OVERALL

Superbike Expert:

All the three riders in this class were from Kerala. Sarath Mohan with a lead of 33 seconds won the class. Sinan Francis from Kochi, riding a KTM 450, finished second followed by Mithun OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 35

K1000

NATIONALS

Jeevarathinam from Bengaluru had to pull out of Stage 2 as his engine seized.

Super Sport 400 Group B:

Russel Jossy from Mumbai won with a lead over 4min 10sec.

Amog Nag from Bengaluru, in his first season of INRC, managed to finish second while championship leader Venu Ramesh Kumar with a 11­sec difference finished third. Anish Damodara Shetty from Hubballi with 1min 7sec further difference came fourth and Hansraj Saikia running second in the championship came fifth, another 19sec behind. Ruthvik Praveen from Tiptur finished sixth with another 38­sec difference.

Super Sport 550 Group B:

It was the fourth straight win for the championship leader Naresh

36 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

TOP LEFT: Naresh VS winner class6

ABOVE: Anoop Manjappa winner class2 TOP RIGHT: Sasi Kumar K winner class3 BOTTOM: BK Pawan winner class10

VS. He clocked 09:097 to beat second­placed Mahesh Kumar from Kochi by 6min 54sec.

Shajeer Ismail from Ernakulam was another 48 seconds behind but held on to a third place on the podium. Yogesh Kumar from Bengaluru finished fourth with a further difference of 4min 34sec while Abhijeet Sarkar, also from Bengaluru, took another 54 seconds to claim fifth ahead of Vijay Kumar M from Chikkamagaluru in sixth.

Ladies class: Defending champion Aishwarya PM from Petronas TVS Racing notched up another comfortable

victory with a total time of 1hr 07min 24sec which included 1min 10sec liaison penalty.

Sameera Dahiya from Bengaluru was 16min 53sec behind in second place. Deeksha Srivastava from Pune took another 6min 56sec to finish third. Championship leader Fazeela from Ernakulam had a bad day as she fell just over a km from the start. With bent handle, she had to continue the rally but lost a lot of time till she headed back to the service with shoulder sprain. Later, she lost more time but managed to complete the rally with a 2­min liaison penalty in fourth position.

BENGALURU

23sec and settled for third. Raju G finished fourth as Sabarish and Rakesh Kumar from Coimbatore finished in fifth and sixth position respectively.

Star of K1000: BK Pawan won the Star of K1000 class with a total time of 1:03.47 including a liaison penalty of 1min 20sec. Gowtham Rao R with a difference of 15sec finished second while L Bharath, with a difference of 6min 25sec completed the podium.

Veekshak KV and D Tarun Rinaldo finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

Scooter class: Pinkesh Thakkar from Pune representing JB Racing riding an APRILIA won the Scooter class with a total time of 1:06.27.

Karthik Naidu from Petronas TVS Racing riding a NTORQ finished in second position with a 2­sec difference. Naidu was leading the class till the fourth stage but had a fall in Stage 5 and lost time in the final stage as well, ending in second position. Subramanya T, a Privateer from Bengaluru, with a further difference of 17 seconds stood third. Shamim Khan, also from Petronas TVS Racing, finished fourth another

44 seconds behind. Gowtham N from Bengaluru finished in fifth position with over 3min 10sec deficit. Muzaffar Ali from Bhopal, representing JB Racing on an APRILIA, finished sixth. He lost a lot of time in Stage 1 as his scooter sank into an unmanned slush point and finished a further 5min 43sec away.

BOTTOM LEFT: Imran Pasha winner class4

TOP: Aishwarya Pissay winner Ladies class

BOTTOM RIGHT: Banteilang Jyrwa first runner­up

CENTER: Sarath Mohan winner class 1A

Super Stock 450 Group D: Bengaluru boys dominated the class, Sanjay Somashekar with 5min 49sec difference was the winner as Naveen Somashekar finished in second position, C Pradeep was further slower by

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 37

KARTING N AT I O N A L S

M

adesh brothers and Eshanth stole the limelight in the Round 3 of the MECO FMSCI National Karting Championship held at

Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru recently.

In the Micro Max finals, Eshanth Vengatesan from MSport with

the fastest in the 12­lap race and won with a timing of 12:22.513.

He clocked the fastest lap time of 1:00.584. Nikhilesh Raju from Peregrine Racing with a difference of 0.541sec came

second. Anu Arun from MSport was another 2 seconds behind in third. Zephaan Ardeshir from Rayo Racing came fourth taking another 1.3 sec while Yajur Vikram from Birel Art India came

PHOTO BY: SHAHJAHAN

Rohaan Madesh Senior Max winner 38 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

fifth with a further difference of over 3sec. Rishik R Reddy from Birel Art India and Rehan Khan from Momentum Motorsports did not finish the race as they had to back off in the ninth lap.

Junior Max: Ishaan Madesh from Peregrine

BENGALURU

Racing with a fastest lap time of 5.472 was the winner by clocking a total time of 13:09.092. Abhay M from Birel Art India finished second with a difference of 3.747sec while Varun Hari Praveen, also from Peregrine Racing came third another 5 seconds behind.

Anshul Sai Shivakumar from Birel Art India with 11.458sec difference with the leader was fourth. Ranvir Singh from Momentum Motorsports and Nikhilesh Raju D from Peregrine Racing finished in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Hunner Singh from Leapfrog Racing, Shrili Mistry from Erda's Racing and Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran from MSport did not finish.

Eshanth waiting to over take Nikhilesh Raju

Senior Max: The seniors race saw a strong grid of 22 karters after many years. It was a see­saw event as the top placing kept on changing. Finally Rohaan Madesh from Peregrine Racing managed to lead ahead of Ruhaan Alva from MSport to the finish. Rohaan with a total time of 15:00.048 and with a fastest lap time of 55.282 was the winner followed by Ruhaan Alva in second with a difference of 1.3sec. But later, he was disqualified as his kart had mechanical issues which were addressed outside the permitted repair zone. This put Akshat Misra from Peregrine Racing to second position. He also was on Ruhaan's neck till the end and once he had gone past him he came second with a difference of 2.2sec. Rishon Rajeev from Birel Art India came third a further 1.7sec behind.

Nigel Abraham from Peregrine Racing with over a second difference had to miss the podium and finished fourth.

Aditya Patnaik from Rayo Racing finished fifth with just below 2­ sec difference. Sohil Shah from Crest Motorsport was penalised by 5sec and he ended up sixth, 11­seconds behind.

Ishaan Madesh Junior Max winner

Eshanth Vengatesan winner Micro Max

Winners Group Photograph OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 39

VEGA AUTO­ HELMETS

V

ega Auto, the makers of Vega Helmets is one of the well known brands in Indian and international markets offering a variety of products to the two wheeler community.

They play a major role in protecting rider safety with their high quality helmets.

During this time of Auto Track's 15th anniversary issue, we had the opportunity to acquaint ourselves further with this brand, its process and its products.

Life, is not a race, it's a journey!

You mount your motorcycle, twist the throttle and set out on the roads. One life, you want to 4O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

ride through every curve, every mountain, every stream. A journey of safety, visibility and endurance. Life's rough, life's tough, so sit back and gear up well and safe, it's the law of the street, everything looks better from the inside of a motorcycle helmet. That lucky chance of us having a head, well helmets are here to protect it.

In a world of change, technological advancements, influencers, socialisation and more, the urgency to match Gen Zs pace, style and ever changing needs is a daunting task. A task that we are adept in. How, you are wondering? We are Vega

Auto! Allow us take care of that for you.

order to get the outer shell of the Helmet.

Let's begin by taking a quick tour of our pilot factory right here in Belgaum, Karnataka. We established this unit in the year 1982 under the able stewardship of the Chandaks. Over the years Vega has powered its way to become one of the leading helmet manufacturers in India, competing with the world leaders with respect to design, process and product quality. We have enhanced our strong design and developmental capabilities backed by 3 well equipped manufacturing setups in India, all with in­house design, machining, fabrication, assembly and testing facilities.

Plastic processing: This outer shell then goes for plastic processing where in the extra ABS , injection mould are cut and the partitions are removed using sand buffing.

The company's ideology of Safety coupled with Fashion has become a pioneer in promoting helmets as 'Designer Head Gear'.

Safety, Aerodynamics, Visibility, Breathability, Ease to Wear and Remove, Support, Style and Comfort are the key factors to designing a good helmet. With aced designers who are constantly researching to keep up with the latest trend and needs we at Vega boast about the variation in the helmets we design and manufacture.

Ranging from regular full face helmets, to modular helmets to off road helmets, we have got everything you want.

Come let's take a look at how the helmets are mass produced.

From the moment we design to the moment we dispatch, let's see it all right here. We use 2 different processes to manufacture these exceptional helmets: The Injection Moulding Process An 8 step process we begin by: Injection Moulding: The ABS i.e. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, is first melted and then injected into a shell mould in

Painting: Later the shell goes for painting, where first primer is applied and then the final paint coat. It is robotic as well as some shells are hand painted.

Sanding: After the shell is painted and ready it goes for sanding, where we use different grades of sand papers which are rubbed on the helmet so that the graphic sticks easily on the shell.

Graphics: After sanding the shell goes to graphics department, where the graphics are pasted on the helmet using the water decal method.

Lacquer: Further, the shell goes for lacquering process where, the shell is made into UV lacquer or Matte finish.

Assembly: Now the shell goes for assembly, where first the ESP i.e Expanded Polystyrene is pasted inside the shell which is used for shock absorbing and extra safety of our skull. After that the vents, visors, visor mechanism, outer mechanism, insert set which comes from the tailoring department i.e chin pads, ear pads, head liner etc are assembled on the shell and the helmet gets ready.

Quality Check/ Dispatch: The readied helmet goes for a final quality check where the team of professionals check each and every helmet and make sure it is ready for final use for riding, touring, racing giving utmost safety to our riders and checked according to the standards specified for safety. Later it is packed and dispatched.

The Fibre Reinforced Plastic Moulding Process In this method we use fibre glass, carbon fibre which are light in

Finally, the Visor Manufacturing Process:

TRACKING BRANDS

We use Polycarbonate (PC) to make clear vision visors of the Helmet. A 5 step process that goes as shown: Injection Moulding: The polycarbonate is first heated and melted and then injected in the mould.

Plastic processing: After the visor comes out, plastic processing is done on the visor where all the extra parts are cut and filled.

Hard Coating: These visors are then moved towards the coating department. Here the visors are first washed and the hard coated so that it becomes UV and scratch resistant.

Coloured Visors: To incorporate varied shades as required on the visors, we use UV spray colors which are sprayed on the Visor and then dried.

Assembly: These readied visors are then sent to the assembly line.

weight and more tough compared to ABS, hence making them expensive. An 8 step process we begin by: Balloon Moulding: First the fibre glass sheets are placed one above the other inside a mould for balloon Moulding. Later epoxy resin is put over the sheets and the balloon is blown inside the mould and heated for different time period depending on the shell type in order to make the outer shell.

Cutting/Filing: The shell then goes for cutting and filing , where the unwanted materials are cut and filed to get the proper helmet shape.

Putty Applying Process: Later it goes in for buffing and for putty applying process in order to fill

the gaps between the fibre glass.

Drilling: In the drilling process, holes are made according to the design for inserting the vents, visors etc.

Sanding & Graphics: Now sanding is done on the shell to make the texture rough in order to apply the graphics.

Having kickstarted in a small city of Southern India, today it enthrals us that Vega has a exceptional, wide network of over 400 dealers across India and has also established itself overseas in countries like USA, Germany, Italy, Angola, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and UAE. The vast range of products have all surpassed safety standards such as ISI, DOT, ECE. Our dedicated team and their continuous quest for innovation enabled the brand to synonym with quality. Abiding by our motto 'Quality above Quantity' we believe in safety, quality, empowerment and keeping with the trend. We are Vega!

Assembly: Once the shell is ready it goes to assembly line, where first the ESP i.e Expanded Polystyrene is pasted inside the shell which is used for shock absorbing and extra safety of our skull. After that the vents, visors, visor mechanism, outer mechanism, insert set i.e chin pads, ear pads, head liner etc.

Which comes from the tailoring department are assembled on the shell and the helmet gets ready.

Quality Check/ Dispatch: The ready helmet goes for a final quality check where the team of professionals check each and every helmet and make sure it is ready for final use for riding, touring, racing giving utmost safety to our riders and checked according to the standards specified for safety. Later it is packed and dispatched.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 41

ATMA

The Tyre Industry currently is over Rs 70,000 crore. The demand that we are seeing given the fact that the automotive industry is targeted to become $250 billion. So we estimate that the tyre industry is likely to become Rs 100,000 crore in the next four or five years or even earlier.

On changing complexion of Tyre Industry A lot has changed in terms of the market structure and technology and quality of tyres in the last two decades. During the ongoing decade, there is even more rapid transformation to fulfil Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) criterion and to meet the new regulations.

Satish Sharma, Chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA) has been actively putting forth industry's issues, concerns and the way forward for overall development of the Rubber and Tyre ecosystem. Presented here are some of the views:

On Automotive Market & Tyre Industry

Indian infrastructure, in the last two decades has rapidly improved and so has the tyre technology. Cross ply tyres or bias tyres as they're called have given way to radialisation across all categories. But even the bias technology has continued to evolve. And we can say proudly that perhaps India is the world's best manufacturer of bias tyres to meet the requirements of such tyres in India or globally.

The Indian tyre industry recorded a 50% jump in exports in FY 22. And this looks like to be a sustainable movement simply

because as far as the automotive world is concerned, the regulations have ensured that the automotives are produced to the world standard. As a result, the components are also being produced to meet the global requirements.

Indian technology is converging with the world and the addressable market for tyre manufacturers has increased, and therefore, the accent on exports.

On rising expectations of OEMs The Indian consumer is a very high value seeker – demanding the best in the world at a modest price. And that's why only the very strong survive in the Indian market, only the very best who are able to achieve optimization of the variables of the cost, the productivity and quality.

The OEMs have very stringent quality standards and therefore they demand the best in terms of what the world has got to offer and get it at a very competitive price. The competitive intensity has only gone up.

On manufacturing prowess Indian manufacturing, in a broader sense, is going through

B

oth Rubber & Tyre sectors eventually serve the automotive market. The turnover of the Automotive industry in our country was about US$100 billion in 2021. It is projected to more than double by 2026. Some reports even talk about $250 billion by 2026. As much as 3% of India's GDP and 8% of the export is catered to by the automotive industry.

There is also a massive spending on R&D. The government has been focusing on improving the testing infrastructure and recently launched a test track which is the largest track in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.

Since the automotive industry is changing so rapidly, it is but natural that the Rubber & Tyre sector serving the automotive industry needs to change as rapidly or even faster. The Rubber & Tyre sector's growth will be determined by how well we cater to our consumer's preferences.

42 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

National Rubber Mission being discussed at ATMA Managing Committee Meeting

a revolution in catching up with the world's best . In the modern Indian tyre plants, all concepts of industry 4.0 or even industry 5.0 today are being applied. And there's a lot of automation as a result of which the productivity levels have more than doubled in the last decade. And in the ongoing decade, it will go further up.

Tyre manufacturing has always been a capital intensive business.

Today, to put up any meaningful capacity in any state in India, requires not less than $500 million if you have to incorporate all the automation so that you are able to produce products to exacting standards with precision manufacturing. If you see mixers there are all kinds of high technology mixers we have today. The raw materials going inside these sophisticated equipment are also needed to be of high quality.

On transformation in Tyre Industry The last two decades have been transformational in every sense of the word. And the third decade of which two years have already gone is going to be far more transformational. Today we are in an environment where

data is the new oil, where new business models are emerging.

We are witnessing the advent of what would be called smart tyres. There would be sensors embedded in the tyres in the not so distant future picking up all kinds of data from the road and transmitting it to your panel, guiding you and taking your mobility experience to a very different level.

On Sustainability But more than the transformation of the product itself which will continue in accordance with revolutionary technologies, there is increased focus on sustainability across the world. The circular economy is coming around in a big way.

OEMs are checking today, what is your sustainability quotient?

How aligned you are to sustainability in the way you manufacture your product and how sustainable is your vendor base who are supplying for you.

So that reinforces the need for integration of the value chain.

As far as the tyre industry is concerned, they have set fairly audacious goals of becoming carbon neutral. For an industry that uses carbon black in a big

way to make that pledge of becoming carbon neutral needs to be appreciated. The whole concept of green raw materials sourcing, which is currently in its nascent stage accounting for 10 to 12%, is very likely to go up to 40 to 50% in a decade's time.

Likewise to convert rubber into a vulcanised product like tyre uses a lot of energy. Every market in India today is run on thermal energy. There is a big drive to move from thermal energy to renewable energy. Thermal energy is going to be about 30 to 40% of the energy mix in the next 10 to 12 years . So sustainability is the buzzword and the real focus of not just the Indian government but around the world.

While our country does a reasonably good job in an unorganised way, where not just tires but any product which is manufactured in India, finds a good value by the unorganised segment. But in the case of the Tyre Industry, the government is coming out with end of life tyre regulation. There will be extended producer responsibility. Tyre industry would have to buy certificates from those who would be processing the used tyres and

INTERVIEW

Satish Sharma delivering keynote address at GTRC 2022

extracting oil, steel and reclaimed rubber etc.

On realising Atma Nirbhar vision As far as the tyre industry is concerned it is safe to say that we are 100% self reliant. The vision of the Prime Minister about self sufficiency is completely met by the tyre industry in the country.

Therefore it is worrying that there is such a significant gap between production and consumption of rubber. Rubber Board's project with the tyre industry is a very notable experiment under the mentorship of the Hon'ble Commerce Minister, Sh Piyush Goyal.

But more than that it is the industry coming together with the Rubber Board's guidance and driving this project to be able to give back to the country by producing and developing more hectares so as to reduce this ever widening gap between production and consumption.

Dr K N Raghavan, Executive Director Rubber Board releasing an ATMA publication flanked by ATMA

Chairman Satish Sharma and Vice Chairman Gaganjot Singh. Also seen Dr Raghupati Singhania, CMD JK Tyre and Mr Arun Mammen, VCMD MRF Ltd

In the last few years, there has been a lot of cohesiveness between the tyre industry and all the stakeholders.. Never before in the history of our country, four tyre companies have undertaken to spend Rs 1100 crore, a significant amount of money.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 43

MG NEW GLOSTER

MG Motor launches its popular model, Gloster in an advanced 2022 version

TEXT: AKSHAYA M

I

PICTURES: MG MOTOR INDIA

ndia's first autonomous premium SUV, the MG Gloster is upgraded with enhancements in style and safety.

Apart from the Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) present in the existing iteration, the SUV now incorporates

THE OCTAGON SIGNATURE FRONT GRILLE 44 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

7 MODES FOR BETTER TORQUE CONTROL AND POWER

additional features such as Door Open Warning (DOW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), and Lane Change Assist (LCA) and build on the existing 30 standard safety features making it a safer and smoother vehicle.

INTERIOR DASH BOARD

FLOATING INDICATOR AND STEERING

ASSIST CORNERING LAMPS

MG Motor India's manufacturing facility in Halol, Gujarat, has an annual production capacity of 1,25,000 vehicles and employs nearly 2,500 workers. The automaker touts the honour for several 'firsts' in India, including India's first Internet SUV – MG Hector, India's first Pure Electric Internet SUV – MG ZS EV, India's first Autonomous (Level 1) Premium SUV – MG Gloster and MG Astor­ India's first SUV with personal AI assistant and Autonomous (Level 2) technology. With the MG brand's evolution over 98 years, the company has made improvements extensively across the board to become modern, futuristic and innovative.

The Advanced Gloster is powered by i­smart 2.0. It is the next­gen technology with 75+ connection features. It has 12­way power­ adjustable driver seat, dual panoramic sunroof, driver seat massage, wireless charging, 31.2 cm touchscreen which has

FEATURE

Electronic Stability Program (ESP), and electric parking brake with autohold.

The 2WD and 4WD vehicles sport 6­ and 7­ seater options and a powerful 2.0­litre diesel engine with twin­turbo diesel engine producing 158.5 kW power. Advanced Gloster is further strengthened by the all­new British Windmill Turbine­themed alloy wheels in 4WD variants. It is now being offered in the newly introduced 'Deep Golden' colour option in addition to the already existing colours of Metal Black, Metal Ash and Warm White. MG Motor launched the SUV at an initial price of Rs 31.99 lakh (ex­showroom). The six­seater option is priced between Rs 38.45­40.78 lakh, while the seven­seater ranges from Rs 31.99 lakh to Rs 40.78 lakh.

BRITISH WINDMILL TURBINE ALLOY WHEELS

The Advanced Gloster will also offer a personalized car ownership program 'MY MG SHIELD' with over 180 after­sales service options. The customers will be offered a

“Technological disruption, constant evolution, and best­in­class customer experience are key

priorities for us at MG. The Gloster is known for being bold, sturdy, versatile, and luxurious, and we are grateful for our customers' response to it. With its 2WD and 4WD trims, powerful engine

options, next­gen technology, Autonomous Level 1 and My MG Shield Package, the “Advanced

LED HEADLAMPS WITH AUTO LEVELING

Gloster” is designed to delight and excite our new­age customer.”

Rajeev Chaba, President and Managing Director, MG Motor India

Shortpedia News App and Gaana Song Search on voice command, high­quality audio system with 12 speakers coupled with Android Auto and Apple Car Play, Remote Car Lock/Unlock and more. The updated MG Gloster is equipped with 30+ standard safety features that include Driver Fatigue Reminder System, 360 degree around view camera, 6 airbags,

standard 3+3+3 package i.e., warranty of three years unlimited kilometers, three years of roadside assistance and three labour­free periodic services.

The premium SUV offers unmatched premium luxury and best­in­class interiors and competes with Toyota Fortuner and Mahindra Alturas in the same segment and range.

SUN ROOF VIEW FROM INSIDE

HANDS FREE TAILGATE WITH KICK GESTURE

PADDLE SHIFTERS OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 45

HAMPI CHALLENGE

Naveen-Giri duo, also from Hyderabad, wins Stock class PHOTO BY: AKHIL PUTHIYEDATH

46 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

HOSPETE

TOP RIGHT: Winners of the Hampi off road Ram Babu and Maninder

MAIN: Sukesh and Taj first runner­up pro­modified class TOP LEFT: Eric Benny and Sirajudin second runner­up pro­modified class BOTTOM: Winners group photograph with guests and organizers

H

yderabad pair of Ram Babu and Mahinder came out triumphant winning the pro­Modified class in the third Edition of the Hampi Off­ road Challenge organised by Motorsports Association of Vijayanagar­Hampi (MAVH) in Hampi recently.

Naveen and Giri also from Hyderabad dominated the stock class. The event had over 14 participants in fray with a mix of

both day as well a few night stages held at the Hill­top and foot hills of Rajapur on the outskirts of Hospet. The Stock class had a total of six stages which were part of Day 1 that included a night stage and four stages were in the menu for Day 2. The event was postponed from its original schedule due to flooding en route due to uninterrupted seasonal rains.

The pair of Naveen and Giri from

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 47

HAMPI CHALLENGE

EXTREME LEFT: Action from the last stage BOTTOM RIGHT: Action from the last but one stage TOP LEFT: Sukesh and Taj first runner­up in Pro Modified class TOP RIGHT: Pabhu Raj and MD Shaker action just before topple SECOND ON RIGHT: Winners of stock Diesel class Naveen and Giri THIRD ON RIGHT: Sunil and Varun Kumar first runner­up stock Diesel class

Hyderabad driving a stock, just­ purchased Mahindra Thar won the Diesel class with a total points of 931 without any Admin penalty. They dominated on Day 1 with 559 points and with 372 on Day 2, they managed to reach the top. They also managed to score a full 100 points in Stage 5 which was the last day stage, before going into the night stage.

The pair of Sunil V and Varun Kumar from Bengaluru finished second with just a two­point deficit. They were the only pair to score 100 points thrice this

season in the class. They were in second position on Day 1 with two points difference, which included 30 admin penalties and on Day 2, managed to score 372 points with 100 points in SS8.

They scored a perfect­100 in Stage 4 and Stage 6, a night stage.

The pair of Krishna Reddy and Vardhan Rooy from Hyderabad managed to finish third with 914 penalties which was a difference of 15 points, which included an admin penalty of 10 points. They had two 100 per cent points in Stage7 and 9 on Day 2. They

dominated Day 2 but fell short due to Day 1 penalties. Vadiraj and Gopi from Bijapur in their debut­event finished fourth with 839 points which had 30 admin penalties. Vinay and Sachin, also from Bijapur, were fifth with 633 points and 20 admin penalties.

The lone participants in the petrol class were the pair from Kolhapur Krishna Kanth and Ashwin Shinde, driving a Maruti Gypsy. Participating for the second time in this event they logged 30 admin penalties but managed to secure 960 points with 570 Day 1 points and 390

BOTTOM ON RIGHT: Manoj and Santhosh winners of modified class

Day 2. They also had secured full 100 points in seven stages.

Modified class:

A total of eight stages and one night stage, which was not part of the overall class, were designated for the Modified class. Day 1 was supposed to have five stages and Day 2 three stages. But due to Stage 1 which was too technical and tough, it consumed huge time and thus only four stages were completed on Day 1 while the fifth stage was carried forward to Day 2. The first stage of the Day 2 saw two vehicles toppled and the remaining few had to quit mid­ way with a minimum of 20 points.

Manoj and Santhosh from Bijapur were the winners of the class with a total of 975 points, and 20 admin points. They drew 575 from Day 1 and 400 points from Day 2. They also scored a perfect 100 points in eight stages. With a total of 880 points were the pair of KP Reddy and Govardhan Reddy in second position with 500 Day 1 points which included 100 points in Stage 4 and 380 Day 2 points.

48 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

HOSPETE

Pro Modified class:

The pair of Ram Babu and Mahinder from Hyderabad won the class with a total of 682 points without any admin penalties. They held on to the Day 1 dominance of 315 points as they scored 100 points in Stage 3 and 4 with 367 Day 2 points and a 100 in Stage 7.

Sukesh and Taj, also from Hyderabad, finished in second position with 614 pints and 40 admin penalties. They were running third on Day 1 with 274 points and 340 on Day 2 and 100 points in Stage 7. They managed to climb one position up. Eric Benny and Sirajudin from Delhi finished third with 580 points with 10 admin penalties. They lost hold of their second­ position finish on Day 1 with 310 points including a perfect 100 in Stage 2 and had 36 points advantage. But on Day 2, they slid with 270 points. They had a

“

DNF in the very first stage on Day 2 as their winch rope got cut in the very first climb.

The Bengaluru pair of Prabhu Raj and MD Shaker finished fourth with 502 points and 20 admin penalties as they were in the same position from Day 1 with 272 points and Day 2 with 230 points. Day 2 did not go well in the Stage 6, as they toppled their car. In Stage 7, they had their second DNF of the day.

The father­and­son pair from Pune, Sameer and S Adain, had issues with their winch but managed to stay in fifth position with 168 points and had to back off on Day 2 after the first stage as their winch did not support. It became worse on Day 2 as the same issues resurfaced once again and further on all the stages, they required winching.

Sighting no point to carry further, they pulled out.

Speaking on the occasion the president of MAVH, Santosh said; "We had to postpone the event from its actual schedule due to excess rain fall and flooding on the approach route. In spite of four similar events clashing on the same date across India, we managed to get good amount of entries and ran with full pace. Utsav de Hampi has always been delivering quality events than quantity and, looking forward for more bigger-scale events for the upcoming season."

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 49

RALLY

NATIONALS

Aishwarya wins ladies class; TVS riders continue to dominate PHOTO BY: VIKRAM SUNDARAMOORTHY

5O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

further difference of 2min 19seconds. Nataraj R took another 13sec to stay fourth and Imran Pasha completed the top­ five finish for the Petronas TVS team. Sarath Moham, from Kerala, became the top privateer in the event, finishing sixth overall with a further difference of 1min 23sec.

completed the podium with a further difference of 3min 4sec.

Sinan Francis from Vennala (Kerala) also riding a KTM450, missed the podium with a 9­sec deficit and had to settle for fourth position. Lady rider Tanika Shanbag from Satara, riding a HUSQVARNA, finished fifth.

The total distance of the rally route including the transport section was 85.24 kms with a competitive Special Stage distance of 68.80 kms.

Super Sport 130 Group B: Chalass K Bose from Kottayam, astride a Stunner, won with a total time of 01:14.48 beating Vinoth Kumar from Erode on a Stunner by 6 seconds. Hari Krishna from Kerala, riding a Gladiator, was another 2min 33sec behind but managed to secure third position.

Class 1 Superbikes Pro­Expert: Rajendra RE from Petronas TVS Racing, riding a TVS RTR 450cc motorcycle, won the class and also clinched the overall victory by posting the fastest time of 57min 59sec. Three of his teammates followed him to complete an all­TVS podium in the class. Tanveer clocked 58min 19sec to finish second. Samuel, riding a TVS RTR200, came third while Nataraj finished fourth.

R

ajendra RE from Shivamogga led a top­five finish for Petronas TVS Racing in the MRF Rally of Coimbatore, the Round 3 of the MRF Mogrip fmsci National 2W Rally Championship promoted

by GodSpeed Racing at Coimbatore recently.

TOP: Imran Pasha winner of Supersport 260 GroupB CENTER: Naresh VS winner of Supersport 550 GroupB

TSD RALLY COIMBATORE

Class 1A Superbikes Expert: Sarath Mohan from Kerala, riding a HUSQVARNA, topped the class with a total time of 1:03.08. Anish Shetty from Hubballi, riding a KTM390, came second taking 48sec more to complete the course and Jatin Jain from Nagpur, on a KTM450,

Two Bengaluru riders Anoop Manjappa and Raj Bharath, both riding a Stunner, finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively. Five riders 'did not finish' (DNF). Prajwal V from Bengaluru and Dilip Raj from Chikkamagaluru dropped out in the very first stage. Sudharshan from Chikkamagaluru, Praveen from Ernakulam and Azeeb from Kottayam, all three, pulled out in the third stage.

Super Sport 165 Group B: All the riders in this class were on a Hero Impulse. Local rider Sasi Kumar K, who was fastest in two

WINNERS GROUP PHOTOGRAPH

Rajendra RE, riding an RTR 450 won Class 1 and also took the top Overall honours. He clocked the fastest time in the first two stages of the day and held on to the top slot right from the start and played safe, easing out in the last two stages. Teammate Abdul Wahid Tanveer clocked faster times in the final two stages but had to be content with the second position finishing 20 seconds behind the winner. Samuel Jacob completed the podium with a OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 51

RALLY

Aakash Aithal from Puttur pulled out in the very first stage due to a side­stand sensor issue which cropped up during reccee itself.

NATIONALS

Super Sport 500 Group B: Naresh VS from Bengaluru won the class unchallenged with a total time of 01:08.53. Arun Joy from Kerala took the second place with a 2min 31sec deficit.

Shajeer Ismail from Ernakulam was a further 2min 35sec behind in third. Mahesh Kumar from Kochi finished fourth was just about 2 sec apart from podium.

Sreekanth Komana from Kochi pulled out in the very first stage.

stages, won with a total time of 01:08.29. Francis PV from Chikkamagaluru was the leader from second stage onwards but he lost time in the final stage due to gear lever issues and also suffered a 10­sec liaison penalty.

He finished second with over 15sec difference to the leader.

Vikram Sekar, another local rider, was consistently running third and took the final podium slot with 1min 43sec further deficit.

Bengaluru's Varun Kumar was another 17sec behind in fourth while Nirmal E Paret from Kottayam came fifth with a further 30­sec difference.

Gowtham Rao R from Bengaluru stood sixth, another 56sec behind while Ajin Abraham had issues with the bike right from the start and had to pull out in the second stage.

Super Sport 260 Group B: Imran Pasha from Petronas TVS Racing, apart from winning the class, found space for a creditable overall fifth on a TVS RTR200 with a total time of 01:01.45. His teammate Sachin D had to take a late­start without penalty, due to kidney belt issues, and came 2min 11sec behind in second place. Route opener Adnaan Ahmed of 52 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Mangaluru, riding a Hero Xpulse, came third with a narrow 2­sec difference.

TOP LEFT: Sarath Mohan winner of Expert GroupA

Bantelang, also from Petronas TVS Racing, missed the podium by over 1min10sec difference.

Yuva Kumar from Hero MotoSports Team Rally finished fifth with further 31­sec deficit and his teammate Sathyaraj was sixth another 48 seconds behind.

01: Syed Asif Ali winner of Scooter class upto 210cc GroupB

Super Sport 400 Group B: Localite Venu Ramesh Kumar riding a KTM390 notched up a creditable victory clocking 01:09.16, after setting the fastest times in the first three stages.

Also riding a KTM390 was Bengaluru's Amogh Nag. Only in his second season of rallying, he managed to secure second position with a difference of 1min 5sec to the leader.

Mohammed Zaheer, also from Bengaluru, riding a KTM ADV came third with a further 9­sec difference.

Ashwin Anantha Raju, also from Bengaluru, riding a KTM390 came fourth another 5min 58sec behind. Russel Jossy from Mumbai, riding a KTM390, finished fifth followed by Hansraj Saikia from Assam in sixth.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Aishwarya Pissay winner of Ladies class

02: Abdul Wahid Tanveer first runner­up Super Bike Pro Expert 03: Sabarish winner of Supersport GroupD upto 450cc 04: Venu Ramesh Kumar winner of Supersport 400 GroupB

Ladies class Group B: Aishwarya P from Petronas TVS Racing, astride a TVS RTR200, won with a comfortable lead of over 2min 35sec. Fazeela from Ernakulam, who was on a Hero Impulse, came second despite suffering handling issues in the very first stage. Sameera Dahiya, riding a Hero Xpulse, completed the podium with a further difference of 17min 56sec. Deeksha Srivastava from Pune, on an Impulse, finished fourth. Jeena Roy from Muvattupuzha came fifth.

Scooter upto 210cc Group B: Syed Asif Ali riding a TVS NTORQ from Petronas TVS Racing took the lead but had to defend from his teammate who was clocking very close timing from third stage onwards. Ali managed to finish on top with a total time of 01:11.02. Shamim Khan, who

started gaining time from the third stage, fell short by 4 seconds and settled for second place. Subramanya T from Bengaluru, riding a TVS NTORQ finished third with a further difference of 2min 56sec.

Gowtham N from Bengaluru, riding a NTORQ, finished fourth and Elango from Erode came fifth. Venkatesh Shetty riding an Aprilia was sixth while Muzaffar Ali, also on an Aprilia from JB Racing, came in seventh. Pune rider Pinkesh Thakkar also on a Aprilia failed to finish.

Super Stock upto 450 Group D: Sabarish from Coimbatore riding a Hero Xpulse was the winner of the class. He clocked 01:09.4.

Arun T from Hassan, riding a TVS RTR200, was 41sec behind and had to settle for second position.

Local rider Saravana Kumar, on a Hero Xpulse, with another 1min 26sec further difference found a place on the podium. Rakesh Kumar P from Coimbatore, who was riding a TVS RTR200, lost the final podium place due to one­ minute liaison penalty and he

COIMBATORE

ended up fourth. Jagadeesh also from Coimbatore, riding a Hero Xpulse, with a further deficit of 21sec stood fifth and Naveen Somashekar came in sixth.

Star of Tamil Nadu All the three riders on the podium were on a Hero Impulse.

Vishnu Prakash S became the Star of Tamil Nadu clocking a total time of 01:11.01 followed

by Ricarius Venchaslaus, who came in 55 seconds behind in second. Shailesh Kumar finished third with a further 19­sec difference. Aswin JK and CV Vignesh came fourth and fifth respectively. Karthikeyan D came sixth.

The riders were honoured by Gautham Hari, Regional Sales Manager and Deeban, District Manager, MRF Limited.

"The track gave ample scope to test the abilities of both men and machine by having many technical aspects in its stages.

This is one of the finest events I have participated," said Rajendra RE, the Overall winner.

Fazeela first runner­up ladies class Sasi Kumar K winner of Supersport 165 GroupB

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 53

RACING NATIONALS

Honda's Rajiv Sethu tops Pro-Stock 165 race; Ahamed leads Petronas TVS 1-2 PHOTO BY: ADITYA BEDRE

V

eterans Rajini Krishnan from RACR Castrol Power1 and Jagan Kumar from Petronas TVS Racing bounced back in style with superb victories to provide a fitting climax to the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit in August. KY Ahamed led a 1­2 finish for Petronas TVS Racing while Rajiv Sethu finally chalked up his first win of the season and Sarvesh Balappa his fifth in a row in their respective categories.

54 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Pro­Stock 301­400cc Open category In Race 1, Ahamed from Petronas TVS Racing scored a merited win with teammate Deepak Ravikumar in row. even as the unbeaten run of champion Rajini Krishnan from RACR Castrol Power1 who had won the previous four races over two rounds, ended as he went off the track when in the lead due to mechanical issues, but managed to finish third.

Ahamed, starting from P2 behind pole­sitter Ravikumar, made a decisive move in the last

lap to get ahead for a deserving maiden victory of the season in this category. Ahamed with a total time of 11min, 18.989sec was the winner followed by his teammate Deepak Ravikumar in second position with a difference of just 100th of a second. Rajini with a further 9­ second difference finished third.

Rajini Krishnan continues to lead the championship table following his four­in­a­row winning sequence over the previous two rounds, with a healthy 44­point advantage over Ravikumar with Ahamed a

further 10 points behind, going into Race­2.

Race 2, Rajini, chasing his 11th National title, shrugged off a third place finish the previous day to win handily in the next outing to stretch his championship lead to 51 points.

Rajini's two decades of racing experience was very much in evidence as he paced himself brilliantly and bided his time starting from P3 before making his move while keeping in mind the track condition which initially was damp following spots of light drizzle before the start. He

also dealt with close attention from the Petronas TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and Race­1 winner KY Ahamed with panache to notch his fifth win in sixth starts. Rajini was closely followed by Deepak in second position with 0.250th of a second difference and Ahamed finished third with a further 1.8sec behind.

“I did not really push because of the track conditions, and later eased off just a bit,” said Rajini who now leads Ravikumar by 51 points in the championship standings.

Pro­Stock 165cc race In a heart­stopper Race 1, Rajiv Sethu fought and won a tense battle that kept the final outcome in suspense until the very finish where the lead Honda star held off Petronas TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and KY Ahamed even as leader and pole­sitter Prabhu Arunagiri from Pacer Yamaha crashed in the dying moments of the six­lap race. Rajiv with a total time of 11:48.625 was the winner followed by Deepak in second position with 0.275sec difference. Ahamed finished third another 0.200th of a second behind.

In Race 2, last year's champion Jagan Kumar, who missed the previous round owing to a wrist injury he suffered in the Rolon Round at Coimbatore in June despite still nursing a painful right wrist, recorded his first win

of the season, to end a drought that stretched to 10 months and 12 races.

Jagan from Petronas TVS Racing made the best of the situation that saw front­running and previous day winner Rajiv Sethu from Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing crashing early in the eight­lap race and later, new leader Deepak Ravikumar, also of Petronas TVS Racing, retiring in the second­half of the race.

Needing no second invitation, Jagan blasted past team­mate KY Ahamed and Pacer Yamaha's Prabhu Arunagiri to victory.

Arunagiri, who led briefly after Sethu's exit, finished second a h e a d o f A h a m e d .

Championship leader Mathana Kumar (Pacer Yamaha) came in fifth and enjoys a 28­point cushion over Sethu.

Novice (Stock 165cc) category In Race 1, Sarvesh Balappa, a 23­ year old mechanical student from Hubballi, and a late bloomer as a racer, chalked up his fifth win in a row in a race that was reduced to four laps from scheduled six following multiple crashes in the very first lap. All riders in the crashes escaped with minor injuries.

Balappa, starting from P4 on the 33­rider grid, kept his wits amidst the chaotic first lap. On restart, the Hubballi rider made his way up the field and seized the lead which he defended with aplomb, even looking behind as he approached the finish line to

R3, CHENNAI

Winners of race7 Pro stock 165cc class

Winners of race1 Novice stock 165cc class

Winners of stock 165cc Girls class

Lina winner of stock 165cc Girls class leading

Novice Stock 301 to 400cc category winners OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 55

RACING NATIONALS

Ananthraj followed by Alwin and Rahil in Apache RR310 Open

take the chequered flag.

Following him home in close formation were Bengaluru teenager Chiranth Vishwanath from Rookers Racing and Aldrin Babu from RACR Castrol Power1, while Mumbai's Kayan Zubin Patel from Axor Sparks Racing, starting from pole, finished a distant sixth after suffering an off­track excursion and clutch issues.

Race 2, saw Md Samrul Zubair came up with a brilliant performance to win which he started from P21. The race also ended a five­win streak of Hubballi's Sarvesh Balappa from Axor Sparks Racing who finished ninth. However, Balappa remains at the top of the championship standings in this category with a 36­point lead over Bengaluru teenager Chiranth Vishwanath who finished third behind Kayan Zubin Patel.

Girls (Stock 165cc) category Former champion and Round­1 winner, Ann Jennifer from Alpha Racing qualified for pole position for Sunday's race clocking a best lap of 02:09.11.

Puducherry's Lani Zena 56 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Soorya staying ahead of Rajini in Pro­stock 301 4o 400cc

Kayan Zubin Patel followed by Rohan R in Stock upto 165 Novice class

Fernandez from RACR Castrol Power1 was second best in 02:09.297, followed by defending champion and Round­2 winner Ryhana Bee of Pacer Yamaha with 02:10.031.

Meanwhile, Ann Jennifer scored her second win of the season after the two front­runners, Ryhana Bee and Lani Zena Fernandez crashed in consecutive laps at the same spot exiting the last corner. For much of the five­lap race, the battle raged in front between Ryhana and Lani, with Ann lying in third. However, with the two in front crashing but subsequently recovering to finish the race, it was a comfortable win for Ann who thus moved to the top of the championship standings in this category with 60 points.

Support Race – Stock 301­ 400cc Novice: Jayanth Prathipati, a privateer from Hyderabad finished on top with a timing of 12:30.951.

Shazan Khan from Race Abilities, Bengaluru, clocked 12:33.847 to finish in second position while his teammate Vivek M from Bengaluru came third with a timing of 12:34.581.

R3, CHENNAI

R

Rookie Apache RTR200 winners Apache RR310 Open class race1 winner Alwin Sundar A

ookie Apache RTR 200: Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru won Race 1 with a timing of 12:26.838. Chennai rider Abdul Basim RS was 22 seconds behind and settled for second position. Tamizhinian KR, also from Chennai, came third another 100th of a second behind.

Chiranth completed his domination winning the Race 2 also with a comfortable lead of over 10 seconds. Shreyas Hareesh from Bengaluru finished second and Abdul taking third, another 100th of a second in deficit.

Apache RR310 Open class: Alwin Sundar from Chennai dominated Race 1 initially but a marauding Rahil Pillarisetty from Hyderabad was on his neck. Alwin defended well to win in a photo­finish.

Alwin clocked 11:45.653 and

Rahil clocked 11:45.659. P Anantharaj from Chennai was over a second behind in third.

Rahil won Race 2 by clocking 11:40.643 as he had Jagadeesh N from Bengaluru finishing within an arm's length. Ananthraj with a further two seconds difference finished third.

Girls Apache RTR200: Aditi Krishnan from Bengaluru won the 5­lap race with a total time of 11:10.496. Ananya Awasthi from Chennai clocked 11:20.938 to take second and Nishitha also from Chennai came third in 11:29.921.

Media Apache RTR 200 race: The 5­lap race was won by Karan Singh from Delhi with a total time of 11:53.563. Ishan Lee from Pune clocked 11:54.038 to finish second while Mandar Sheela Sawant, also from Pune, clocked 11:57.498 to finish in third position.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 57

R3, CHENNAI

I

t was identical results in both the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250 Open races, Sarthak Shrikant Chavan from Pune with a very comfortable lead of over 9 seconds won Race 1 followed by Kavin Qunital from Chennai in second and Shyam Sundar, also from Chennai, in third within 3 seconds. In Race 2, Sarthak took a convincing win over Kavin with a lead of over 22sec. Shyam finished with a further 4­sec difference in third.

In the Novice CBR150 class, Raheesh Mudassar Khatri from Mumbai clocked 12:58.915 to win Race 1. Shyam Babu from Chennai finished second with less than 4­sec difference and Siddesh Sawant from Kolhapur with 100th of a second difference finished third. The Race 2 win for Raheesh was never easy as Rajender Beedani from Jangaon was on his neck but lost by 300th of a second. Harshith V Bogar from Bengaluru finished third with a further 12­sec difference.

Chennai riders dominated the Support Race – Hornet 2.0. Allwin Xavier won Race 1 by a narrow 0.350 sec margin over G Balaji and Romario John with over 2­sec difference finished third. Race 2 once again belonged to Allwin, this time he won with over 2­sec difference over the second finisher Sudheer Sudhakar from New Delhi and Balaji finished third losing the place in a photo finish.

58 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Winners of Novice CBR150 class

Winners of Hornet 2.0 class

RALLY

COFFEEDAY

TSD RALLY

15

th

1300

2500

OO autotrack.ind.in AUGUST 2022

AUGUST 2022 autotrack.ind.in 00

RALLY

SCOOTER

Venkatesh Shetty of Mumbai wins Private Open class

6O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

NASHIK

MAIN: Winner overall Syed Asif Ali from Petronas TVS Racing TOP LEFT: Karthik Naidu overall second runner­up TOP RIGHT: Overall First runner­up Venkatesh Shetty BOTTOM: Winners joint photograph

P

etronas TVS Racing star Syed Asif Ali was the fastest rider and won the overall honours in the TVS Ntorq NASA Monsoon Scooter Rally of Nashik held near Sarul village in Nashik under heavy showers recently.

Organised in memory of late chairman of NASA Bhaskar Patwardhan, the event came back to life after a span of three years with a 30­km rally route consisting of a 6km Special Stage which was run thrice for a competitive distance 18kms.

Asif Ali was followed by a privateer Venkatesh Shetty in second with a difference of 13 seconds while the second Petronas TVS Racing rider Karthik Naidu who made his debut in

the Monsoon Rally came third another 1min 45sec behind.

In Group B Up to 210cc 4 Stroke class, the vehicles manufactured in India took part with sponsored riders. TVS Racing ace rider Syed Asif Ali astride TVS NTORQ won with a total time of 23min 59.1sec. He clocked the first stage in 8min 13sec and was improved his timing in every run. In the second run, he was six seconds quicker and in the final stage he managed to finish under 8­ min barrier by clocking in 7min 38sec. His teammate Karthik Naidu, also riding a TVS NTORQ, timed 1min 58sec more to finish in second.

Privateer Niraj Wanjale, riding a Aprillia SR150, was a further 2min

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 61

NASHIK

RALLY SCOOTER

1

Nilesh Thakare winner of class1

01: Mohsin Faki first runner­up class4 02: Hitesh Ghadgae winner class6 03: Kaustubh Machhe second runner­up class1

04: Hiten Thakkar winner class2

2

3 4

15sec behind in third. Muzaffar Ali, a privateer riding a Aprillia SR150, finished third with a further 7min 12sec deficit.

Group B Up to 210cc ­ Four Stroke Private Open: Venkatesh Shetty from Mumbai, won the class riding a Aprillia SR150, in a total time of 24min 12.1sec. He began with 7min 55sec in first stage, which is the fastest of the race. Further on, he was unable to improve his timing as his vehicle faced issues but clocked the same time as the winner Asif and there on lost the grip. Mohsin Faki riding a Yamaha Alpha finished in second position with a difference of 4min 22sec. Aakash C Satpute, riding a TVS Wego, finished third with a further 40­sec difference.

Avtar Singh, astride an Yamaha Alpha, was fourth with 1min 1sec further difference. First­timer Tejas Kadam, riding a TVS NTORQ, with the same 1min 1sec further difference came fifth. Ankit Patole was sixth, another 28 seconds behind.

Above 80 upto 115cc ­ 2 Stroke Group B: Local rider Nilesh Thakare won the class with a total time of 29min 23sec followed by Rohan N Thakur

62 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

from Mumbai in second position with a total time of 30min 32sec.

Rohan who has three top podium finishes, after participating since six years, managed to ride again despite still recovering from a spine surgery. Kaushtubh Machhe, also a localite, was 54sec behind in third. He lost about 30sec in first stage after he had a fall, about 1.5 km before the finish.

There on, in the second and third stages, he improved on his timing consistently. With a difference of 54­sec, Nikhil Kamte missed the podium and finished in fourth. Babbudin Ansari came fifth with a timing of 34min 42sec.

Above 80cc upto 160cc ­ 2/4 Stroke Geared Scooter Group B: Hiten Thakkar won the class with a total time of 34min 24.1sec. The second rider in the class, Jaskaran Singh, did not finish the rally.

Electric Vehicle Open class: Electric Scooter was part of the rally for the first time and the lone participant Hitesh Ghadgae from Pune was astride a KYTE MAGNUM PRO. He clocked a total time of 46min 16sec and was declared winner. After the start, he had a malfunctioning switch issue, due to which, he was late by 3min in the first stage.

Ladies Class – Open up to 210cc Group B: The lone lady competitor from Pune Deeksha Srivastav had to pull out just after start as her vehicle stalled.

BENGALURU

explorers to embark on an epic journey. The locations mentioned on the sidewall imbibe the idea of going to all these places and checking off the bucket list with Tramplr XR. The sidewall styling is also based on the true adventure touring nature of this tyre.

With a unique tread pattern and great on­road handling, Tramplr XR is excellent for adventure touring as well as, for on­road comfort. Big­sized tread blocks and steel radial technology improve structural resistance, giving it perfect stability at high speed, which makes Tramplr XR an exceptional tyre for all­terrain riding. The stone ejectors, open cross grooves and specialised compound enhance its off­ roading capability taking your adventure to the next level.

T

yre maker, Apollo Tyres introduced the Tramplr range of Enduro Off­road and Enduro Street tyres for Indian premium motorcycles market (150 – 500 cc). Tramplr range will cater to various motorcycle segments like Sport Touring, Adventure Touring, Cruisers and Street Sports, which constitutes around 20% of the overall motorcycle market in India.

Apollo Tramplr comes in two patterns, Apollo Tramplr XR, which is a 70:30 Enduro Off­road tyre for Adventure Touring, and Apollo Tramplr ST, which is a 80:20 Enduro Street tyre for Dual Sports capabilities.

These tyres have been designed and developed at Apollo Tyres' Global R&D Centre, Asia in Chennai and are being produced at the company's state­of­the­art facility in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Speaking at the launch event, Satish Sharma, President, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA), Apollo Tyres Ltd, said “The changing consumption pattern of Indian consumers, along with the increase in enthusiastic segment of riders, who seek adventure, has led us to giving them new shoes to do more with their current set of motorcycles. From being focused on steel radial technology products for great sports performance, we are now pushing the envelope to go for dual sports and adventure touring segment.”

Apollo Tyres has created a new segment, basis the customers' feedback, which allows bikers to go for adventure touring with Apollo Tramplr XR, in addition to their regular rides on their current machines.

Tramplr XR will cater to the likes of Royal Enfield Classics, Yamaha FZ series, Suzuki Gixxer & Intruder, KTM Series, Bajaj Dominar and BMW G310R. Apollo Tramplr XR is a feature loaded tyre, which pushes the riders to go beyond the sameness. Inspired by exploration, the tyre sidewall has some of the greatest adventure locations imprinted on it for the OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 63

SUV Mela

Maruti Suzuki make its maiden entry with Vitara, a mid-size SUV in a grand manner

In a competitive segment of SUVs, Maruti Suzuki has thrown its hat in the ring amongst other giants like Hyundai, Kia, Skoda, Volkswagen and Toyota. After over a decade, Maruti Suzuki's first full hybrid SUV, the Grand Vitara returns to the brood in its fifth iteration. With more than 50,000 bookings, the SUV is going to create another benchmark for the carmaker.

64 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

PHOTO BY: MANJUNATH K

T

hree cheers as India celebrates th its 75 year of independence, Maruti Suzuki its 40 years & Auto Track magazine its 15 years, we take Vitara on a drive and came back impressed.

Maruti Suzuki's first full­ hybrid SUV Maruti Suzuki has come with its first full Hybrid SUV, and has also debuted its new­age AWD

system in India. The "Grand Vitara" name makes a comeback with this SUV after over a decade, in the Indian market. The fifth­ generation Grand Vitara is based on Suzuki's Global C platform.

DRIVE, UDAIPUR

Exterior The wide grille on the Maruti Suzuki Vitara has piano black and chrome elements, giving it a sharp­looking snout up front.

The SUV has square split headlamps flanking the grille. It gets a prominent chrome strip between the Daytime Running Lamps and a sizeable Suzuki mascot in the middle.

However the side profile is similar to the Urban Cruiser Hyryder. The vehicle gets 17­ inch wheels. The fenders here have minimum plastic cladding, the chrome lining of the window gives a classy look and as we move towards the rear, we're greeted by wrap­around tail lamps with three horizontally positioned LED lighting units on either side, a signature design cue of all Nexa vehicles. The Suzuki logo is housed in a chrome strip that extends along the width of the tailgate and seamlessly blends into the tail lamps. An LED lightbar also extends along the width of the tailgate. There is even a stylish shark fin antenna on offer.

Interior: The interior looks neat and appealing. The seats offer ample cushioning and are wrapped in faux leather. The rake and reach of the steering wheel can be adjusted. Other features on the inside include keyless entry, single colour ambient lighting, 7 inch digital instrumentation, 360 degree camera, HUD, selectable driving modes­ Normal, Economical and Power, dual pane panoramic sunroof, wireless charging, connected car tech, ventilated seats, and a 9 inch Smart PlayPro Plus infotainment system. The dash design is nice, even though there are multiple instances of hard plastics inside.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 65

As for the rear seating, it looks a bit congested for three, but is well cushioned with good thigh support. The rear seat has a three point seat belt and all the three seats get head rests. A decent knee room for a average person is offered with slight reclining function for a bit of additional room. But the head room takes a hit, since the panoramic sunroof eats into the space, and this can be a problem for the tall.

The boot space is slightly compromised in the full hybrid as the battery sits below the boot floor. The spare wheel is mounted externally, beneath the body.

Conclusion: We set off to drive the full Hybrid SUV at

WRAP AROUND TAIL LAMP

66 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Udaipur. The vehicle starts in EV mode, and the engine's output joins as it gets on the roll.

We used the economical mode to drive within the city which had slow moving traffic and later switched to Normal mode as we entered the outskirts. On the highways we explored the potentials of the power mode.

Below 80 kph the car is silent, once you go enthu with the acceleration, the engine performs better and gets audible. We were on winding roads and found the power delivery and handling to be reassuring. The shocks are more observant and there is no much of roll over in the rear seat.

We later took the AWD variant on a artificial obstacles course, to simulate the off­road capabilities and experiment with the terrain

modes­Normal, sport, snow and lock.

The SUV tackled the course quite effortlessly.

The course and the gradients it had, gave us enough opportunity to test the hill hold assist and hill descent control as well.

On an average slush we tested all the traction modes. While on the Ice just select the snow mode and lock and gentle dab on the pedal you are out of the obstacle. In the articulation section lock mode is advised, the sensor splits the power equally to the remaining wheels apart from the one in the air which avoids spinning.

All Grip Select AWD AllGrip, the name Suzuki gives to their all­ wheel­drive system, is available in three

PANORAMIC SUNROOF BUTTON SQUARE SPLIT HEADLAMPS FLANKING THE GRILLE BELOW REAR MIRROR

PIANO BLACK & CHROME ELEMENTS GRILLE

different configurations: AllGrip Auto, AllGrip Select, and AllGrip Pro. The AllGrip Select has four modes that the driver can select from: Auto, Sport, Snow, and Lock. The system is electronically controlled by a push­and­turn dial on the dashboard. The AllGrip Select has the ability to distribute power to all four wheels, depending on the mode and the kind of surface.

Additionally, the system contains a brake locking differential feature which, when activated by the ESP, can halt a single spinning wheel and trick the differential into delivering power to the wheels that are on the ground.

2 powertrain options and AWD The 2022 Grand Vitara gets the 103 horsepower, 1.5­liter K15C petrol mild­hybrid engine from Suzuki as a result of sharing its powertrains with the Toyota Hyryder. The engine is mated to either an optional 6­speed torque converter automatic transmission or a 5­speed manual transmission as standard. All­Grip AWD system is an option for the Grand Vitara with this engine.

The Grand Vitara is also equipped with a 1.5­liter, 3­ cylinder, 92­horsepower Atkinson cycle petrol engine from Toyota as well as an electric motor that generates 79­ horsepower and 141­Nm of

HUD, CLUSTER CONTROLS & 360 DEGREE CONTROL

DRIVE, UDAIPUR

torque. The hybrid drivetrain's total output is 115 horsepower, and it is mated to an e­CVT transmission. This vehicle returns 27.97 kpl, according to the manufacturer.

Features and safety As Maruti Suzuki's flagship SUV, the Grand Vitara is available in six trim levels and is packed with features including a 360­degree camera, wireless charger, ambient lighting, and connected car technology with Google and Siri voice compatibility. The Grand Vitara is well­equipped for safety, including six airbags, all­ wheel disc brakes, tyre pressure monitoring system, hill­hold assist, and ESP. The new Grand Vitara will be manufactured in the Toyota plant in Karnataka and is a badge­engineered cousin of the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder. It will be marketed through Maruti's Nexa outlets and will offer both mild and strong hybrid powertrain options.

Over 50,000 reservations have been made for the Grand Vitara.

The first Maruti Suzuki SUV features a strong hybrid drivetrain. Delivery is anticipated to start in October. A congested market with vehicles like the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Volkswagen Taigun, Skoda Kushaq, and Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder will be challenged by this midsize SUV.

FRONT SEATS VENTILATION CONTROL AND DRIVE MODE

WIRELESS MOBILE CHARGER WITH INDICATOR

DASHBOARD WITH TOP HARD PLASIC & LEATHER OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 67

DRAG

NATIONALS

Hemanth Muddappa in action

Aiyaz, Chandra Shekar triumph; Drag Nationals Round 1 attracts 145 entries

B

engaluru's Hemanth Muddappa from Mantra Racing continued his domination in the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship with a triple crown in the season­opener which concluded at the Madras International Circuit in Sriperumbudur recently.

Muddappa, the nine­times National champion, participating in four different categories, emerged triumphant in three and one of them a support race, but his exploits notwithstanding, it was Alimon Saidalvi from Bengaluru who was the quickest rider over the weekend as he topped the Unrestricted

68 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

category, clocking a blistering 07.775 seconds for the 302­metre dash on a Kawasaki Ninja.

Muddappa, astride a Suzuki Hayabusa, topped in the Super Sport 1051­1650cc category in which he has remained unbeaten over the past few years, he clocked 08.228sec.

The podium was dominated by Bengalureans Vignesh Purushotham as he clocked 08.309sec to finish second. Hafizullah Khan by clocking 08.398sec completed the podium.

Earlier, riding a BMW S1000RR, Muddappa was the quickest in the Super Sport 551­ 850cc category with a lead of 0.166sec, he

managed to keep Siddharth Ratan Parmar in second spot as Saurabh Parab from Mumbai finished third clocking 09.086sec.

Mumbai's Hussain Khan won in the Super Sport Indian 361­550cc category ahead of Aiyaz from Bengaluru by 0.103sec and local rider Bharath Raj managed to finish third with further 0.341sec difference.

National Championship: In the Unrestricted class, Alimon Saidalvi from Bengaluru clocked 07.775secs to win the class with a difference of over 0.300th of a second over the second­placed finisher Ataullah Baig from Bengaluru. Siddharth Ratan Parmar from Mumbai finished third with a further

R1, CHENNAI

Sunday winners (left to right) ­ Badhusha, Hussain Khan, Alimon Saidalvi and Hemanth Muddappa Aiyaz in action

0.164th of a second behind.

Muddappa also won the Super Sport 851­1050cc Support Race atop a Kawasaki ZX6R machine he clocked 08.013 to win with a difference of 0.250th of a second.

Khaja Awais Ahmed from Hyderabad finished second while Saurabh finished third with a timing of 08.325.

Super Sport 166­225cc (Support Race): Badusha M from Chennai clocked 13.639sec to win the class beating Bengalurean Srikkanth P, who timed 14.054sec for his second position. Karthik M from Chennai finished third clocking 5.324sec.

4­Stroke: Soundari tops Girls class In the Girls Stock Up to 165cc class, Soundari Ananthraj from Chennai representing AS Motorsports, clocked 16.491secs for a win by edging out Lani Zena Fernandez from Puducherry of RACR Castrol Power1 by one­tenth of a second. Sarah Khan from Mumbai representing Axor Sparks Racing finished third by clocking 17.023sec.

Super Sport Indian up to 165cc class was bagged by Chandra Shekar N from Bengaluru by clocking 13.989sec, Bharath Raj from Chennai representing Rockers Racing finished second by clocking14.292sec Gowtham

R from Bengaluru finished third by clocking 14.469sec.

2­Stroke Madhan Kumar R from Chennai won the Super Sport Up to 130cc category clocked 13.449sec to finish second. Aravind Ganesh from Chennai representing AP Motorsports timed 13.582sec to take second while Bengalurean Abdul Shaikh came third in 13.777sec.

Super Sport 131­165cc class was

Winners (Left to right) ­ Madhan Kumar, Soundari Ananthraj and Aiyaz

bagged by Bengalurean Aiyaz with a timing of 12.845sec.

Madhan Kumar finished second

with about 0.460sec difference as Abdul finished third with a narrowest margin of 0.003sec.

Alimon Saidalvi, the fastest in Round­1 OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 69

CONVOY ENROUTE AGOHOM THROUGH NAMDAPHA FROM MIAO

TRANS ARUNACHAL DRIVE

adds to North East's tourist attraction

PHOTO BY: GHANSHYAM A TIWARI AND MANJUNATH K

T

he largest North­Eastern state in India, Arunachal Pradesh, which has huge undiscovered and unexplored regions of bio­diversity, is most­suited for road trips, and once the highways are completely open for traffic, it will give a new dimension to the state of tourism. With the present Government investing rightly in building infrastructure in the North­Eastern states, the State now has complete internet access. Now digital payments were accepted by even road­side vendors while a few years back, the mobile connectivity in most of the places was not available. Maintaining highways in the hilly terrain is never easy as landslides and stone falls are very common through the year, though.

To attract tourists, new resorts with river rafting and other exciting adventure sports are coming up. And the Trans Arunachal Drive was one such added attraction. The Drive was flagged off from Pangsau Pass by 7O autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

the Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Chowna Mein. The 12­day drive along the Trans Arunachal Highway from Pangsau Pass in the East to Tawang in the West passed through diverse cultural landscapes and portrayed Arunachal as a major driving destination. It also promoted the State as a major attraction for adventure tourism.

The road trip traversed from the high altitudes of the Himalayas cutting across the entire length of the State of Arunachal to the sub­tropical forests.

The 2500­km ride, organised by the Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, and managed by Motorsports Club of Arunachal, kicked off from Namsai, home to the Tai Khamti and Singpho tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. Namsai also houses the Golden Pagoda known as Kongmu Kham, which is a popular tourist attraction.

Talking about the State's growing popularity among adventure enthusiasts, Lhakpa Tsering, President, Motorsports Club of Arunachal, says: “With the Himalayan mountain ranges stretching across the entire State, Arunachal serves as the perfect ground for adventure sports like mountaineering, white­water rafting and motorsports. Of late, the State has also emerged as one of the favourite driving destinations in the North­East region.”

The Trans­Arunachal Highway, also called NH13, is an under­construction two­lane highway project, which extends from Tawang in the western part of the State, to Kanubari in the East, covering 1,559kms. The Arunachal Frontier Highway along the China border, the Trans­Arunachal Highway through the middle, and Arunachal East­West Corridor in the foothills along the Assam border, are the three major highways connecting the whole State.

Within Arunachal, the highway will connect the district headquarters and other important

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

condition, and wilderness of the Trans­Arunachal Highway, a majority of which is now open for traffic,” adds Tsering.

The convoy took the less­ travelled road and became the first ever visitors of Agohom, a small hamlet inhabited by the Yobin (Lisu) tribe, around 65 kms from Miao town. The convoy witnessed the majestic beauty of the evergreen rainforest of Namdapha National Park and enjoyed the many scenic waterfalls on the way.

FLAG OFF AT PANGSAU PASS

DAY 4: Bomjir to Kamba

HANGING BRIDGE AT MENCHUKHA

places such as Tawang, Bomdila, Ziro, Pasighat, Tezu, Longding and Kanubari.

“There is no other road in the entire country that can match the beauty, landscape, road

Earlier on Day 4, it was about 190 kms journey from Bomjir to Kamba village, while the first half was a proper constructed highway up to Pasighat and later for about 30 kms, the highway was still under construction. So it was a challenging job cutting across mild ghats due to the road widening process by Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Heavy rains also caused delay in the convoy reaching Aalo.

Upward journey from to Kamba was not too far, though. But the road­widening work across the stretch was a bit hectic. Once the highway is completed, the travellers and tourists will really have a great time.

YOBIN (LISU) TRIBE WELCOMING ITS FIRST EVER VISITORS

STOP OVER AT RIMA VILLAGE FOR HERBAL TEA AND TOUR

THE KAMBU TRIBAL VILLAGE OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 71

CONVOY RETURNING TO KAMBA FROM MENCHUKHA

It was time to deviate from the highway as the local tribal dancers performed for the participants, who then proceeded towards the government guest house at Kamba, where they received very pleasing and warm welcome.

Despite arriving about 4hrs late, the smile on hosts' faces never faded. It was time to have late lunch and spend some time on the river bank, enjoying nature and then head back to a tribal village, Kambu about 2 kms from the guest house.

The visitors experienced great hospitality at the village. One can reach the village only by foot or on a two­wheeler, passing over a hanging bridge of about 150mts, and then walk for about a km to the village. It was a rare chance to be there and to experience the life and lifestyle of the tribes. “It is worth a ton living there. Specially, it should be a compulsory trip in one's life to such places!'' said a delighted invitee. After a small cultural programme by the tribes in the presence of the local MLA, it was time to head back to the tribes' homes for night stay. The group members also had an opportunity to jointly cook their traditional food on a wooden flame and served hot, straight 72 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

YISU TRIBE SELLING THEIR HANDMADE PRODUCTS IN AGOHOM

SIGN BOARD AT MENCHUKHA

from the pan along with the local home­brewed drink. Beds were arranged to sleep on the floor with mosquito nets to have quiet and pleasant sleep. It was early to bed because the departure next morning was at 6am. Thanks to the Gee Pee Noshi family getting up at 3am, the breakfast was prepared and served early. As the team headed out via the hanging bridge, it was to the next destination Menchukha.

Day 5 & 6: Towards Menchukha/Mechuka, the Tibetan border

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES AT KAMBU

GRAND WELCOME ARRANGED AT KAMBU

It was time to take on the 160­km journey towards Mechuka, which was about 6000ft above sea level and 29kms to the Indo­Tibet border. We had to cross many closed roads which were opened for traffic only on fixed timings due to the widening process.

As the drive was supported by the Tourism department, we had clearance to cross those work spots on our convenience.

Special thanks to the Indian Army as they served tea and snacks in two places at regular intervals, the first was a transit camp and the second was on the picturesque valley. There on, there was no respite from rains but managed to reach the destination by 7pm, but it was already dark, the sun setting

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

ARMY PERSONAL FLAGGING OFF THE CONVOY FROM MENCHUKHA

NATURAL HANUMANJI’S FACE FORMATION ON HILL TOP IN MENCHUKHA

GEE PEE NOSHI AND FAMILY

PASIGHAT BRIDGE WAITING FOR THE GUESTS TO ARRIVE AT KAMBU

early in the east. After dinner, we headed towards the home stay within the village and we had a day's break for sightseeing. This village is surrounded by valleys on three sides. We had time to visit a famous Hanuman Temple and a natural Hanumanji’s look alike image on the hill rock and a Gurudwara managed by the Army and not before visiting a Monastery. To finish the day, a gala dinner was arranged at the Army camp, we refuelled to start the next day early morning journey.

It was time to head back to Pasighat to finish the Leg 2, which was about 280kms. It was the same route taken as upward journey but we had to cover the two­day journey in a single day.

The thick green vegetation and a few waterfalls and one was a huge one, a major attraction, it was once again heavily raining as we headed towards the finish.

The third leg was from Pasighat to Tawang, which is a chapter we look forward to explore in the third edition of the beautiful Trans Arunachal Drive next year.

JOINT DINNER PREPERATION AT KAMBU ARRIVING AT KAMBA FROM PASIGHAT

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 73

Pecco takes a podium and championship leader Quartararo fails to score

Bagnaia closes the gap

fter two mistakes in Japan looked to have changed the fabric of the title fight, an even more dramatic day at the OR Thailand Grand Prix turned everything back on its head in the 17th round of the 20­round FIM MotoGP Motorcycle World Championship at Buriram on Sunday.

At the front, a stunning wet­weather win from Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) saw him impress in difficult conditions once again, with Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) for close company and just seven tenths off at the flag. Behind the 74 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

two came the first fully­wet premier class podium for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), and those 16 points may well be the biggest scored for some time.

Oliveira may have had flashbacks of Lombok, but Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) didn't. That podium pace was nowhere to be found on a tough day in Thailand, with the Championship leader simply failing to score as he crossed the line in 17th place. An 18­point advantage accrued after Japan is now just two points ­ and Quartararo's race was also a saving grace for Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).

A tough qualifying made way for a tough start to the race, and then the number 41 also made contact with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and sent the number 33 well wide. For his trouble, Espargaro was given a Long Lap penalty, compounding a tougher Sunday afternoon as he managed to come back to 11th. Still, with Quartararo's struggles, the number 41 is closer ­ it's only 20 points covering the top three riders.

The race itself saw polesitter Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) start well from pole and then head wide with Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), and from there on it

THAILAND

MotoGP podium from left Miller 2nd, Oliveira (winner), Bagnaia 3rd

became the Miller show for some time. Slowly but surely, however, Oliveira was making progress ­ and around half distance the Portuguese rider struck and made it stick.

Miller wasn't dropped, but the Australian couldn't quite find a way back through and was forced to settle for second as Bagnaia dug deep just behind.

First holding off Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and then a late­charging Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), Pecco's first fully wet podium couldn't have come at a better time.

Zarco played it safe with the factory's fate in mind and took less risk to take fourth, with Marquez completing the top five. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) was next up but a little way back from the breakaway top five, with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) taking seventh ahead of a solid Sunday for Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol). Martin faded back to ninth, with Brad Binder completing the top ten after that early excursion, and finishing just ahead of Aleix Espargaro.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is classified ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) after the latter was given a +3 second penalty

for track limits without the time to take the Long Lap, with Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) and Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) completing the points. Bezzecchi faded from a fabulous start to miss out on scoring by the end of play, coming home just ahead of Quartararo.

Moto2 podium Salac, Arbolino and Canet

And so a dramatic, pivotal and adjective­heavy day at Buriram comes to a close, and with it the triple­header. With only three races to go there are two riders in two points, three riders within 20 and five within 40 points... the last of those being Miller as the man in form heads back onto home turf. What will Phillip Island bring? We'll find out in just under two weeks as the paddock heads Down Under!

Miguel Oliveira: "It was a long race but I can't complain!

Every time we have the chance to in the wet I'm always super fast and when it started raining I had flashbacks to Indonesia but I tried to keep my feet on the ground, make a good start, not make mistakes and carry the bike to the end.

I'm super happy with this end of season win, although if it's in the wet it's not the conditions where we prefer to win, but anyway I'll take a win in any conditions!"

The King of the wet Miguel Oliveira OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 75

Sergio Perez

Championship leader Verstappen finishes seventh

ergio Perez passed polesitter Charles Leclerc at the start and resisted race­ long pressure from the Ferrari driver to take a hard­earned victory at the Singapore Grand Prix, the 17th round of the 22­round FIA Formula 1 World Championship in the delayed night race on the Street Circuit near Marina Bay, in Singapore on Sunday, October 2nd.

Following the race, he was summoned to the 76 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

stewards and handed a reprimand and a five­ second time penalty for safety car infringements, but with a 7.5sec gap to Leclerc, kept his win. With Leclerc crossing the line second, third place went to Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari. Championship leader Max Verstappen finished seventh. The Dutchman rose steadily through the order after a poor start but then was forced to battle back from 14th after a late­race lock­up.

After the start was delayed by over an hour due to torrential rain in the build­up to the race, Pérez seized the lead as soon as lights went out. The Mexican got better traction off the line and powered past Leclerc as they raced towards the first corner.

Further back Verstappen bogged down at the start and dropped to P12. The championship leader was soon making his way back through the field, however, and he was soon

past Magnussen, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda to claim P9.

The Safety Car then made its first appearance of the evening, when Williams' Nicholas Latifi and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu tangled in the first sector and with the Chinese driver's car stuck just off track in Turn 5, the race was quickly neutralised.

When the Safety Car left the track Checo controlled the restart well to hold the lead ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, while further back Verstappen passed Vettel and then AlphaTauri's take seventh place.

The Dutchman's next target was Alpine's Fernando Alonso, but the Spaniard defended well and Verstappen found himself bottled up behind the Alpine driver for the next 10 laps. He was freed on lap 21, however, when Alonso suffered and engine failure and steered his Alpine up an escape road.

Verstappen swept past to take sixth place.

The VSC was then deployed when Alex Albon crashed and a power unit failure sidelines Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine, Lewis Hamilton then hit the barriers at Turn 7. The Briton was able to carry but fell back between fourth­placed Lando Norris and Verstappen in sixth.

the Mexican driver was handed a reprimand and a five­second for falling more than 10 car lengths behind the Safety Car. The stewards said they "do not accept that the conditions were such as to make it impossible or dangerous for PER to have maintained the required less than 10 car length gap, but ut added that they " took into account the wet conditions and the difficulties highlighted

by Perez as mitigatory circumstances for this incident."

In the second decision, the stewards said that the Red Bull driver had ignored a warning from race direction to close the gap and as such was handed the five­second penalty.

The SC left the track at the end of lap 38 and once again Checo controlled the restart perfectly.

Further back Verstappen lined up an attack on Norris but when he made the move, he locked up badly and was forced down an escape road. He was able to continue but dropped to P8 and after pitting to shed flat­spotted tyres for new softs he rejoined in P14.

SINGAPORE

Leclerc then began to close in on Pérez. The Mexican was soon on the radio complaining that he was suffering with driveability both under braking and out of corners but despite the setback he doggedly held off the Ferrari driver and with 17 minutes left in the time limited race, Leclerc, managing his tyres, backed off and Pérez broke DRS.

Pérez continued to pull away at the front and as the two­hour mark was reached, he completed

the final lap with 7.5s seconds in hand.

Leclerc was left with second place ahead of Sainz, while Norris claimed a solid fourth place ahead of McLaren team­ mate Daniel Ricciardo. Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin and Verstappen passed the second Aston of Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to claim seventh.

Behind Vettel, Hamilton finished ninth and the final point on offer went to Pierre Gasly.

It was the cue for Leclerc to pit and the Ferrari driver took on medium tyres but the stop was slow. Pérez pitted from the lead and after taking on medium tyres he was able to comfortably rejoin in the lead. The Mexican was followed to the pit lane by Sainz and then Verstappen who also fitted medium tyres.

However, the race was again neutralised just after the Dutchman's stop when Yuki Tsunoda hit the barriers in Turn 10 and the Safety Car was released.

It was then that Perez was noted by the stewards for potentially dropping too far off the course car as he led ahead of Leclerc, Sainz and Norris. After the race OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 77

RALLY OF HIMALAYAS Mohit Thakur wins Moto class as Rally of Himalayas covers 700km

78 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

MANALI

T

he three­day Season 2 of the Rally of Himalayas was flagged off from Manali. It passed through Rohtang Pass, Koksar, Atal Tunnel Grampoo, Chotta Dara, Jispa, Sumdho Shinkula Pass which is 16,640 feet above MSL, Gombo Rounjoun in Ladhakh and concluded at Manali after covering a total distance of 700 kms.

Xtreme class:

It was a comeback event for Sunny Sidhu from Chandigarh.

He along with Kamal Sidhu were the winners with a total time of 2hr 44min 2sec. This pair was running second on Day 1 with about 47­sec difference. There on from Day 2, he picked up a huge lead of over two minutes to gain the top slot.

Hemraj along with Amardeep Rana finished in second position with a difference of 1min 15sec.

This pair was unable to capitalise

on the 47­sec Day 1 lead. The duo of Harvinder Bhola and Chirag Thakur stood third with 3min 57sec difference to the leader.

Qazi Zakahuddin along with Arvind Dheerendra finished fourth with a further difference of 9min 9sec. Karanpreet Mattu and Venu Ramesh Kumar with a further difference of 1min 26sec finished in fifth position.

4WD:

In above 1850cc class, the pair of Sunny Sidhu and Kamal Sidhu were the winners followed by Harvinder Bhola and Chirag Thakur in second with a difference of 3min 57sec.

Karanpreet Mattu and Venu Ramesh Kumar made it to the final step of the podium. The pair of Harpreet Singh Bawa and Vikram Thakur along with Aman Preet Ahluwalia and Amber Udasi logged a DNF (Did Not Finish).

The 1350 to 1850cc class was won by Hemraj and Amardeep Rana in 2:45.17. Manoj Kumar along with Sahil Mankotia came second another 12 minutes behind. The Kolkata pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta were third with a further difference of 7min.

Sanjay Razdan, along with Karan Aukta, toppled their Gypsy in the stage and pulled out.

In Upto 1350cc class, Qazi Zakahuddin along with Arvind Dheerendra were the winners with a total time of 2hr 57min 9sec. The pair of Baljinder Singh Dhillon and Vipul Sherwal with a 11­min difference stood second and Sudhanshu Mishra along with Rekha Mishra came third finishing about 18 minutes behind.

2WD:

Goan Amol Satoshkar along with Ravindra Kumar won the Open class with a timing of 3min 25min 33sec. Debajyoti Nath and Jeeva

OVERALL WINNERS XTREME: Sunny Sidhu and Kamal Sidhu OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 79

RALLY OF HIMALAYAS

TOP LEFT: Mohit Thakur Group A & overall winner

BOTTOM LEFT: Sinan Francis overall & Group A second

TOP LEFT: Hemraj and Amardeep Rana 1350 to 1850cc winners

BOTTOM LEFT: Himanshu Arora and Kumal Kashyap TOP RIGHT: Amol Satoshkar and Ravindra Kumar 2WD Open class winners SECOND FROM RIGHT: Manoj Kumar and Sahil Mankotia 1350 to 1850cc first runner­up THIRD ON THE RIGHT: Mohit Thakur Group A & overall winner

BOTTOM LEFT: Shivam Thakur overall third

Rathinam came second 12 seconds behind. The pair of Anil Wadia and Virender Kashyap failed to finish (DNF). Arun Mohan and Rishikesh crossed the late­timing limit (MPL).

Moto:

Mohit Thakur riding in 'Group A from 250 to 450cc' dominated the Moto class right from Day 1 and won with a total penalty of 2hr 35min 31sec. Sinan Francis from Kerala was running close to

him right from Day 1 but he lost a lot of time on Day 2.

But he kept the momentum going and finished second with a difference of 8min 58sec. Shivam Thakur came third a further 12min 29sec behind to complete the podium. Sourabh Handa was 5min 24sec further away than Thakur and finished fourth while Nitish Bhardwaj finished fifth taking another 20 seconds to finish the course.

Xtreme winners

80 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Group A:

With three participants in fray in the 'Group A 251 to 450cc class', Mohit was the winner followed

by Sinan in second while Happy Verma third, another 22min 20sec behind.

Group B:

Upto 250cc class was bagged by Shivam Thakur with a total penalty points of 2hr 48min.

Gurjinder Singh finished second

with a timing of 3hr 11min 18sec.

Ashutosh Kaushik clocked 3hr 43min 34sec but had crossed the maximum permitted time for being late (MPL). Same was the case of Dhritimaan Singh.

Nitish Bhardwaj by clocking 02:54.13sec was the winner of 'above 251cc to 550cc class'.

Kanwaljeet was 4min 59sec behind and had to settle for second position. Godwin Antony with a further 10min 43sec

MANALI

difference completed the podium. Ashwini Kataria took fourth with another 4seconds deficit while GS Amogh Nag from Bengaluru in his first outing had to pull out on the final day.

total time of 3hr 3min 53sec.

Arun Joy was over seven­ minutes behind in second and Hemant More completed the podium a further 1min 35sec away. Ishan Raspa did not finish.

In the 'Above 166cc to 210cc class', Sourabh Handa won the class clocking a total time of 2hr 53min 35sec beating Rohan Sharma by 28seconds. Manit Thapa with a further difference of 6min 33sec came third. Milan Kanwar took another 3hr 3min 26sec for fourth and Bhumesh Oberoi finished fifth but had crossed MPL.

Upto 550cc, Naveen Singh Yadav won with a total time of 2:57.51.

Tashi Rana finished second with a below three­minute difference.

Ganesh finished third with a further 1min 22sec difference.

Nitin Singh came fourth and Rajan Sidhu finished fifth.

Group C:

Upto 165 cc class was bagged by Vishal Das with a total time of 4hr 14min 09sec. Shabuddin Sayed finished in second position but was under MPL.

Shajeer Ishmail was the winner of the '211 to 415cc class' with a

Group D:

Upto 660cc, Peter was the fastest in the class with a timing of 2:59.18. Ajit Bhardwaj with a difference of over 27 minutes finished in second position while Singey Jijmet finished third with a timing of 3hr 39min 9sec.

Apoorv Devgan finished fourth while Shashank Gangwal finished fifith.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 81

NEW ALTO

Alto, the value-packed people's car, returns in a brand new avatar

TEXT: AKSHAYA M. PICTURES: S M BOOTHEM AND AKSHAYA M.

I

n the 40 years since the start of operations, Maruti Suzuki has consistently put out successful cars appealing to the mass buyer and the high­end alike. The company packs a punch with the recent launches of the new Brezza, their entry SUV and a top selling model and their maiden entry into mid­size SUV, the Grand Vitara. Even as SUVs, large and compact are making a mark on the Indian markets, most first­time buyers still prefer the hatchback for 82 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

affordable mobility. The Alto has had an iconic presence since its first entry into India two decades ago. In sheer numbers, with over 40 million cars sold, Alto has stayed the No. 1 selling car for 16 years. With 100 Altos sold every hour in the past 22 years, the hatchback is the 4th largest car in terms of volume. The completely new look, the Alto with modern features hit the markets recently.

We attended the media drive to experience the all­new Maruti

Suzuki Alto K10 in Kochi with its blue lake and blue skies. The first impression of the new design is refreshing. Based on the same Heartect platform similar to the S Presso, the new Alto K10 bears no resemblance to its older versions; this model exhibits a brand­new, grounds­up design.

The replacement of the 800cc engine gives the car a marginal growth in dimensions. The new car gets a much larger grille than before and a clamshell­type bonnet. The large hexagonal

grille, sleek lights and subtly sculpted chin are prime focus points.

The new bumper and the strong creases in the back, paired with the mild sculpting and character lines along both sides add a sense of drama to the silhouette.

There is no provision for fog lamps in the bumper. The headlamps, however, have been updated and are larger than the previous iterations. The new Alto K10 uses 13­inch steel rims with

internal rearview mirror, which would have been functional additions. The boot capacity, however, is sufficient for a weekend trip. The Alto's design allows for total usage of the limited space where one can fit in quite a bit of luggage by flipping down the single­piece rear seat.

Equipment­wise, the Alto K10 carries all the essentials like power steering, gearshift indicator, remote central locking, body­colored bumpers and door handles, and intermittent wipers. wheel covers that appear slightly smaller under the high window. The sporty and contemporary configuration makes it stand out while still appealing to its ideal buyer preference.

The interior design is a little more to the convention, with well­cushioned adequate seating arrangement in the front and back for two comfortably. This model has more headroom and legroom available for such a small car.

The SmartPlay infotainment system gets Android Auto and Apple Play. The all­digital instrument cluster is akin to the S Presso with a speedometer, fuel gauge and some more warning lights that skip the need for other gauges. The

steering wheel design is sportier than before and now has volume and phone controls, while the power window buttons have been moved to the dashboard and are convenient to operate.

The dash is built better in place of a big slab like in the previous Alto, resulting in more knee room for the front passenger.

The Alto K10 is powered by a one­litre, three­cylinder, all­ aluminium motor that is now the mainstay of Maruti's entry­level range. The new engine is updated to meet the latest emission norms, including the stricter BS6 Phase 2 standards.

The Alto K10 comes with two transmission options, a five­

DRIVE

speed manual and a five­speed automated manual transmission.

With a figure of 24.39kpl for the manual and 24.90kpl for the automatic, the Alto is one of the most fuel­efficient budget cars.

While driving through the narrow crowded streets on a Sunday in Kochi, we were extremely satisfied with the small car's ability to navigate easily.

The Alto K10 is an affordable, stress­free and all­purpose car.

Based on the changing preferences of young and aspirational first­time buyers, this value­packed offering in its new design and updated features is bound to attract more demand. With more than 11.5 lakh Indians indicating a leaning towards hatchbacks, Maruti Suzuki is hoping that the Alto K10 will be back on top of the sales charts.

The few qualms include the fixed driver seat and steering with no adjustability, although it was not an issue for us while setting up during our drive. The rear passengers do not have power windows even on the higher­end model and can operate them only using the lever system. The outside rear window mirrors are manually adjustable. The rear windows lack the wash­wipe system and the auto­dimming

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 83

RALLY

TSD ZONAL

Kolkata pair Subir Roy-Nirav Mehta win 4WD Pro upto 1600cc class

F

ormer champions Ajgar Ali and navigator Mohammed Musthafa won the Round 1 of the ProSports INTSDRC held in Indore recently.

A total of 385 kms was in the menu for the two­day TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally, that also had a night leg for the 43 participants to vie for. Day 1 was the longest leg with about 21 Time Controls (TC) from Indore to Simcha Adventure Resort in Mhow that ran via Tillor, Nayapura, Nachanbor, Okhla and Choral covering a distance of about 175 km. There was a

84 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Super Special Stage at the end of Leg 1 of around 1km which was won Shailender Singh in a Polo.

The night leg of about 60 kms started from Simcha and returned to the same place. Leg 3 was around 150 kms from Simcha to Manpur and Mandav and back to Simcha for the finish.

The pair of Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa topped with a total penalty of 46 seconds on the final day in Leg 3.

Subhodev Chatterjee, along with Saptarshi Basu, finished second with a total penalty of 3min

36sec. The pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta came third logging a penalty of 3min 49sec.

Vinod Patel and Chandrashish Roy with 5min 41 sec penalty finished fourth. Rohit Kashyap and Shailendra Singh with 6min 6sec penalties came fifth and Jit Mitra and Chirag Thakur were in sixth position with a penalty time of 6min 46sec.

In 2WD: In the Car Pro­class, SK Ajgar Ali along with MK Mohammed Musthafa won the three­leg TSD event, after 5min 01sec penalty

in Leg 1 and 4min 41sec penalty in Leg 2, they managed a minimum penalty of 46sec in the final leg to finish on top with a total penalty of 10min 28sec.

In the SUV Pro­class, Subhodev C h at t e rj e e B as u d ri v i n g a Renault Duster, and navigated

by Saptarshi, finished on top with a total penalty of 18min 30sec. The pair of Nakul Mewara and Kunal Mewara driving a Mahindra XUV500 finished in second position with a difference of 28min 30sec.

Satpal Singh Saluja and Aditya Vashistha finished third a further

TOP LEFT: Jit Mitra and Chirag Thakur from above 1600cc class

INDORE

TOP RIGHT: 2WD class winners, Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa SECOND RIGHT: 4WD Pro above 1600cc class winners Sandeep Prabhakar and Nagarajan T THIRD RIGHT: Couple class winners RIGHT BOTTOM: Sunil Barod and Rakesh Dhupia from above 1600cc class

1hr 51min 20sec behind.

In the SUV AM class, the pair of R Bhargava and Nakul Singhal with 1hr 18min 40sec penalty time won the class beating the pair of Piyush Pal Tongya and Kshitij Sharma by 11min 24sec difference. Akash Lohia and Sourabh Sengar with a further 9min 24sec difference finished third. Arvind Saluja and Vinay Bagna with a huge deficit of 1hr 13min 18sec finished in fourth position while Anita Puri and Puneet Pandey took another 24min 36sec to finish fifth.

Couple class had the lone pair of Supraneet Maru and Ritesh Kumar. They had a 3hr 31min 05sec penalty but finally did not finish (DNF).

4WD: In the Pro upto 1600cc class, the Kolkata pair of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta finished on top of the class with 35min 03 penalty time.

In the Pro above 1600cc class, the pair of Sandeep Prabhakar and Nagarajan T with a total of 34min 17sec penalties finished on top followed by Jalbir Singh and Sagar Mallappa in second position with 11min 40sec difference. Manish Kalani and lenin Joseph with a further

15min 58sec difference completed the podium.

Jit Mitra and Chirag Thakur duo were in fourth position with a further 7min 51sec penalty and Sharvik Shah along with Adithya Anthony finished fifth with 11min 32sec penalty.

Couple class: Shefali Goel and Vikram Singh Rathore won the Couple class with 1hr 36min 52sec penalty defeating Shabbir Hussain Saifee and Tahera Saifee duo, who managed to finish second with 18min 46sec difference. Tapan Agarwal and Saksham Nitin Agarwal with 13min 01 sec additional penalty were fourth. Rishabh Mehta and Anshul Jain did not finish.

Amateur: The pair of Sharad Patel and Ravi Patidar won the class with 2hr 46min 52sec total penalty followed by Salil Kakkar and Ramandeep Singh Arora, who logged a time of 25min 09sec additional penalty. Vishal Bhale and Ashok Rajput with a further 01hr 1min 03sec deficit completed the podium. Rajesh Jain and Apra Jain finished fourth with a total penalty of 6hr 08min 27sec and the pair of Arjun Dhupar and Vishal Sasan came fifth with a total time of 7hr 32min 01sec.

OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 85

INAC NORTH ZONE

fastest driver at North Zone INAC

P

hilippos Matthai was the fastest driver of the weekend in the North Zone Qualifier of the Indian National Autocross Championship 2022 (INAC) promoted by BMS at Yansh Adventure in Gurugram recently. Matthai clocked 2:08.58 to become the fastest driver.

INAC1: Vikram Jain dominated the upto 1650cc class and won by clocking 02min, 15.654sec.

Harkrishan Wadia was slower by 11 sec to settle for second position.

In the Upto 2000cc class, Sahil Khanna clocked 02:11.790 to stay on top followed by Karan Malik in second with less than three seconds difference. Arnav Singh Pratap was further behind by less than two seconds and 86 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

completed the podium in third. Arnav Singh Pratap missed the podium by less than two seconds and Amber Udasi and Kushal Majumder finished in fifth and sixth positions respectively.

In the Open class, Karan Malik was faster in this class, as he clocked his day's best timing of 02:12.852 and won the class. Harkrishan Wadia also improved on his previous class timing by two seconds but was slower than Karan and finished second. Kushal Majumder with a further 15­second difference came third.

INAC2: In Upto 1450cc class, Mohit Malik won with a time of 02:14.049 followed Jasmehar Singh Jubbal from Faridabad in second position

with a difference of seven seconds.

Amandeep Singh, another three seconds behind, completed the podium. With just over a second difference, Mohamad Yusuf settled for fourth while Gurjot Singh with 160th of a second difference settled for fifth.

Aryaman Sharma came sixth a further 11 seconds in deficit.

In Upto 1650cc class, Vinam Jain by clocking 02:17.163 managed to hold on to the top position with a lead of just over half a second on the second­placed Mohit. Harkrishan took third a further five seconds later. Amandeep Singh Bajaj was fourth another four seconds behind while Mohamad finished fifth taking another two seconds to complete the course.

Philippos Matthai was the winner of the Open

difference of over 600th of a second and settled for fourth position. Sunita Chahar came fifth while Ayan Sangra was sixth.

GURUGRAM

Vidit Jain won the Open class with a lead of over eight seconds over Achintya Mehrotra. Neil with a difference of 0.53 second came third. Amandeep Singh Bajaj missed the podium by the narrowest margin of 0.002second. Jasmehar and Abhimanyu finished in fifth and sixth positions respectively.

A day after the North Zone qualifying round of the INAC, two more rounds of support races were witnessed.

Round 1: Group Stock Class 1 Stock Upto 1650 cc: Jasmehar Singh Jubbal won the class driving a Maruti Swift while Vidit Jain, also in a Maruti Swift, finished second and Neil Nain came third on a Honda Brio.

Class 2 Stock Open: Vidit Jain driving a Skoda Yeti won the class beating Amber Udasi who was in a VW Polo. Amandeep Bajaj finished third driving a Maruti Brezza.

class apart from being the fastest in the class and the fastest driver of the day. He clocked 02:08.058.

Arnav Singh Pratap came second clocking 02:13.226 and Vidit Jain timed 02:13.638 to complete the podium. Sahil Khanna finished fourth with a timing of 02:13.927.

Vinam Jain was fifth and Amandeep came sixth.

INAC3: Jasmehar Singh Jubbal clinched the upto 1650cc class by clocking 02:19.784 beating Sahil by a narrow margin of 0.033sec.

Neil Nain took another four seconds to claim third. Karan Rao missed the podium with a

Modified Class 3 Mod Upto 1450cc: Mohit Malik driving a Maruti Ignis was the winner followed by Jasmehar in second on his Maruti Swift and Sunny Sharma, driving a Maruti Zen, completed the podium.

Class 4 Mod upto 1650cc: Karan was the winner of the class on a Honda Brio followed by Mohit, who came second in a Maruti Ignis and Vinam Jain, driving a Honda Brio, was third.

Class 5 Mod Open: All the winners were driving a VW Polo 1.0 TSI. Philippos Matthai was the winner followed by Sahil in second and Arnav Pratap Singh in third.

Unrestricted Class 6 Unrestricted Upto 1650cc: Karan, driving a Honda OCTOBER 2022 autotrack.ind.in 87

INAC

second.

NORTH ZONE

GURUGRAM

Class 7 Unrestricted upto 2000cc: Sahil was the front runner in the class as Karan Malik finished second and Arnav came third.

Class 8 Unrestricted Open: The class was won by Karan and Harkrishan finished second.

Kushal Majumder claimed the third position.

Brio, was the winner followed

by Vinam in second and Amanpreet, driving a Maruti Gypsy, finished third.

Class 7 Unrestricted upto 2000cc: All the drivers were on a VW Polo. Sahil was the winner followed by Arnav in second and Philippos finished third.

Class 8 Unrestricted Open: Karan won the class beating Arnav and Philippos came third.

Ladies Open class: Sunita Chahar won the class followed

by Kshamta Yadav in second and Rashi Bhakar in third.

2wd Open: Achintya Mehrotra managed to finish on top followed by Amandeep and Rupendar Sheoran in that order.

4wd Open: Raja Singh Chanay was the winner of the class followed by Gaurav Ladwal in second as Rupendar came third.

Open class: Harkrishan won the Open class followed by Rupendar in second as Justin Gill in third.

Stock Open class: Vidit won the class as Abhimanyu Singh Rathore finished second and 88 autotrack.ind.in OCTOBER 2022

Raja Singh ended up third.

Amateur Open: The class belonged to Abhimanyu as Vipin Bishnoi finished second and Akhil Jain came third.

Round 2: Group Stock Class 1 Stock Upto 1650 cc: Jasmehar won the class beating Sahil to second and Neil finished third.

Class 2 Stock Open: Vidit, Achintya and Neil shared the podium in that order.

Modified

Class 3 Mod Upto 1450cc: The class was dominated by Mohit and Jasmehar finished second and Amandeep came in third.

Class 4 Mod upto 1650cc: Vinam won the class followed by Mohit and Harkrishan in second and third positions respectively.

Class 5 Mod Open: The Open class was bagged by Philippos and Arnav finished second while Vidit came third.

Unrestricted

Class 6 Unrestricted Upto 1650cc: The class was won by Vinam and Harkrishan finished

RNI NO.KARENG/2007/21952