September - October 2021

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F2 - MONZA

JEHAN’S COMMANDING

VICTORY MRF F1600

SHAHAN ALI

DOMINATES WITH A DOUBLE

RFC INDIA

KABIR WARAICH

AND SPOTTER DUSHYANT KHOSLA

VICTORIOUS

PLUS

DRIVEN

MG ASTOR

2W NATL RACING: JAGAN, DEEPAK AND RAJINI EXCEL NATL X30 KARTING: RUHAAN, ARAFATH AND ISHAAN SHINE REVIEW: TATA TIGOR EV SPRINT: YUVA KUMAR ON TOP DRAG NATL: MUDDAPPA FASTEST REGIONAL AUTOCROSS: PRAGATHI GOWDA LEADS TEST RIDE: YAMAHA FZ-X

EDITORIAL / IMPRINT

IMPRINT

Hi, Our New Look.

AUTO TRACK is on a new track...

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or the 14th time in succession, I take this opportunity to thank my advertisers, readers, Autotrack team, well-wishers and people involved directly or indirectly with us. As we are surviving with a handful of advertisers for many years now but COVID19 situation made our situation worse. We somehow kept our readers occupied with motorsports and related news on the digital platform despite no events taking place due to the pandemic. With the season proving to be short in 2020, we kept the hard copy going. But this season we are facing the hardest times, despite the season opening up for the sport. With great difficulty, we are going for the print edition as this is our 14th anniversary issue. Hope things improve henceforth. Once again we thank the advertisers who have come forward to support us in these difficult times, in one or the other way. As years pass by, they bring a lot more responsibilities on to our shoulders.

As the season is slowly opening up, the calendar will look more stable now. With the official announcement of extending the season till March, it looks like the rush to finish the championships will descend.

The two-wheeler racing championship, including the TVS and Honda one-make events are already heading towards their third round, parallel to the National Sprint Championship which also has finished their three regional rounds and west selection round is pending. These will culminate into grand finale in Goa. The four-wheeler racing championship sponsored by JK Tyre and MRF are running as per schedule.

While JK Championship will take off this October, the MRF Championship has already finished its first round. The two-wheeler INRC is due this October midweek. Karting X30 champio nship is already concluded and all are eying for the Karting Rotax cham pionship to begin.

Running in full swing is the JK Tyre INRRC qualifying rounds, with three events, two in South and one in North concluded during the same weekend. The remaining 14 rounds will lead to the finals to be held in Siliguri from March 9 to 13.

MRF Supercross will begin from January and end by March. All eyes are now on the INRC for 4 wheelers as no concrete information is made available to the participants, and all the teams are kept guessing. Two rounds had to be cancelled during their final stages of preperation. The South India Rally, a round of APRC and the popular K1000 in Bengaluru.

With the COVID19 cases dipping in the three major states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, it is a positive sign. Now all depends upon the promoter and the FMSCI to come up with the calendar and decide on number of rounds.

After a span of two years we all can hope for a full season, which is a good sign for the people who are depending and involved in the sport.

Wishing all a very good and successful season!.

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

Editor S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari Concept and Design: S. Ashok Kumar Tiwari Staff Photographers: Keshav Murthy, Nirav Mehta Prakash Rawat, Noor Director / Correspondent: Roopa A. Tiwari General Manager Circulation & Sr. Correspondent: S. Nithyanand Correspondent: K. Manjunath Ghanshyam A Tiwari Spl. Correspondent: David Bodapati Western Region: autotrack.west@gmail.com Mob 09757176958 Northern Region: autotrack.north@gmail.com Mob 09871765886 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 14, ISSUE 6 O1 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

NEW DELHI

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50 20 Rain Forest Challenge: 06 MRF Racing 4W, R1: 10 Electric Vehicle Ride: 14

34 22

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Rally of Arunachal: 16 2W Natl Racing, R1: 20

International Racing: 32

Karting X30- R4&5: 28

Drag Nationals, R1: 34 Hyundai i20 N Line: 42

10 40

MG Astor: 46 Tata Tigor EV: 50 ATMA: 56

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W i l l w e g e t t h e championship as usual, or will it be segregated throughout the year?

Surely you will. But the calendar will not be completed this year. One should understand the situation as the promoters are trying to manage and finish this season.

Still a few states have COVID restrictions in place on gatherings and night curfew is still on, in many states. We are lucky enough to escape from the third wave, which the experts expected this September. Though we are still not free from the pandemic, carrying on the sport with precaution and under care by following Government-set protocols is very much essential. So all are managing to complete the championships in a safer way.

Hence, have some patience.

Let this year go through.

Things have to open up by the beginning of next season.

Then let us see what happens.

Because as on now the whole world is in a dilemma.

events closed for spectators, it is safer and organisers can be economical and make the best use of time. This process has proved to be a success earlier too, where a few low-budget championships held doubleheaders it proved to be a success. Hence, you already have a first-hand experience on the ground. Be grateful that the promoters and sponsors are ensuring the number of rounds are not reduced, nor they have compromised on the quality and safety of the sport. The only championship hanging in balance is the INRC for four-

How do back-to-back events help?

Yes, in this kind of situation, this looks more ideal for the make-shift tracks. By organising back-to-back O4 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

wheelers, as two rounds were cancelled this season, including APRC. There is no clear picture on the calendar yet. Else, all other championships are running as per plan.

has given some breathing time for the participants as well as for the organisers because a few participants take part in different championships and need a fair amount of gap.

Will extending the calendar be of any use?

Definitely! It is one of the main reasons, the championships are running smoothly. This decision by the Federation has definitely made things simple and easy. It has considerably brought down the burden on the Promoters. This extension

Cover Photo by: Krishna Kumar

RFC RFC INDIA

Kabir Waraich and spotter Dushyant Khosla clinch victory RFC winners book Global Finale ticket; OTC Goa, best team

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he pair of Kabir Waraich and spotter Dushyant Khosla clinched the 7th edition of Rain forest Challenge India 2021 held in Goa. As the RFC India 2021 Champions, they have won a free entry to the RFC Global Series Finale that is held in Malaysia.

After missing the 2020 season of RFC due to COVID19 lockdown, the 7th edition of RFC India was held in interior regions of Goa. Close to 20 teams participated this season, despite the COVID19 scare. This edition which took off under strict

safety norms laid down by the Government of Goa and went on for seven days including documentation and six days of 26 s tages com petition.

Following the COVID19 restrictions City Centre stages for spectators were not hosted.

Overall The pair of Kabir Waraich and Dushyant Khosla of Team Gerrari Off-roaders Chandigarh won the top slot with a difference of eleven points on the pair of Anand V Manjooran and spotter Vishnu Raj of KTM Jeepers of Kerala the first runner-up's. The

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team led by Fahed VP and Rajeev Lal of Team Gulf First from Kerala finished third with a difference of 130 points.

Kabir had to take a last-minute call to participate in the event as he had to rush from his Leh expedition which concluded just days before the event. The mostchallenging part was logistics, transporting the vehicle to Goa. Due to transport vehicle breakdown, the vehicles were not available for Scrutiny, the vehicle reached just hours before transport. As the formalities took time, they had to directly take on

the stage without service and winch. There was no time to fit in the tube inside the tubeless tyres. "But the tyres played spoil sport. We had a flat and lost considerable amount of time in one of the stages and it was a DNF. But we were surprised enough to be third on Day 1said Kabir.

On Day 2, in the third stage once again they had a flat, and in turn there was lot of damage to the suspension and arms. It was a hectic day out for the technicians. They had to work tirelessly to make the vehicle

GOA

First runner-up Anand V Manjooran and Vishnu Raj

run-worthy. Which did happen but it was a Sunday and the shops were closed. They had to somehow manage the winch rope, which was done by Khosla by stripping the cable and grooming it into one. Day 3 went as usual, but Day 4 proved very lucky for them as good stage timing put them on top. After beginning the fifth day in top position, they slid down to second position by end of the day.

On the final day they began with six points behind the leader and were looking confident to peak up, but deliberation on changing the tube in one of the tyre which went flat, proved very expensive and they lost time fell down in the standings further.

To overcome this they managed a 30-minute city drive was done well to bring the life back into the drive and there was no looking back after that as they bagged full 100 points in the remaining four stages which placed them on top with a tenpoint advantage.

Anand in his 5th year of participation after skipping 2014 and 2016 season, had good

prospects of a win. They began their journey on a positive note with 266 points and with an eight-point difference finished on top. By the end of Day 2, they were ahead by 30 points to retain their dominance. Day 3, in Stage 10 they toppled their vehicle due to a wrong move on the climb.

And in the process due to engine oil leak and other related issues the vehicle was unable to reignite, thus this DNF pulled them down the order to second with 35 points deficit. On the end of Day 4, they were trailing with 37 points but still retained the second position. At the leader board Kabir had replaced Dr Fahed. With some good finishes they managed to reclaim their top spot on Day 5 with a sixpoint lead. But in one of the stages on final day they were the stage openers which had two winching points, as the first one looked little tough. They were slower than the follower by about one minute and there on it was not easy to reclaim and with about 11-points difference had to settle for second position.

Dr. Mohammad Fahed VP, in his Debut as a driver in RFC

Overall Winners

Second runner-up Dr. Mohammad Fabed and Rajeev Lal SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 07

RFC RFC

of fourth day. On fifth day they reached fourth position and retained it on the final day to take a respectable fourth overall in the final results.

The pair of Cedrick Jordan DaSilva along with Daljit Singh, were running seventh for the first two days. From Day 3, with 706 points, they rose to fifth position with good performance and managed to score 1133 points on Day 4 to stay fourth in the standings. But their joy, was short-lived, as the very next day they once again slid back to fifth.

They retained the position till the final day for an Overall fifth.

INDIA

Sam Kurian Kalarickal and Sacharia Saji

managed to finish third along with spotter Rajeev Lal. They began their journey with a fourth-position finish on Day 1 and climbed up the order. to second on Day 2 and reached the peak on the third day. But they suffered issues with their vehicle which pulled them down to third.

For the remaining of the three days he had to approach the stage in limping-mode but ensured that he had no DNF. On the final stage of the final day, he had a DNF but managed to secure the third position. Dr Fahed gradually progressed and in 2017 he was manager for KTM Jeepers and in 2018, he was codriver for Sam Kurian and finally took the podium this year (2021).

Sam Kurian Kalarickal and Sacharia Saji began Day 1 on a steady note in second position.

On Day 2, they slid to 4th position.

But the worst happened on Day 3 as they had one Did Not Start (DNS) and failed to finish twice logging two DNF (Did Not Finish). Thus, they further moved down the order to seventh. The next day, they began their upward journey and with 1109 points they were fifth by the end

In the Upto 1610cc Petrol or Diesel class, Kabir Waraich and Dushyant Khosla were the winners followed by Anand V Manjooran and Vishnu Raj. Sam Kurian Kalarickal and Sacharia Saji finished third.

In the 1611 to 3010cc Diesel class, Dr. Mohammad Fahed VP and Rajeev Lal won with 2014 points while Daulat Deepram Choudhary and Sayba Gameti with 1363 points came second.

Sushant Saini and Harman Gill

Muhammad Sheffin and Abraham Paulson

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GOA

Bijender Singh and Gajender Singh

Daulat Deepram Choudhary and Sayba Gameti

Ibrahim Firaz Shaikh and Imran Garag

Muhammad Sheffin along with Abraham Paulson with 1259 points were third.

the first runner-up, with 631 points while Bijender Singh and Gajender Singh stood third.

Ibrahim Firaz Shaikh and Imran Garg were the winners of the 1611 to 3010cc Petrol class with a total points of 1658. Sushant Saini and Harman Gill with 1082 points were

Shemy Musthafa and Muhammed Nabil bagged the Above 3010cc Petrol class with a total of 999 points. The best team award went to OTC Goa.

“It was an perfect example for the present generation and upcoming offroaders, wait the opportunity of being on top will de nitely come. I had to wait for seven years to achieve this mile stone. With all last minute decisions and late arrival of the car, we were able to make it. It goes like this once wrien can never be erased".

Kabir Waraich winner

Eari Andrew Braganza and Amey R Dhamsekar

Rajasekhara Prabhu and Rohit Conyers

Top three winners SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 09

RACING NATIONALS

Shahan Ali Mohsin dominates MRF F1600 with a double Arjun Balu, Anindith Reddy share honours in Saloon cars PHOTO BY: SHAHJAHAN

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n an incident-filled day, 17-year old Shahan Ali Mohsin from Agra notched a fine double in the MRF Formula1600 category that headlined the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2021 which concluded on September 26 at the MMRT, near Chennai.

Also achieving a double was Chennai's seasoned campaigner

34-year old Deepak Ravikumar from Performance Racing in the Super Stock class of the Saloon Cars category while defending champion from Coimbatore Arjun Balu representing Race Concepts and Hyderabad's Anindith Reddy from Rayo Racing split the honours in the Indian Touring cars class.

The day's other winners included 18-year old Suriya Varathan from Coimbatore who topped the first of the three MRF F1600 races, Chennai's Mohit Aryan from

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Quest Motorsport in the Formula LGB 1300 category in race-2, Charan Chandran from Coimbatore and Bengalurean Varun Anekar from Race Concepts in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class.

The day's first race for MRF F1600, was run on grooved tyres as a precaution on a drying track with a few wet spots following overnight rains. Suriya Varathan won comfortably after starting from P3, but in the next outing, it

was Shahan Ali Mohsin, a multiple National Karting champion with an Asian title to boot, who took the chequered flag from a P2 start (reverse grid) with a command performance.

Shahan went on to dominate Race-3, again starting from P2 for a well-deserved double.

Suriya with a difference of seven seconds over the second place Deepak Ravikumar managed to win the race one while Dillon Zachariah from Chennai finished third with further four seconds

R1, CHENNAI difference. Shahan Ali from Agra clocked race two by clocking 17:03.129, Chirag Ghorpade from Bengaluru with five seconds difference finished second and Rishon Rajiv from Bengaluru finished third. Shahan once again was top in race three followed by Ashiwn Dutta from Chennai in second. With just below seven seconds difference, Chirag with less than.400th of a second finished third.

Amir Sayed to be overtaken by K Suriyavarathan

Amir Sayed followed by Ruhaan and Arya Singh

"In the morning's rst race, I started from pole position, but lost positions due to overheating clutch. It was tough outing. In the next two races, both of which I started from P2, it was fairly comfortable," said Shahan.

The Saloon Cars double-header produced more than its share of drama with Coimbatore's Arjun Balu from Race Concepts winning the first race in the Indian Touring Cars class with plenty to spare ahead of Rayo Racing pair of Anindith Reddy and Jeet Jhabakh, both from Hyderabad. Arjun with a comfortable lead of over four seconds was the topper, with the same four seconds lead Anindith managed to stay ahead of Jeet.

In the next outing, Reddy, starting from pole in the reverse grid, and managed to stay in front with aggressive tactics through the 10lap race. Arjun Balu was forced off the track and Reddy survived in the lead, after the contact. Jhabakh finished third. Earlier, the race was yellow-flagged following an incident on the start-finish straight.

Jeet dominated Race 2 till midway, as his teammate Anindith was repeatedly being threatened by the Race 1 winner Arjun and was unable to go past. After a contact, Arjun once again became a victim and had

MRF F1600 Race three winners Viswas Vijayaraj followed by Ruhaan Alva

Arjun Balu winner race one

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 11

RACING NATIONALS

Ritesh Rai first runner-up race two

MRF F1600 race one winners

FLGB 1300 winners

12 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

no other go but to fall back but still managed to finish third.

In the Super Stock class, 34-year old Deepak Ravikumar from Performance Racing, the busiest competitor this weekend, participating in three different categories, completed a grand double. Deepak in Race 1 was just one second ahead of his teammate RP Raja Rajan who finished second and Rithvik Thomas from Race Concepts with five seconds difference completed the podium. Deepak had more comfortable win in Race 2 as he kept Divy Nandan from Race Concepts in second position with a difference of 18 seconds, while his teammate Alisha Abdullah finished third with a further difference of three seconds.

Charan Chandran, a private entrant from Coimbatore, and Bengaluru's Varun Anekar from

Race Concepts shared the honours in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class. Anekar had actually 'won' the first race, but was disqualified following a post-race scrutiny on a technical infringement pushing Chandran to the top step of the podium.

Hatim Shabbir Jamnagarwala from Performance Racing finished second. The Bengalurean shrugged off the Race-1 disappointment by easily winning the second race. Anekar with over 29 seconds lead managed to win. K Srinivas Teja from Performance Racing finished second. Charan finished third with in a very close finish.

Deepak Ravikumar from Momentum Motorsport was the winner of Formula LGB1300 Race 1, with a difference of six seconds on his teammate Chirag Ghorpade, who finished second and MSport rider Amir Sayed a

R1, CHENNAI VW Polo race winners

Arjun Balu winner ITC

Rao from Momentum Motorsport, only 18, completed the podium. Race-1 winner, Deepak Ravikumar (Momentum Motorsport) also suffered the same fate as Ruhaan and finished ninth.

MRF F1600 race two winners

further two seconds behind finished third. Mohit Aryan from Quest Motorsport was declared winner in the Race-2 after Ruhaan Alva from MSport, the 15-year old from Bengaluru, who had finished first, was docked 20 seconds for overtaking under yellow flag which dropped him to fifth.

In a race marked by as many as eight retirements due to ontrack incidents, Ruhaan kept his wits about him to move from P9 to the front and win, only to suffer a time penalty. Finishing second behind Aryan was Kolkata's Arya Singh from DTS Racing while Bengaluru's Tijil

Volkswagen Polo Cup: Race 1 saw three retirements due to collusion. Midway through the race, saw one of the vehicles climb on to the side railing, trying to avoid a slide out and returned back to track in front of one of the cars and the race had to be red flagged. After restart with three laps remaining, the race

had to be once again red flagged as one of the vehicles overturned. Finally Aditya Swaminathan from Bengaluru was the winner followed by Anmol Singh Sahil from Ghaziabad in second with a difference of just over one second. Saurav Bandyopadhay from Thane finished third.

Race 2 was dominated by Pratik Sonawane from Pune with a difference of two seconds. He managed to keep Ritesh Rai from Chennai in second, as Sidharth Mehdiratta from Lucknow finished third by over 0.800th of a second behind.

Nirmal Umashankar in action SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 13

BENGALURU

UNDP EV DAY

EV Day Ride in Bengaluru O

Leading Shalini Rajnish, ACS, Dept of Youth Development and Planning

World Electric Vehicle day celebrated

ver 50 riders and drivers in Electric Vehicles were part of the first World Electric Vehicle Day ride initiated by the Government of Karnataka in the presence of Shalini Rajnish, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Department of Youth Development and Planning was celebrated under a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from Kanteerava Stadium to Jakkur in Bengaluru.

The short distance of about 14 kms was flagged off by V Sunil Kumar, Honourable Minister for Kannada, Culture and Energy, Muniratna, Honourable Minister for Horticulture, Planning Programme, Monitoring and Statistics, KC Narayana Gowda, Honourable Minster for Youth Empowerment and Sports.

Members from society and manufacturers like Ather Energy, Yulu, Tata Motors, MG Hector, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, Lightning and Vpower participated. Also present during this occasion was Aravind KP Rider from TVS Racing and first runner-up of Big Boss Kannada season 8.

Convoy passing through Airport road 14 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

RACING NATIONALS

Double delight for Rajini Krishnan, Jagan Kumar

Alwin Sundar stars in Novice class; Ryhana Bee stages a winning comeback

PHOTO BY: SRINIVASA KRISHNAN / ANAND PHILAR

C

hennai veterans Rajini Krishnan and Jagan Kumar stamped their class with a double each in the two premium categories as did young Alwin Sundar in the Novice class while Ryhana Bee staged a winning comeback in the Girls section as the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT, near Chennai, on August 22.

Pro-Stock 301 to 400cc Rajini, 41, who made his National Championship debut

back in 2003 and also forayed abroad for stints in Superbike racing, rolled back the years with two stunning performances while winning both the races in this category for his team RACR Castrol Power Racing astride a Yamaha R3.

In both races, Rajini was in a league of his own. This morning, in Race-1, despite a poor start when he dropped from P2 to P7 in the first lap, he carved through the field in quick time and eventually won with over one second lead on Hyderabad's Rahil Shetty from Gusto Racing

16 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

and Bengaluru-based Anish Damodara Shetty from Race Concepts finished third on a photo finish. In the next outing, Rajini was even more dominating managed to keep last year's champion KY Ahamed from TVS Racing behind him with just over a second difference and Anish Shetty with less than a second difference stood third.

Pro-Stock 165cc class Day 1: Chennai's Jagan, 31, winner of nine National titles, set such a hot pace after starting from pole position that it

virtually destroyed a classy field to finish well ahead of arch-rival and fellow-international rider Rajiv Sethu from Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing by over five seconds who, in turn, held off TVS Racing's Deepak Ravikumar after a cat-and-mouse battle through the six-lapper.

Day 2: Jagan was outstanding in repeating his Saturday's victory by taking the top honours in Race-2, though he had to work hard for it. Fellow-international, Rajiv Sethu chased Jagan all through the eight laps in a futile bid to overtake and the two

R1, CHENNAI

Rajini Krishnan

Ryhana Bee

"The bike was just brilliant. I really pushed in the early part of the race and, in the end, it was fairly comfortable," said Jagan who even kept looking behind as he approached the nish line at the end of the race one.

crossed the line in that order, followed by TVS Racing's Deepak Ravikumar.

Novice Stock 165cc class Day 1: Alwin Sundar from AS Motorsports, the English Literature student from Chennai's Guru Nanak college, and who turns 19 in a week's time, gave himself an advance birthday gift by winning the race that he started from P5.

In contrast, the pole-sitter in the Novice race run earlier in the day, Allwin Xavier from Sparks Racing, crashed in the last lap when in lead which allowed Alwin Sundar to get a jump and post his maiden win at the National level.

Running third in the last lap, Sundar, racing in just his third season, moved to the front after couple of riders in front, including Xavier, crashed in the final lap. Also benefiting from the incident were Thrissur's Anfal A from Rockstar Racing and Teja TVR Namburu representing Gusto Racing from Hyderabad, who finished second and third, respectively.

Day 2: In between, Chennai collegian Alwin Sundar from AS Motorsports also completed a double with yet another dominating ride in a race that was marred by multiple crashes. Finishing behind with a difference of over one second was the 18-year old Anfal A from Thrissur and came in third was Jinendra Kiran Sangave, a private entrant from Kolhapur, the youngest competitor at just 12 years.

Girls race Stock 165cc class Chennai rider, Ryhana Bee from RACR Castrol Power Racing, returning to racing after a year's gap following injury, topped the class.

The victory in the five-lapper was hers for the taking after defending champion Ann Jennifer from Sparks Racing and Lani Zena Fernandez from Speed Up Racing got tangled and crashed in the third lap.

Thereafter, it was a fairly easy run for Ryhana who won from Baddam Deepika Reddy from Hyderabad representing Gusto Racing with over twenty two seconds lead, and Jagruthi Kiran from Mumbai representing Sparks Racing settled for third with just over .200sec

Race one winners Pro-stock 165cc class SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 17

RACING

NATIONALS

Rakshith, Kevin star again Sixteen year Kavin Quintal wards off stiff challenge from 14-year Sartak Chavan

PHOTO BY: SRINIVASA KRISHNAN

K

avin Quintal (NSF 250R), Rakshith S Dave (CBR 150) and Kevin Kannan (Hornet 2.0), all from Chennai, finished with a double apiece in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup OneMake Championship held simultaneously with the National races at Madras Motorsports Race Track (MMRT).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250 Open Notable winner of race one was 16-year old Kavin Quintal from Chennai, he had to ward off defending champion 14-year old Sartak Chavan from Pune hotly challenging for the lead ended up crashing in the fourth lap.

Quintal finished ahead of Varoon Sadasivam with a lead of over 11 seconds and Geoffrey Reviven Emmanuel finished third, just below one-second deficit. Kavin continued his winning spree as he managed to keep Sartak behind him in second position with a difference of ten seconds.

Samuel Martin from Bengaluru with an eight-second difference came third.

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Honda CBR 150 Chennai rider Rakshith S Dave with a lead of over five seconds managed to win the Race 1.

Prakash Kamath from Bokharo Steel City finished second while Theopaul Leander from Chennai with further four seconds difference was third.

Rakshith crossed the finish line for the second time dominating.

Prakash with eight seconds difference was second and Shyam Babu from Chennai was third with a difference of 31 seconds.

Honda Hornet 2.0 Kevin Kannan from Chennai had a very comfortable win, with a difference of over 21 seconds.

Veera Ashwin Lal from Madurai finished second while Sudheer Sudhakar from New Delhi with a three- second difference finished third.

Kevin continued his winning spree with a photo finish with Sudheer Sudhakar, with just 0.010sec difference. Alwin Sundar finished third in the same second.

R1, CHENNAI

Jinendra clinches a double, Amarnath sparkles Rookie Rakshitha stands out in TVS OneMake Championship TVS Apache RR 310 Open marnath Menon from Kerala by clocking 12:18.421 was the winner of race one while Yashas RL from Bengaluru finished second by clocking 12:19.175.

Jagadeesh N also from Bengaluru by clocking 12:19.737 finished third. In the second race, Yashas RL looked much more dominant as he clocked 11:54.802 and won with over two seconds lead over Manoj Yesudiyan from Chennai.

Amarnath with 0.069 seconds missed the second spot.

A

TVS Rookie (RTR 200) Jinendra Kiran Sangave from Kolhapur dominated both the races and managed to win the class with a huge margin. In Race 1, Jinendra by clocking 13:00.501 was the winner followed by Zenas Zhotan Bailey from Auroville in second with a difference of over 20 seconds.

Jagathishree from Chennai finished third with a margin of

0.161sec. Jinendra for the second time finished on top with a timing of 12:58.183. Jagathishree managed to climb up the order from Race 1 finished with a timing of 13:09.244 in second position. Zenas slided down to third from his race one performance with a difference of mere 0.042sec.

TVS Girls RTR 200 class Chennai riders sweep the class as Rakshita Srihari Dave finished on top of the five lap race by clocking 11:21.305, followed her with four seconds difference was Adlin Seles and Nishita Palani with further seven seconds difference completed the podium.

TVS Media RTR 200 Class Soham Thakur from Mumbai clocked 11:56.577 to win the class he was followed by Ajinkya Lad also from Mumbai by clocking 12:26.279, while Vishal Joshi from Pune finished in third position with a timing of 12:28.684.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 19

SPRINT NATIONALS

Yuva Kumar triumphs

Bengaluru's Vishwas SD dominates Group A Upto-600cc Class

PHOTO BY: SRI HARSHA NADIGER / RANJITH

T

he season opener of Indian National Rally Sprint Championship 2021 (INRSC) was held in the outskirts of Kanakpura, near Bengaluru, in Karnataka. The South Zone round had 7 kms of dirt track which included straight stretches, windings, uphill, downhill and unlimited mild jumps.

Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports was the outright winner of Round 1 clocking 8min 03sec. He was followed by Sharath Mohan, who clocked a difference of 0.08sec. Pavan BK,

completed the podium a further 10 seconds behind. Suhail Ahmed missed the podium with a margin of one sec and finished fourth. Naresh VS timed 08.55sec behind by six seconds was fifth and Vinay Prasad took another five seconds for his sixth.

Badal Doshi was seventh with a further deficit of one second to his immediate rider.

Bengalurian Vishwas SD dominated the Group A Upto 600cc clocking the stage in 09:03 beating Badal Doshi to second.

The 2nd-placed Mumbaikar by clocking 09:06. Sharath Mohan clocked 09:10 for third. Sinan

2O autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

Francis and Sharath Kumar finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Naresh VS bagged the Group B upto 165cc class by clocking 08:55 with Pavan BK second in 09:10. A further four seconds behind was Subramanya T in third while Vinay Prasad was fourth as he took another four seconds to cross the flag ahead of Suhail Ahmed in fifth.

By clocking 09:50sec, Elango G won the Scooter Class.

Subramanya T fell short by six seconds and had to settle for second position while Karthik N time of 10 minutes-flat secured

him the last place on the podium. Goutham N finished fourth.

Rakesh Kumar V won the Group B upto 130cc class by clocking 09:35sec. Sudeep Kottary with a six seconds difference finished in second position and Ajin Abraham V a further seven seconds difference managed to hold on to the podium.

Patteeswara N came fourth in 10:05sec while Goutham C settled for fifth.

Open Class upto 600cc was won

by Sharath Mohan as he clocked the stage in 08:38sec. Badal Doshi timed 09:01 to finish

R1, KANAKAPURA

Overall winner Yuva Kumar from Hero Motocorp

Subramanya T winner of Scooter class

Sharath Mohan winner Group A upto 600cc class

second. Sinan Francis was third another five seconds behind.

Suhail Ahmed won the Bullet class in 09:17sec beating Naresh VS to second position by one second. Sharath Kumar S clocked 09:20sec for third.

Vishwas SD was fourth and Peter V Pallathatta finished fifth.

Ladies class had a lone lady participant Sneha. She successfully completed the course clocking 9:56 to claim the class prize and kept the women in motorsport class alive in this event as many withdrew due to injuries and other reasons.

In the Group D upto 260cc Class, Samuel Abraham clocked 09:08sec was the winner, Sanjay Somashekar with one second deficit stood second and with further two seconds difference Naresh VS completed the podium. Vinay Prasad came in fourth position and Rakesh Kumar V finished in fifth

position.

Yuva Kumar from team Hero Motosports clocked the fastest timing of 08:36 and was the winner of Group B upto 260cc class. His timing in turn gave him the 'Best Rider of the Day' tag.

Pavan BK with 12 seconds difference finished second.

Suhail Ahmed completed the podium with one-second difference. Fourth place was bagged by Vinay Prasad and Sanjay Somashekar finished fifth.

Sudeep Kottary from Mangaluru clocked 09:26sec to win the Group B upto 400cc class while V Venu Ramesh Kumar with a timing of 10:12sec was second.

Sajeesh Reghunathan settled for third a further three seconds behind.

In the Zonal Star Class, Sanjay Somashekar clocked 9:12sec for facile victory. Karan M came way behind in second timing 10:34 sec. Anuj Siddu did not take the start.

Sanjay Somashekar winner of Zone Star

Badal Doshi in open class upto 600cc class SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 21

SPRINT NATIONALS

Yuva Kumar excels again

Sharath Mohan adds Group A upto 600cc win, to make it a double

PHOTO BY: SRI HARSHA NADIGER / RANJITH

T

he back-to-back Round 2 was held at the same venue on the next day, Sunday, on August 22. Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports clocked 08:04sec to be the fastest man of the day and overall winner on the same 7-km track run in reverse direction.

Sharath Mohan secured two podiums as he stood second and third in two different classes.

Sanjay Somashekar by clocking 08:12 finished fourth followed

by Pavan BK in fifth. Samuel Abraham came in sixth position.

Sharath Mohan of Mallapuram (Kerala) was the leader in the Group A upto 600cc class clocking 08:10sec. Samuel Abraham and Sinan Francis,

both from Kerala, finished in the same second but the fraction count put Samuel in second spot and Sinan had to settle for third position. Badal Doshi was six seconds slower to finish fourth and Vishwas SD the topper in the Class, in Round 1 came fifth a further two seconds behind.

Naresh VS dominated the Group B upto 165cc class for the second time in a row. He managed to extract that fraction of a second (0.37) to beat Pavan BK and Subramanya T completed the podium with a deficit of two more seconds to the second place. Vinay Prasad with 21 seconds difference was fourth and Anoop Manjappa came fifth a further 48 seconds behind.

Subramanya climbed a position

22 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

up from the previous round. He was the winner of the Round 2 in the Scooter class with a total time of 09:08. Karthik N also improved on his position by finishing second with about 10 seconds difference. Elango G lost lot of time and had to settle for third with a difference of 29 seconds to the previous rider.

Goutham finished fourth while Badal Doshi did not take a start.

Rakesh Kumar V and Sudeep Kottary retained their previous round positions in the Group B upto 130cc class. Rakesh won again with a timing of 09:12.

Sudeep fell short of the top spot by a second and hence had to settle for second position.

Patteeswaran, with a further 24 seconds deficit completed the

podium. Ajin Abraham and Goutham C finished in fourth and fifth position respectively.

It was back-to-back victory for Sharath Mohan in Open class upto 600cc. He was the topper as he clocked the fastest time of 08:06. Naresh VS came second 18 seconds behind the winner.

Sinan Francis stood third taking another 3 seconds to complete the course. Vishwas SD was fourth and Badal Doshi finished fifth.

The top-four finished in the same order of the previous round in the Bullet Class. Suhail Ahmed clocked 08:37 to finish on top.

Naresh VS with one second deficit stood second and Sharath Kumar with 13 seconds difference finished third. Vishwas

R2, KANAKAPURA

Rakesh Kumar V winner Group B upto 130cc

was fourth while Yogesh Kumar finished fifth.

The lone lady participant Sneha clocked 10:46 to get full points in the class again and kept the category running.

Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports won the Group D upto 260cc class by clocking 08:24. Sanjay Somashekar was 15 seconds slower and finished second. Naresh VS was third another 3 seconds behind.

Sathya Raj from Hero Motosports was fourth with further two seconds deficit to the third-placed rider. Pavan BK finished fifth.

Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports won the Group B upto 260cc class to make it a double for the week-end clocking 08:04. Sanjay Somashekar was slower by eight seconds and finished second.

Pavan BK with another three seconds difference finished third. Sathya Raj from Hero Motosports with six seconds behind in fourth. Suhail Ahmed came fifth as he took another four seconds to reach the flag.

In the Group B upto 400cc class, Suhail Ahmed was the winner with a time of 08:35sec. Sudeep Kottary with 29-second difference was second. Sajeesh Reghunathan was third another 22 seconds behind. Venu Ramesh Kumar settled for fourth.

Sanjay Somashekar once again dominated the South Zone Star class by clocking 08:27sec.

Anoop Manjappa with 1:19sec difference was second as Nikhil S Shrivatsa a further 33 seconds behind was third. Sai Kumar was fourth while Karan M finished in fifth position.

Sudeep Kottary first runner-up Group B upto 130cc

Karthik N second runner-up Scooter class Suhail Ahmed winner Bullet class

Sathya Raj in action SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 23

RACING

NATIONALS

Anish, Deepak get maiden victory; Ryhana, Allwin excel Rajini, Jagan sparkle again; Anfal Akdhar tops Novice race PHOTO BY: SRINIVASA KRISHNAN

B

engaluru-based Anish Damodara Shetty from Race Concepts pulled off a well-deserved win, if a bit fortuitous, his first of the season in the premier Prostock 301400cc category as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2021 concluded at the MMRT, Chennai on September 12.

Veterans Rajini Krishnan (RACR) and Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) posted brilliant but contrasting victories in their respective categories to light up the second round on Saturday.

Also scoring his maiden win of

the 2021 season was Deepak Ravikumar who led a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing with championship leader Jagan Kumar in tow ahead of Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing's Senthil Kumar. The lead Honda rider, Rajiv Sethu, who was eyeing a possible win, crashed after making contact with Senthil in the last lap and eventually finished a distant ninth which fetched him one point.

Rajini, 41, stamped his authority and class while winning the race one after starting from P6 while Jagan Kumar, 31 from TVS Racing, exchanged leads with arch-rival and pole-sitter Rajiv

24 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

Sethu from Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing before clinching the cliff-hanger with a last-lap overtake as the two crossed the finish line with little separating them. Both Rajini and Jagan thus notched their third consecutive wins in the championship having scored a double apiece in Round-1 last month.

Premier Prostock 301-400cc Rajini rode his Yamaha R3 with craft and guile that reflected his vast experience as he bid his time after starting from P6 before making a decisive move, to move to the front of the pack and stayed there with ease. The local star, who had won both the

races in Round-1 last month, was confident personified to finish ahead of Rockers Racing's Soorya PM from Chennai representing Rockers Racing, who could not defend his pole position, and Hyderabad's Rahil Shetty from Hyderabad representing Gusto Racing.

Race two was action-packed.

With several front-runners, including championship leader Rajini Krishnan from RACR crashed out in the latter part of the eight-lap race, the door was open for Anish Shetty, astride a KTM RC390, to seize the opportunity to win from TVS Racing's KY Ahamed, the

R2, CHENNAI

defending champion, and Hyderabad's Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing).

Rajini, winner of three consecutive races, crashed at the last corner on the sixth lap soon after surviving a contact on the back sweep with TVS Racing's Deepak Ravikumar whose challenge thus ended.

Despite the poor result, Rajini continues to occupy the top spot in the championship stakes with 75 points while Anish Shetty (63) moved to second position, followed by Rahil Shetty (58).

Pro-Stock 165cc class In Race one Jagan and Sethu battled hard but fair. Starting from pole position, Sethu yielded ground to Jagan but midway through the six-lapper, the Honda ace regained the lead to set up a last-lap humdinger.

The pair took the last corner of the last lap in tandem and raced side-by-side to the finish line

where Jagan just about got his nose in front for a thrilling win as Sethu, for the third race in a row finished second. Behind the pair, KY Ahamed finished third after close fight with his TVS Racing team-mate Deepak Ravikumar who ran wide entering the home straight on the last lap.

The expected TVS vs Honda battle in race flickered for a while in Race 2 with Jagan. Rajiv and Ravikumar swapping lead. The trio was bunched close together, with Senthil lurking in their shadow. With a couple of the eight laps left, Ravikumar forged ahead while behind him, Rajiv and Senthil tangled which took out the former, leaving Jagan to snatch P2 while Senthil completed the podium.

The result still left Jagan in the championship lead with a tally of 93 points, well clear of Ravikumar (67) and Rajiv Sethu (56).

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 25

RACING

NATIONALS

Girls class winners

Novice Stock 165cc Scoring maximum points was 20-year old from Thrissur, Anfal Akdhar from Rockstar Racing.

Starting the six-lap race from P3 on the 38-bike grid, Anfal Akdhar had to fight hard for his victory as he received close attention from pole-sitter Allwin Sundar from AS Motorsports and Alwin Xavier from Sparks Racing, also from Thrissur. Sundar, winner of both races in Round-1 last month, eventually fell out of contention due to some issues with his bike, leaving Akdhar and Xavier to fight for the top honours. Akdhar managed to keep his wheel in front as he crossed the finish line just ahead of Xavier in race one.

Sarvesh Balappa from Hubballi representing Spark Racing finished third.

In the second race Allwin clocked 13:01.182 to win the race, Alwin Sundar very narrowly missed the top spot, with a difference of .036 he had to settle for second position, Anfal with further two seconds difference stood third.

Girls Stock 165cc class Earlier, Ryhana Bee representing RACR from Chennai chalked up her second consecutive win in the Girls category, while pushing front-runner Lani Zena Fernandez representing Speed Up Racing from Puducherry to second place. Mumbai's Jagruthi Penkar from Sparks Racing completed the podium. While her teammate, defending champion Ann Jennifer, who had won all four races last season, crashed again as she did in last month's first round and is still to open her account.

Double for Kavin Quintal, Prakash Kamath and Kevin Kannan 26 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

Kavin Quintal from NSF 250R, Prakash Kamath in CBR 150 and Kevin Kannan in Hornet 2.0 all the three dominated the round two of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup held at MMRT track at Chennai.

NSF 250R class Race one was dominated by Kavin Quintal from Chennai by clocking 11:08.113, Mohsin Peramban from Valanchery by clocking 11:22.860 was second, as Sarthak Chavan from Pune with a timing of 11:22.959 which included 10sec penalty for Jump start. Race two was a fourth straight win for Kavin Quintal this season with a timing of 14:52.563 , Sarthak with nine seconds difference finished second as Geoffrey Reviven Eammanuel from Chennai clocked 15:08.141 to complete the podium.

CBR 150 class Prakash Kamath from Bokaro Steel City by clocking 13:14.859 was the winner, Shubankar Joshi from Pune clocked 13:23.925 to finish second and Johann Reeves Emmanuel from Chennai with just over three seconds difference finished third. It was a double win for Prakash Kamath as he won the race two by clocking 13:15.766, Johann with a difference of thirteen seconds stood in second position and Theopaul Leander from Chennai with a very narrow difference of .150sec stood third.

Hornet 2.0 class Chennai Rider Kevin Kannan finished on top by clocking 13:26.735, Alwin Sundar also from Chennai with less than nine seconds difference stood second, while Rajkumar C from Coimbatore with a margin of .101sec stood third.

It was a fourth straight win for Kevin as he finished the race two with a timing of 13:28.694, Balaji G from Chennai with just less than half a second difference was second and Alwin Sundar also from Chennai with a further difference of .250sec stood third.

R2, CHENNAI

Young stars Jinendra, Rakshitha continue winning-run Amarnath Menon, Navaneeth share honours in Open RR310 Class Jinendra Kiran Sangave, the 12year old from Kolhapur in TVS Rookie and Chennai's Rakshitha Dave in TVS Girls class maintained their unbeaten run in their respective categories. In the round one of the TVS One Make Championship held at MMRT Track in Chennai.

TVS Apache Open RR310: Navaneeth Kumar from Puducherry clocked 11:49.658 to win the race one, while Amarnath Menon from Calicut clocked 11:50.606 and settled for second position, as Vivek Pillai from Chennai finished third with a very close gap by clocking 11:50.729.

Jagan in lead

Amarnath climbed one position up in race two with a timing of 11:51.317 to win the race, Navaneeth with .451sec deficit was second and KK Anandhu from Chennai finished third with a timing of 11:52.872.

Rookie RTR 200: Jinendra Kiran Sangave from Kolhapur was the topper as he clocked 2:48.856 for a comfortable win over Chiranth V from Bengaluru in second position with a timing of 13:04.132, Shreyas Copparam Hareesh from Bengaluru by clocking 13:04.992 finished third.

Kolhapur's 12-year old Jinendra

Kiran Sangave also recorded his fourth consecutive win in this category in race two he clocked 12:56.019, Vignesh Gowd from Hyderaad was slower by four seconds to finish in second position, while Jagathishree with .304sec difference settled for third.

Girls RTR 200 Girls class: Rakshitha Dave from Chennai with a timing of 11:15.447 won the class, she was followed by Renuka Gajendran from Bengaluru by clocking 11:30.442 came in third position was Zigna Pamnani from Kalyan with a timing of 11:39.959.

Pro-stock upto 165cc winners

Deepak in lead SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 27

KARTING

X30NATL

Arafath pips Nikhilesh for Round 4 honours Jaden takes title fight to last round; Ruhaan dominates X30 Sr

PHOTO BY: SHAHJAHAN

A

rafath, Jaden R Pariat and Ruhaan finish on top of the MECO FMSCI National Karting Championship in Round 4 NC Racing MSport IAME X30 India held in Bengaluru.

Cadet Class Arafath Sheikh from Pune with 34 points topped the table with two top podium finishes, stood next to him in second position was Nikhilesh Raju from Bengaluru with same points from two top podium finishes but due to better qualifying time Arafath took the top slot. Vedha Vishnu from Chennai with 22

points was third. Anuj A from Madurai with 19 points was fourth and Rohaan Reddy from Bengaluru with 16 points stood fifth.

The first race belonged to Arafth as Nikhilesh followed him in second. Vedha came third as Anuj and Rohaan had to share fourth and fifth position. In Race 2, Nikhilesh had an edge over Arafath and he topped the race while the latter came in second.

Anuj completed the podium, as Zarah Misra from Bengaluru was fourth and Vedha came in fifth. It was Nikhilesh's second straight top-finish in Race 3 as Arafth

28 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

finished second and Vedha finished third. Rohaan and Zarah were in fourth and fifth, in that order. The final race had the same results as Race 1. Arafth, once again was to the top and Nikhilesh had to settle for second. Vedha was third and Anuj came in fourth with Rohaan finishing fifth.

Junior Class Jaden R Pariat from Guwahati with 34 points and two topfinishes was the winner of the class while Rohaan Madesh from Bengaluru with 32 points from two wins was second. Akshat Misra also from Bengaluru

managed to hold on the podium with 22 points. Sai Shiva Makesh from Pune and Ishaan Madesh from Bengaluru stood fourth and fifth respectively.

Rohaan began the class with a win and managed to keep second-placed Jaden away till the end while Ishaan completed the podium. Akshat was fourth and Abhay M from Bengaluru finished fifth. In Race 2, Jaden climbed one position up to finish on top and Rohaan had to settle for second position. Abhay came in third. Sai and Akshat had to settle for fourth and fifth positions respectively. Third race

R4, BENALURU

Rohaan Madesh going past Ishaan Madesh in Junior class

Arafath Sheikh in the lead in Cadet class

"I am very happy to win my maiden senior Championship to add to my two Junior National titles. I am eagerly waiting to take part in the World Finals in Italy," said Ruhaan Alva.

of the day saw Jaden once again winning beating Akshat to second.

Sai finished third on podium. Rohaan stood fourth and Ishaan fifth. In the final race of the class, Rohaan reclaimed the glory by finishing on top of Jaden with a dominant performance that saw round winner Jaden go to him and congratulate him after the race. Jade came second in the last race and Akshat came third. Sai was fourth and Ishaan finished fifth.

Senior Class It was a clean sweep for Ruhaan Alva from Bengaluru with four wins from four races. He topped the table with 40 points. Nigel Abraham Thomas from Bengaluru with 24 points was second while Nirmal Umashankar from Chennai logged 20 points despite a DNF and managed to finish third. Tarun N, also from Bengaluru garnered 17 points and with compatriot Vidyali Reddy, they stood fourth and fifth respectively.

Ruhaan dominated every race of the day. In Race 1, he was the topper followed by Nigel in second as Nirmal Umashankar finished third.

Tarun finished fourth and Vidyali was fifth. In Race 2, Ruhaan beat Nigel again the remaining did not finish (DNF). The Race 3 leader was once again Ruhaan followed by Nirmal in second and Tarun in third. Nigel managed to be in fourth and Vidyali came fifth. The final race results were similar to that of Race 3.

Tarun and Nigel in Senior class

Sai Shiva Makesh leading in the start of Junior class

Senior class winners SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 29

KARTING X 3 0 N AT L

Ruhaan

continues domination in X30 Senior Class

Ishaan sparkles in Juniors while Cadet Arafath sweeps all 4 races

PHOTO BY: SHAHJAHAN

R

uhaan, Ishaan and Arafath dominated their respective classes in the fifth round of the MECO FMSCI National Karting Championship 2021 in the MSport IAME X30 India class held at Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru.

Cadet Class A single-point difference decided the positions 2,3 and 4 in the Cadet class. Pune-based Arafath Sheikh won all the four races with 40 points to sweep the Cadet section. Nikhilesh Raju

from Bengaluru with 25 points was second. Anuj A from Madurai with 24 points was third.

Vedha Vishnu from Chennai finished fourth. Rohaan Reddy from Bengaluru did not take a start.

Arafath won Race 1, as Nikhilesh came second and Vedha finished third. Anuj was fourth position.

The winner Arafath was followed

by Anuj in second as he made up two places in Race 2, Nikhilesh slid down from second in Race 1 to third in this race. Vedha too lost positions to finish fourth.

The third race once again was

30 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

won by Arafath. Nikhilesh managed to finish second as he regained his Race one finish position. Anuj completed the podium. Vedha was fourth for the second time in succession.

The final race of the class saw Arafath in lead once again followed by Vedha in second position and Anuj, for the second time, finished third.

Nikhilesh was out of podium for the first time this round, as he settled for fourth.

Junior Class Madesh brothers from Bengaluru dominated the class.

Younger brother Ishaan Madesh finally managed to lead the class by two points over Rohaan Madesh who had 32 points.

Jaden R Pariat from Guwahati with 25 points finished third. Sai Shiva Makesh from Pune with 20 points was fourth and Akshat Misra from Bengaluru was fifth with 16 points.

Ishaan began his winning spree right from Race 1. Jaden finished second as Sai finished behind him in third position. Rohaan had to settle for fourth while Abhay finished fifth. Rohaan managed to win Race 2 beating

R5, BENGALURU

Rohaan Madesh in the lead

Vedha Vishnu just behind Arafath

Jaden R Pariat holding on Sai Shiva Makesh

"I am proud to get the fastest laps in all the four races. It is a very fruitful day and I am happy to end the championship with a bang, with two pole, two wins and two second on the podium. And the top-2 with my champion brother, Rohaan, in the other two races is a bonus.

I enjoyed my races as I always look to beat my own lap times. I am so glad to dip it under 56seconds and to become the 'Fastest Driver of the Day, '' said 12-year Ishaan,

Ishaan and Jaden came behind in third. Meanwhile, Sai and Akshat finished in fourth and fifth respectively. Rohaan also dominated Race 3 and he managed to keep Ishaan behind him in second position and once again Jaden finished third. Akshat finished fourth and Sai was fifth. In the final race of the class, Ishaan repeated his previous performance and finished first and managed to hold on Rohaan. Jaden for the third time finished third. Sai and Akshat finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Senior Class Ruhaan Alva from Bengaluru with 37 points from three top finishes was the winner of the class he was followed by Nirmal Umashankar from Chennai with 26 points was second. Nigel Abraham Thomas with 25 points finished third. Vidyali Reddy with 19 points finished fourth and Tarun M with 17 points was fifth.

Ruhaan won the Race 1 as Nirmal managed to finish behind him in second position. Vidyali Reddy finished third. Nigel was fourth followed by Tarun in fifth. In Race 2, Nigel managed to pip Ruhaan and finished first, as Ruhaan saw a rare loss this season. Nirmal slipped down to third, a place lower than the previous race. Tarun fiished fourth and Akshat finished fifth. Ruhaan regained his top slot from this race while Nirmal was second and Akshat finished third. Vidyali finished in fourth Tarun was fifth. In the final race of the day, Ruhaan was on top followed by Nigel in second and Nirmal was third. Vidyali finished fourth and Tarun finished fifth.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 31

RACING

Commanding victory in Monza for Jehan Daruvala Season's first F2 triumph at 'Temple of Speed' gets the Indian his 2nd F2 win

I

ndian racing star Jehan Daruvala, halted his luckless run with a commanding win in the 2nd Formula 2 race at Monza. Jehan started second, and completely dominated the field from Lap 1 to win by a massive margin at the Italian Grand Prix weekend.

The Red Bull Racing Junior, started on the front row at the 'Temple of Speed' behind German racer David Beckman.

As the lights went out, Jehan had an excellent start. He braked

really late to make an excellent move into the first corner.

An incident behind resulted in a Virtual Safety Car situation. The moment racing resumed, Jehan put his head down and drove a clean consistent race. The first few laps had Beckman within DRS range, but Jehan kept his cool and slowly inched away, opening a one-second margin.

Once Beckman was out of DRS range, Jehan steadily increased his lead every lap.

32 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

Three laps before the finish, Jehan had already opened a comfortable 5-second margin.

Beckman under pressure fell down to third while Dutchman, Bent Viscaal moved into second.

Soon former F3 Champion, Robert Shwartzman from Russia also overtook the German.

Jehan's dominance meant he won the race by over 6 seconds, ahead of Viscaal and Shwartzman. This was Jehan's third podium of the season and second Formula 2 victory after

he became the first-ever Indian to win a Formula 2 race last year at the Sakhir Grand Prix weekend.

"It feels truly special to hear the Indian National Anthem on the top step of the podium. Winning at Monza is every racer's dream. I had qualified well and knew I had the pace to win. Getting ahead of David at the start and then breaking the tow, were critical moments in the race. A big thank you to Carlin for the great car.

INTERNATIONAL

Advait Deodhar suffers roller-coaster ride

The London-based Indian slips from P5 in Race 1 to P14 in Race 2

I'm looking forward to the feature race tomorrow." said an elated Jehan.

Jehan's fantastic performance in qualifying saw him qualify second, just 0.04 seconds shy of pole. He will start the Feature Race tomorrow in second position, where all racers need to complete a mandatory pit stop.

The race was telecast live on Eurosport at 2pm on Sunday afternoon.

Jehan Daruvala slips to 5th in Feature Race After the high in Monza, following his season's first victory and 2nd career F2 win, Jehan was in good position, at P2, to have another go at the podium, which missed narrowly due to incidents, off-road trips

and Safety Car periods, for the feature race on Sunday.

Oscar Piastri clinched a dominant first Feature Race win, beating Guanyu Zhou to extend his Championship lead. The duo were sparred a late battle with the rapid Dan Ticktum on fresh soft tyres as the race ended under Safety Car conditions, with the Carlin in third. Jehan Daruvala had to be content with fifth place.

"It was an eventful race and I ended up P5. I didn't get off the line well but had the pace to stay in the fight. Some hard battles and a couple of trips to the gravel made it pretty difficult to maintain the tyres. Thanks to all the support from my fans," said Jehan Daruvala on social media after the race.

I

nternational racer Advait Deodhar, is the only Indian taking part in the famous NASCAR, as the Mumbai-born London-based Yachtsman was raring to go in NASCAR2 Round 4 outing in Croatia.

"After two very successful outings at Brands Hatch, UK and Autodrom Most, Czech Republic where I garnered a win and two podiums, I came in looking strong for Round 4 at the Autodrom Grobnik in Croatia," said Deodhar.

“A majority of the grid competed at this track in 2020 but it was a first for me. It rained heavily for both practice sessions on Friday and I went into Qualifying on Saturday in the dry for the very first time.

Without enough time to reach the limit in the dry, the best I could manage was P6 which I consider as an

accomplishment. In Race 1, the best I could do in the dry was P5," he said. "Unfortunately, I went backwards in Race 2 and finished a lowly P14.

Something didn't click and I didn't get the results I wanted.

Overall, a very disappointing weekend, but all is not lost as it's still points in the bag. We now shift focus to the penultimate round of the Championship at former F1 track, Circuit Zolder in Belgium, a track I am confident that CAAL Racing and I will excel in," the Indian said.

"I'm now 64 points behind the Championship leader but it's still open for all to play for as there is a maximum of 240 points that can be scored as the final two races offer double points. Going to give it everything to try and win this Championship," Deodhar concluded.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 33

DRAG NATIONALS

Hemanth Muddappa posts fastest time Bengaluru riders dominate Indian Drag Nationals PHOTO BY: ADITYA BEDRE

R

iders from Bengaluru, spearheaded by 7time National champion Hemanth Muddappa, swept the honours in the first round of the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship which concluded at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT), amidst strict COVID19 safety protocols.

The Bangalore-based Coorgi, Muddappa, was the reigning champion and is looking for a fifth title in the class. The 31-year rider from Mantra Racing,

astride his Suzuki Hayabusa, was the quickest of all riders, clocking 07.882 seconds over 302-metres strip while winning the featured Super Sport Above 1051cc category ahead of fellowBengalureans Hafizullah Khan who came second position clocking 08.116 and Harish Naik, who completed the podium in 08.538sec.

Another Bengalurean, Mohd Riyaz (08.026) topped the time sheets in the Super Sport 851-1050cc class, followed by Muddappa with 08.116sec, who was a bit slow off the mark, and debutant NV Satyanarayana Raju from Hyderabad clocked 08.191sec to finish third.

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Super Sport Indian Four Stroke: The 361 to 550cc Class was bagged by Aiyaz Rem who clocked 12.568sec. Zuheeb Ahmed finished second in 12.860sec while D Annish Samson, from Speed Up Racing, clocked 12.942sec to finish third.

Chennai rider Bharath Raj from Rockers Racing won the 226 to 360cc Class in a time of 12.602sec. Yogeshwaran, also from Chennai representing Speed Up Racing, clocked 12.798sec to finish second while his teammate D Annish Samson, from Bengaluru, was a bit slower by 0.252sec and hence could only finish third.

Kevin Kannan from Chennai,

representing RACR Castrol Power, with a timing of 14.573sec was the winner of the class, Anand R from Chennai clocked 14.824 and finished second, with a narrow margin of 0.086sec. Bengaluru rider Chandrashekar settled for third position.

Two Stroke: In upto 130cc Class, Mujahid Pasha from Bengaluru by clocking 13.547sec was the winner followed by Prashanth from Chennai in second. He clocked 13.682sec for second while Mohd Rafiq from Bengaluru clocked 13.733sec to settle for third position.

Mohd Rafiq, also won the 131 to 165cc Class, clocking 12.818sec

R1, CHENNAI beating Husain Khan from Mumbai, who missed the top slot by 0.184sec.

Aiyaz Rem from Bengaluru with a difference of another 0.045sec came third.

Earlier on Saturday, Chennai Girls swept the podium in the 4 stroke upto 165cc Category. Lani Zena Fernandez clocked 16.591sec to win the Class, followed by Nivetha Jessica in second with a difference of 0.048sec. Soundari 'Sindy' Anand came a close-third a further 0.154sec behind.

Despite the comfortable win, Muddappa said due to the hightrack temperature, the timing was a tad slower than what he wanted. "The track temperature affected all the riders and we all posted slower timings. We were much quicker in January during the nal round of the 2020 Championship.

But I am happy to log full points," said Muddappa.

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SPRINT

organised by Motorsports Inc in association with Bengal Motor Sports Club, supported by Hero Motocorp, BMC filters and Reach Home Safe. As the two-day rally was rescheduled to single day due to heavy rains since a week, which had made the track slippery.

NATIONALS

Overall Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports was the fastest in the event on a stock Group D bike, he clocked 3:42.700, his second best timing of 3:43.600 in the Group B bike gave him the top two finish spot, while his team mate Sathyaraj Arumugam clocked 3:49.200 in a Group B bike to secure the third position.

Barno Barman a localite with 3:57.500 was fourth and Janardhan P with 4:03.200 stood fifth.

Vishal tops Group B In upto 130cc class Vishal Das with a timing of 5:20.500 was the winner followed by Akash Ojha in secon with a timing of 5:56.100. Mohammed Irfan had to drop out mid way and hence did not finish.

Janardhan bags 131 to 165cc class By clocking 4:08.700 Janardhan P managed to win the class. He was followed by Anoop

Manjappa in second position with a difference of over two seconds. Brano Barman was slower by a further eight seconds to complete the podium. Uday Ganguli was five seconds behind as he missed the pdium taking fourth and Sisir Kumar Raha by clocking 4:35.600 stood fifth.

Yuva wins 166 to 260cc class Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports clocked 3:43.600 to won the class with the best time.

He was followed by his team mate Sathyaraj Arumugam with over five seconds deficit in second. Localite Barno Barman was a further 15 seconds behind in third. Janardhan with just over a second difference was fourth and Anoop Manjappa with less than a second difference was fifth.

Jayant Dutt beats Uday Ganguli in 261 to 400cc class Jayant Dutt with a timing of 4:23.000 beat Uday Ganguli by over six seconds to win the class.

Subhajit Show a further 11 seconds difference stood third.

Vishal Das by clocking 4:55.800 was fourth.

Yuva stars again in Group D Upto 260cc class was bagged by Yuva Kumar from Hero Motosports. He clocked 3:42.700, the fastest timing of the day. Hansraj Saikai was slower by 34 seconds and had to

Yuva Kumar dominates;

Barman thrills in East Zone PHOTO BY: GNANARAJ S

Y

uva Kumar dominates the East Zone third round, as two-wheeler stage rally returned to Kolkata after a span of 18 years. But it was local rider Barno Barman who became the only other rider to

clock under 4-minute time in the Round 4 of the Motorsports Inc FMSCI Indian National Rally Sprint Championship held at about 8 kms mixed-tarmac at the murram dirt terrain in the interior parts of Burdhwan district

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Janardhan P winner Group B upto 130cc

R3, KOLKATA settle for second position.

Ratnadeep Nath fell back with over seven seconds difference to settle for third. Baishali Nath of Assam by clocking 4:51.100 was fourth and Vishal Das managed to hold on to fifth position by clocking 5:04.700.

Scooter class for Sumantra Sumantra Aich managed to win the Scooter class by clocking 5:40.200, Janardhan P finished behind him in second position with a difference of just 0.700sec while Vishal Das with a very narrow difference of 0.100sec difference stood third. Subhajit Show with further four seconds deficit stood fourth.

Hunsraj wins Bullets Hunsraj Saikai won Bullet class clocking 4:17.500 as he beat Kaustab Chaudhary by over seven seconds. Uday Ganguli was just below two seconds slower to Kaustab and settled for

third. Sumit Biswas by clocking 4:37.200 was fourth while Niyar Kamal Saikia was fifth with over five seconds difference.

Upto 600cc Open class belonged to Janardhan P. He clocked 4:03.200 and with a difference of just below two seconds Anoop Manjappa stood second. Dwairath Manna clocked 50:25.900 to finish third.

Barman, the Zonal star

Uday Ganguly first runner-up Zonal Star

Barno Barman was the Zonal Star as he clocked the secondbest time of the event, 3:57.500 and was the only third participant to clock under four minutes. Uday Ganguli finished behind him with a difference of 14 seconds. Sisir Kumar Raha was slower by eight seconds to finish third. Jayant Dutt clocked 4:22.300 to secure fourth while Debjit Paul, a further four seconds in deficit, stood fifth.

Janardhan P in Group B 166 to 260cc class

Barno Barman winner Zonal Star

Janardhana P winner openupto 600cc SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 37

SPRINT NATIONALS

Anoop Manjappa winner Group B 131 to 165cc

Barno Barman

bags Round 4 honours Motorsport Inc FMSCI Sprint Nationals bring back stage rally to the East PHOTO BY: GNANARAJ S

T

he same 8kms track was taken in reverse direction for Round 4. It was very tricky as the overnight heavy downpour had few water logging and opposite tyre lines.

Barno Barman continued to clock below 4 minutes as he secured top two positions in Overall with a time of 3:57.200 in Zonal Star class. He even secured second position by clocking 3:59.100 followed by Janardhan P in third, just five seconds slower. Uday

Ganguli finished 0.400sec behind but had to be content with only a fourth place. Anoop Manjappa with just below five seconds difference was fifth.

Group B Vishal Das by clocking 5:30.400 was the winner of Upto 130cc class. Mohammed Irfan clocked 12:19.800 to finish second and Akash Ojha did not finish (DNF).

Anoop Manjappa bagged the

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Jayant Dutt winner Group B 261 to 400cc

R4, KOLKATA clocked 5:40.900 to complete the podium. Vishal Das was slower by five seconds to take fourth position.

In the Bullet class, Hansraj Saikia clocked 4:16.600 to win the class. Uday Ganguli was four seconds slower and had to settle for second position. Sumit Biswas was a further five seconds slower to complete the podium. Kaustab Chaudhary missed the podium by a second.

Niyar Kamal Saikia was further 18 seconds slower to settle for fifth.

Janardhan P in action Anoop Manjappa won the upto 600cc Open class by clocking 4:09.500 beating Janardhan P by over a second. Dwairath Manna by clocking 4:43.900 finished third.

131 to 165cc class by clocking 4:11.700. Uday Ganguli was 13 seconds slower and had to settle for second position. Barno Barman took another second to finish on the last step on the podium. Shouvik Sarkar clocked 4:35.200 for fourth position as Subhodeep Ghosh with over three seconds difference stood fifth.

Jayant Dutt won the 261 to 400cc class with a timing of 4:26.100. He was followed by Uday Ganguli as he clocked 4:29.200 for second place.

Subhajit Show completed the podium 7 seconds behind the second-placed rider. Vishal Das with a timing of 5:11.600 came fourth.

In the Zonal Star category, Barno Barman was the only rider to clock below four minutes. He won in 3:57.200 to push Uday Ganguli to second as he came behind taking another seven seconds. Debjit Paul was another 13 seconds behind in third. Sisir Kumar Raha with was fourth. Jayant Dutt with a difference of 0.200sec to his immediate ride stood fifth.

Baishali Nath clocked 4:40.600 to finish sixth.

Hansraj Saikia winner Bullet class

Group D Upto 260cc class was won by Hansraj Saikia with a timing of 4:14.600 as he beat Ratnadep Nath by two seconds. Baishali Nath finished third taking 12 seconds more. Akash Mandal clocked 4:45.500 for fourth and Vishal Das timed 5:13.100 to finish fifth.

Janardhan P won the Scooter class as he clocked 5:21.000.

Subhajit Show was just over six seconds slower to finish in second position. Sumantra Aich

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BENGALURU

Pragathi Gowda beats `big boys' to bag fastest-driver tag

P

ragathi Gowda of Bengaluru claimed overall honours bagging the fastest driver tag powering in her Volkswagen Polo to a stunning time of 2 min, 22.268 seconds over two-laps of the 1-km United Off-road track in Bengaluru on August 22.

Ashwin Reddy, Abhin R Rai and Syed Salman bagged a double each in the professional class on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Moin Pasha, Sahil Khan and Asad Pasha also won their classes in the pro section.

Beating many top male drivers in the 13-car start list of the feature event, slided the corners and attacked the straights to top the time-sheets in Race 1 to beat Ashwin Reddy to second and Moin Pasha to third place.

Pragathi eased off on Day 2 due to the slippery track where rookie Syed Salman, proved his mastery on the slushy terrain to beat Asad Pasha and star driver Dhruva Chandrasekhar who was not in his elements due to technical issues with his car.

Ashwin Reddy bagged upto 1600cc and upto 2000cc class, Abhin R Rai also bagged a double on day one by winning

upto 1400cc and Esteem class.

Jayanth Samynathan bagged the Pro Rally- tuned cars, Pragathi Gowda bagged the Pro United off-road open class and Ladies class, Moin Pasha bagged the upto 1100cc class.

In the Race 2, It was a double for Syed Salman in the Pro United Off-road Open class and Rallytuned cars, Sahil Khan won upto 1100cc class, Asad Pasha bagged upto 1400cc class. Day 1 double wammy driver Abin R Rai bagged Esteem class for the second time.

Pragathi Gowda won the Ladies class followed by Tarushi Vikram in second place. Naresh from Bro Racing was the winner of Pro Tuner class. Dheeraj Manae won the Diesel class and the Gypsy class was bagged by Ravi Kumar. `Ìt's always a good feeling to improve times and Time Attack provided me the right stage as the terrain is very technical and it helped me sharpen my skills to be ready for the INRC. Beating the big boys is a bonus,'' added the Bengalurean, who made pundits take notice with her speed in a rally-prep INRC3 spec, in her debut at Itanagar last December.

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14

DRIVE

Sharper Swag!

Hyundai has opened a spanking new segment with the i20 N Line. With Hyundai's motorsport DNA lines and looks neatly encapsulated, the i20 N Line will appeal well to the Young aspirational buyers. It not only gives you the sporty looks but also to some extent, a sporty performance as well.

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UDAIPUR

The Hyundai new i20 N Line is here to offer Performance, Power and Fun drive

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DRIVE

HYUNDAI i20 N LINE Engine 1.0 l Turbo GDi petrol

Displacement 998 cm3

Maximum Power 88.3 kW (120 PS) / 6000 r/min

Maximum Torque 172 Nm (17.5 kgm) / 1500 - 4000 r/min

Transmission 7-speed dual clutch transmission (DCT) 6-speed intelligent manual transmission(iMT)

Fuel* Efficiency (DCT) - 20.25 kmpl (iMT) - 20 kmpl

A

s the History of the N Line goes, N stands for Namyang; their Global R&D center, established in the year 2012. In spite of this model entering late into India ,the i20 NLine also signals the beginning of its Indian N performance division. The i30 N Line which has already given Hyundai a upward breakthrough, among 11 other models in 40 countries, which amounts to 20% of their overall sales. might see similar rollouts here as well.

As we got our first hand experience of this i20 N Line at Udaipur, passing through the

Motorsport appeal Twin Tip Muffler

busy, narrow and crowded roads finally leading to the National highway. The i20 N line is available with the Hyundai 1.0 Turbo GDI petrol engine alone. It is always a warm feeling to hear the welcoming voice while entering the car. Hyundai has put in decent efforts to improve the steering, brakes and dampers on the N line.

The dampers are made 30% more stiffer than the standard version, which gives the driver more confidence while cornering, braking and at high speeds.

When we talk of driving dynamics, the N Line is significantly sportier than the regular i20.The steering ensures a greater degree of driver confidence, distantly mimicing the one used in the WRC car. The steering has optimum weight and offers good connect with

Adding up to this is the rear disc brakes, which amplifies the braking confidence and reduces the vehicle stopping distance considerably. On the safety front are the advanced drive controls, all 4 disc brakes, Electronic stability control, Hill Assist Control, Vehicle stability

R16 Diamond cut Alloy wheels with Red CAlipers

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the wheels. The steering torque and angle of the EPS feel fine.

High speed stability is decent too.

Sporty tail gate spoiler with side wings

management etc playing significant roles.

Exterior Design: Talking of the front, it has an N Line-spec sporty bumper, while the grill has a Chequered flag pattern with the N Line logo integrated, adding up to the sportiness are the Athletic Red Highlights in the front and the side sills, R16 Diamond cut Alloys with Red Calipers further strengthens the aesthetics. The rear has a dark chrome Garnish with an Aerodynamic Roof spoiler. Further giving a Motorsport appeal is the Twin Tip Muffler. Yes, the car gets a different, sportier soundtrack.

Chequered Flag Inspired Front Grille

UDAIPUR

Chequered Flag Design Leather Seats

Interior Design: The cabin gets sporty all black interiors, New Gear knobs for both manual and DCT transmissions, sportier three spoke steering, seats with Chequered design and Red inserts and stitches. Adding upto all is the Red Ambient Lights.

Gear Knob with N Line Logo with red piping

functions including driver side window operation and sunroof.

Other key features inside include sunroof, parking assist, digital instrument cluster, electrochromic mirror, wireless charger, cruise control etc.

Conclusion: The touchscreen infotainment system is almost the same as that of the regular car and gets Bluelink connected car technology with 58 connected features on offer. It supports voice commands for essential

WRC learning has gone into the steering setup, the torque and steering angle give a lot of feel, confidence and stability at high speeds and while cornering.

Adding up to this is the 30mm additional damping, which

Fog lamp and Automatic Headlamps

Dark Chrome connecting tail lamp

certainly supports while taking on fast corners and anti banking steeps, also we never felt the increase in rollover in bad roads due to the additional dampness.

We did find the Pedal shifter very interesting but since we test drove on a public road, we never attempted the 0 to 100 kph run.

Twin tip sporty exhaust muffler which is WRC inspired definitely gives a sporty soundtrack. With little more up-gradation in performance, safety and styling in mind, though 1000cc looks all the more basic, this can definitely be a worthy rally car.

SPORTINESS Chequered flag inspired front grille and Leather seats diamond cut alloy wheels 3-spoke steering wheel 0-100 kmph in 9.9 Seconds Twin tip muffler Sporty tailgate spoiler with side wings All 4 Disc Brakes Paddle Shifters Athletic red highlights Sporty metal pedals

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DRIVE

Mg’s NEW ASTOR We recently tested MG Motor’s new Astor, a mid-size SUV and here is our take on the product

A

stor becomes MG's 4th Product in 24 months, this Mid size SUV is the first car to feature artificial intelligence technology and comes with Standard safety features like, Electronic stability program ESP, Hill Descent Control HDC, traction control system TCS, 4 Disk Brakes, Hill Hold Control HHC, ISOFIX Child Anchor. It also gets 27 safety standard features going upto 49 depending upon the variants.

Exterior: MG Astor looks mostly like it is drawn from the all-electric

counterpart – the ZS EV. The hexagonal 'Celestial' grille is eyecatching with a centrally placed MG logo. The front bumper has a fog lamp housing and also accommodates the LED headlamps with neatly integrated LED DRLs. On the side we find a turbine-inspired 17inch alloys, both the front and rear have Red disc calipers. Traces of Black can be found on the front and rear bumpers and ORVMs as well. 'Brit dynamics' stands for Design and Performance.

At the rear the LED taillamps are in complete synergy with the overall design, the new

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segmented lighting signature looks particularly attractive and the bumper gets faux dual exhausts and a stylised diffuser, while the actual exhaust sits concealed beneath the body.

The tailgate also gets a host of badges with the MG logo as well as ZS, Astor and ADAS letterings.

Interior: Getting inside, the car feels more like a gadget, and you can even fire the engine and get going using your smartphone as the key. You have three interior colours on offer- dual tone Sangria red, dual tone Iconic

Ivory and Tuxedo black. A lot of attention has gone into cabin quality with some nice plastics, soft touch materials and the Leather with premium contrast stitching on the dashboard gives a very plush feel. The flat bottom steering wheel mounted with audio controls has a clean leather wrap. The front seats are quiet comfortable but might be of slight discomfort for overweight adults. The driver's seat can be electrically adjusted in sixways. Good leg space and a decent head space greets you into the rear seat row, but the rear seating position is more

DRIVE

upright. The rear has dual USB ports and dual rear AC vents, the seats come with a flipping armrest, with integrated cup holders.

Features: A 10.1 inch touchscreen infotainment system with a Jio eSIM connectivity includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and it has a few on board apps like the Saavan.The features on offer include geo-fencing and pre cooling and a few more in order to help it stand out in this competitive segment. It also gets an AI-based personal assistant mounted on the dashboard that can follow voice commands with improved accuracy and the audio unit offers good sound quality.

Besides this, the top-spec model also comes with a massive panoramic sunroof covering 90% of roof area, heated ORVMs, digital key, automatic climate control, rain-sensing wipers, 7.0inch digital instrument cluster, 360 degree cameras, 6-way electrically adjustable driver's

seat and leather upholstery for the seats, door cards and dashboard.

However, the biggest highlight for the Astor is its Level-2 ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) functions which brings with it multiple active safety features. These include Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision

Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure Prevention and Speed Assist. the Astor will be the first model in the midsize SUV segment to offer the new safety tech.

Engine: Powering the new MG SUV are

the choice of two petrol engines.

The first is a 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated petrol engine developing 110hp and 144Nm. The other is a more powerful, 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine that churns out 140hp and 220Nm. The 1.5-litre petrol engine will be offered with a manual gearbox as well as an 8-step CVT

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 47

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automatic gearbox, while the 1.3-litre turbo-petrol will only be available with a 6-speed automatic gearbox. .

Performance: Since we test drove the Astor on the BIC race track, we could attain a straight line speed of over 150kms, where the car was very stable. Also were able to throw the car on corners and the suspension helps you to take on the corners with confidence, but you do feel slight body roll inside. Astor gives a confident ride on windings, while you are in the preset 'Dynamic mode' of the steering, there are three of them available- Dynamic, Normal and Urban.

Carrying on with tech, there is the level 2 (hands-on, partial driving automation) ADAS or

Advanced Driver Assistance System sourced from Bosch. The system uses six mid range radar and five camera input unlike the camera and is quite comprehensive with Lane Assistance which comes with three parameters like Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure prevention and Lane Keep Assist, these options can be used in speeds above 60kms with high medium and low sensitivity but you have an option of selecting the speed, within few seconds you can visualise the green steering vision on the screen with MG pilot On indicator, the caution signalling with vibration or sound,. Blind Spot Detectiongives you a red indicator on the ORVMs on a speeding car approaching you in the process

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of overtaking or land shifting, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Warning and Auto Emergency Braking with pedestrian detection- this comes with an option of adjusting distance as your wish it was tried as we have other journalists ahead and behind us- it can be bypassed by applying pedal pressure, Traffic Sign Recognition, Speed Assistance, Auto High-Beam Control.

In the controlled conditions, the lane functions worked well and the corrective torque of the lane keeping assist felt very natural., but Adaptive Cruise Control can bring the car to a complete halt and the automatic speed variation of the ACC also feels nicely calibrated and increases

and decreases in speed are quite smooth, incase you are in a hurry you can resume the operation before it could, from the lever.

There is also a neat add-on to the Traffic Sign Recognition in the intelligent mode where the Speed Assist set-up can automatically reduce the vehicle speed to what's indicated on the traffic sign board, but you can override with hard accelaration.

The Verdict The Astor seems to be a tempting package considering the technology being offered and the performance and dynamics offered by the mechanicals. No big complaints, but quite a few applauses including for the dynamism it offers.

AZORES

RALLY

and Reeta Hämäläinen compete in the Kokkolan UA 60-v SM Juhlaralli.

“ Team MRF Tyres stands on ERC podium

Dani Sordo, Driver, Hyundai i20 R5, 2nd place, said, "The second place nish is a great result. We did very well to lead the rally, and take three stage wins throughout the weekend.

We beat our expectations and I am happy with this second place. Azores is an amazing rally with amazing stages. To win a legendary stage Sete Cidades was great for me and MRF Tyres."

“

EUROPEAN

Dani Sordo, co-driver Cándido Carrera take second place at ERC Azores Rallye

T

eam MRF Tyres took second place in the Azores Rallye, the fifth round of the FIA European Rally Championship after a great battle for top positions.

New recruits Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera battled hard for the victory in the Team MRF Tyres Hyundai i20 R5. After finishing on top after the first day's action, there was a tough fight throughout the day. After Friday, the top three contenders were separated by just 4.5 seconds.

Saturday's running saw seven stages and 88km of timed action.

The day started well with stage wins on SS8 and SS9, the latter being the legendary 24km Sete Cidades test around the volcano.

The team was attacking the stages, employing an aggressive strategy while still maintaining the data and development goals.

The final three stages witnessed a titanic battle between Team MRF Tyres and Andreas Mikkelsen and Elliott Edmondson. In the end Team, MRF Tyres took second place, the second podium place of the season, demonstrating the rapid pace of development that has been achieved.

The team will be back in action in the next round of the FIA ERC with the Rally Serras de Fafe e Felgueiras. It is the second Portuguese rally of the season, the last gravel rally and a new rally for the Championship.

Team MRF Tyres next target is to win the Finnish Rally Championship scheduled for the next weekend as Emil Lindholm SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 49

DRIVE

Powering Ahead Tigor, latest EV to join Tata Motors

E

ver believed in fairy tales, where a rustic clodhopper transforms to a charismatic young man just by the touch of a wizard? How about experiencing it for real? Yes, we are talking about the 2021 Tata Tigor EV and the wizard- the Ziptron technology, that has revolutionized a "merely electric" 2018 Tigor EV to a high voltage machine. Here is a glimpse of what Tata offers their buyers in the all new 2021 Tigor EV.

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To begin with the demeanor, the new Tigor EV follows the same design lingo as that of its petrol counterpart. Tigor EV 2021 has retained the shape and dimensions of the BS6 Tigor apart from minor changes like the EV-ish design to the grille, slightly revamped bumpers and a blacked-out roof . You can even find multiple EV blue accents as well.

BENGALURU

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BENGALURU

DRIVE

Moving into the cabin, no major changes can be noted compared to the standard car, apart from the stick-type drive selector replaced by a rotary unit, the design and placement of which does look hostile at times. You could find the signature EV bluish tri-arrows on the fabric seats and multiple blue accents which give a bluish hue to the cabin. The vehicle is equipped with a touchscreen infotainment system with Harman audio, automatic climate control, and the fully digital instrument cluster that displays speedo, odo and trip meters, battery percentage, range, consumption, power/regen

display etc. Tigor EV has a spacious cabin with adequate room for even taller passengers.

Arm and head rests are provided for the second row, headrest at the middle being a bit smaller though. Even though the battery is floor mounted, it does not make a hindrance to the leg space and three persons can comfortably accommodate in the rear seats. The vertically positioned spare wheel in the boot gives a less spacious feel, if you have "more than usual" amount of cargo to carry.

Under the hood is where the most spectacular feature resides - the Ziptron tech. The car is equipped with a powerful

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26kWh battery and a 55kW electric motor that churns out a 70 hp power and 170 Nm torque.

This is where you get to know that the Tigor EV is not the same old barbarian but an all new high-power electric machine.

Tigor Ev has two drive modesDrive and Sport. Drive mode is kind of the regular use mode, to roam around cities and all other normal settings. If you want to pump a bit of adrenaline, then Sport mode comes to your help.

You can hit 0-50 kmph acceleration in 5 seconds and definitely 170 Nm torque comes your way in the S mode. Unlike other EVs, the Tigor lacks jerkiness in its delivery and a 110

kmph could be attained with ease. Tigor has disc brakes upfront and drum brakes at rear.

The car obviously has a regenerative braking system and the level of regen brake applied is displayed on the instrument cluster as well. The vehicle is highly smooth and steady on the roads that you may even feel you are driving a super refinedpetrol car. Tigor Ev is quite a lively car to drive that does not need much of "EVacclimatisation" and hence could be more impressive to the newbies.

Tigor EV claims to have an ARAI certified range of 306 km in a single charge, which could practically be chalked up to somewhere around 250+ km ; thanks to Ziptron. Tigor EV gets a CCS2 type charging port unlike the older GB/T unit, and for the charging time, Tigor Ev has a 25kWh fast charger which can charge the car from 0-80 % in just 25 minutes. Undoubtedly, the Ziptron upgrade has wiped the range anxiety off the driver's mind, which used to be the major hold back from buying an EV. To sum up, Tigor Ev is certainly a good option for the daily drivers and even as a family vehicle with good comfort , adequate space and healthy ranges as well.

The all-new Tigor EV is available in 3 different variants. The XE bears a price tag of Rs 11.99 lakh, XM is priced at Rs 12.49 lakh, and the top-spec XZ+ at 12.99 lakh.

AUTOMOTIVE

CONNECTED SCOOTER

HERO MOTOCORP NEW SCOOTER PLEASURE+ XTEC

M

otoCorp launched the new Pleasure+ ' X T e c ' . T h e Pleasure+ XTec adds to the evergrowing appeal of the iconic Pleasure brand. The new LED Aligned to its aggressive growth strategy in the scooter segment, Hero projector headlamp - a first-ever feature in the 110cc segment - enhanced aesthetics and a new vibrant paint in Jubilant Yellow bring a fresh appeal to the scooter. With enhanced technology features such as Hero's revolutionary i3S Technology, (Idle-Stop-Start System), digital analog speedometer with Bluetooth connectivity with call and SMS alerts, Side-Stand Engine cut off, Metal Front Fender, the rider can master any driving situation with confidence.

Malo Le Masson, Head of Strategy and Global Product Planning, Hero MotoCorp, said

"The Pleasure+ 110 is a trendsetter and is quickly becoming one of the country's most admired and popular scooter. The XTec model brings more charm with elegant elements inspired from the Platinum edition, more durability with the front metal fender, more comfort with a branded seat backrest and a boost of technology with the projector LED headlamp, Bluetooth connectivity, and Hero's patented i3S technology for enhanced fuel efficiency. The Pleasure+ 110 has just become even more desirable!" Added, Naveen

Chauhan, Head of Sales and Aftersales, Hero MotoCorp:

"The iconic Pleasure brand enjoys a strong connect with the customers. With a host of first-in segment features, the new Pleasure+ 'XTec' is surely going to strengthen our scooter portfolio and will bring great cheer to the youth this festive season.”

fender that further enhances its durability.

Connectivity With Pleasure+ XTec, you have everything in sight and under control. The digital analog speedometer with Bluetooth connectivity displays incoming and missed call alerts, new message alerts along with the phone battery status.

Projector LED Headlamp For better illumination, the new Pleasure+ XTec comes with firstin- segment projector LED headlamp. The new headlamp provides 25% more light intensity with a longer and wider road reach and anti-fog advantage that offers maximum on-road visibility in all driving conditions.

New Color theme Available in seven exciting colors, the Jubilant Yellow specially created for the Pleasure+ XTec ensures even further enhanced exclusivity.

Engine

The Pleasure+ XTec takes forward the retro design theme and premium chrome additions on Mirrors, Muffler Protector, Handle Bar, Seat Backrest and Fender Stripe. Additionally, the dual tone seat and coloured inner panels further enhance its overall style.

The Pleasure+ XTec comes with a 110cc BS-VI compliant engine producing a remarkable power output of 8 BHP @ 7000 RPM and torque on demand of 8.7 NM @ 5500 for a high performance ride. Delivering the brand promise of performance and comfort, the new Pleasure+ XTec comes with the i3S patented technology for the highest possible fuel efficiency.

Improved Comfort

Safety

With a branded seat backrest for the pillion, whether it's a long journey, or your daily city route, the Pleasure+ XTec keeps its promise when it comes to highquality comfort.

Ensuring the utmost safety of the rider and pillion, the scooter has a Side-stand visual indication and a 'Side-stand Engine cutoff'.

Hero Pleasure+ 110 will be available at Hero MotoCorp dealerships across the country at a starting price of INR 61,900* for LX variant and Pleasure+ 110 XTec starts at Rs. 69,500 (ExShowroom, Delhi).

Style & Design

Enhanced Durability Over and above the chrome elements that make Pleasure+ a solid ride; it now has an added advantage of a metal front

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 53

THE FUEL DELIVERY

FUEL -AT YOUR DOORSTEP R

akshit Mathur's venture, The Fuel Delivery (TFD), is redefining the fuel delivery space through the use of technology.

The on-demand app service enables access to fuel anytime, anywhere. Founded in 2020, The Fuel Delivery has been established with an aim to disrupt the fuel distribution landscape through best-in-class service and a superior customer experience. Before starting his venture, Rakshit has had a fulfilling corporate career. His 15-year stint in the corporate world helped him gain insights into Sales & Marketing, Business Development and Channel & Relationship Management.

Rakshit's strength lies in laying down the framework for seamless operations and

devising procedures and service standards to achieve business excellence. A team player and decisive leader with a successful track record, from conceptualisation to execution, are what Rakshit believes will come in handy as an entrepreneur.

INTERVIEW On the eve of the 14th anniversary of Auto Track, we caught up with Mr Rakshit Mathur, Founder & CEO, The Fuel Delivery (TFD), to talk about his company's operations and future plans.

Tell us about 'The Fuel Delivery' and its business model?

The Fuel Delivery is an on-

54 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

demand app-based fuel service to ensure anytime, anywhere access to fuel. Not only it saves customers from standing in long queues, but it also ensures costeffectiveness and convenience to customers. At The Fuel Delivery, we are fully committed to safety while delivering fuel.

Our diesel is sourced from oil depots with the help of an IoTenabled bowser to eliminate chances of pilferage and adulteration. Our key customers are real estate firms, hotels and hospitals.

What is unique about fuel delivery?

Unlike retail players, at The Fuel Delivery, our key focus is on bulk fuel deliveries to hotels, real estate firms, hospitals, corporate office parks, schools etc. The

individual can place an order through an app with a minimum order delivery cap of 50 litres.

There is a one-time nominal convenience fee of Rs. 99. As a responsible organisation, we are committed to ensuring the utmost level of safety while redefining customer experience.

Our fuel dispensing bowsers are equipped with best-in-class safety features like spark arrestors, emergency shut-off valves, fusible links, emergency vents, pressure vacuum valves, etc., thereby ensuring that extra safety for consumers.

What are your views on the diesel industry?

Diesel is an essential commodity and a backbone for economic growth. It forms the building block for several sectors such as

INTERVIEW customers, depending on their sheer size of business operations.

Tell us something about the B2B business model?

TFD strives to provide multiple fuels, starting with diesel (HSD), for use in industries, including agriculture, transportation, construction, manufacturing, retail, logistics and warehousing, etc. The app-based fuel delivery has tremendous potential, and we will soon be making our foray into CNG doorstep delivery through 'CNG on wheels'.

We are also exploring options to tie up with cab aggregators. So far, we have sold around INR 1.5 crores worth of diesel at a gross profit of 1.8%.

agriculture, transportation, real estate and construction, industrial and manufacturing establishments, travel and hospitality, healthcare and education sectors. COVID-19 has accelerated digitisation, with businesses and consumers relying on e-commerce for doorstep delivery of essential items. During September last year, amidst Covid19 restrictions in place, oil marketing companies like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have invited 'expressions of interest' (EoIs) from startups for startups doorstep delivery of diesel through app-based mobile petrol pumps. It helps them save time by avoiding long queues and making to and fro rounds at fuel filling stations. From food and grocery to fuel, the ondemand home delivery model has become the 'go-to option' for most startups in the ever-evolving ondelivery doorstep segment.

Our service not only saves customers from standing in long queues but, it also ensures costeffectiveness and convenience to customers.

At The Fuel Delivery, we are fully commied to safety while delivering fuel.

Our diesel is sourced from oil depots with the help of an IoTenabled bowser to eliminate chances of pilferage and adulteration

tech-enabled business relies on bowsers and sophisticated safety equipment that require a lot of investment.

What are the risks faced by the business?

At The Fuel Delivery, we have a 'Buy Now, Pay Later option for a selected clientele. Nevertheless, we exercise due diligence before we give credit extending for not over seven days. In exceptional cases, we give credit for not more than 30 days to few

What are your future plans?

We are awaiting the go-ahead on doorstep B2C diesel delivery. We will soon launch the CNG on wheels; we are in touch with gas companies.

We are also eyeing international markets such as Indonesia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, to name a few. The fuel delivery market size is more than INR 2000 Cr, and we hope to achieve a market share of 7-10 % by 2023.

Tell us about your expansion plans?

Currently, we're present in DelhiNCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. We are eyeing operations in key cities such as Kolkata, Lucknow, Pune, Jammu and Chandigarh in the next 12-18 months.

Can you share your investment details with us?

Besides angel funding, we have secured a seed funding of one million dollars. Since we are a capital-intensive business, we are eyeing several funding avenues as we scale up our operations. Our

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 55

NEWS TRACK

High-Octane Petrol Goes Mainstream

Your car and motorbike deserve it!

So you want a perfect car. But have you ever thought about what your beloved car wants? Or, for that matter, your motorbike?

The answer might surprise you. To maximize the performance of your prized possession and to make your car or motorbike feel truly special, you need a matching high-performance fuel. And that's where 56 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

Indian Oil's 95-Octane Petrol – XP95 – comes into picture.

XP95 benefits newer as well as older vehicles. Modern vehicles sporting engines with higher compression ratios need a higher-octane fuel for better performance.

XP95 fulfills this need perfectly. Whereas, it reestablishes performance in older vehicles.

So, the dreams of your car and motorbike have come true, as Indian Oil has introduced its XP95 brand of high-

IOC octane petrol (with 95-Octane rating) from May 1, 2021. Thus, Indian Oil has become the first company to launch 95-Octane petrol in the Indian market.

Vrooooom – The XP95 advantage

performance, XP95 costs only slightly more than regular 91octane premium petrol brands.

And with the greater advantages of XP95, users will never notice the negligible cost difference and choose XP95 happily.

Industry perspective Silky-smooth ride: Indian Oil XP95 is a superior-grade highperformance petrol that enables a smooth ride for your car. This is because Xp95 contains special additives that impart far-superior antiknocking properties to this advanced fuel. What's more, you will fall in love with smoother and quicker acceleration.

Notably, XP95 has a higher octane number (95 Octane) than regular 91-Octane premium petrol brands.

Higher fuel efficiency: In the quest to increase fuel efficiency, engines are evolving to combust fuel more efficiently. XP95 complements these efforts with its enhanced combustion characteristics. In modern engines, the higher-octane XP95 undergoes complete fuel combustion, leading to higher fuel efficiency.

Longer engine life: With its higher-octane rating, XP95 resists far more effectively the knocking associated with fuel combustion. This reduces wear and tear of the engine, resulting in longer engine life. Also, special chemicals and additives in XP95 reduce clogging in port fuel injector, intake valve and combustion chamber, resulting in higher engine performance and lower corrosion.

Gentle on the environment: The higher thermal efficiency offered by XP95 enhances mileage, leading to lesser emissions, thus making Xp95 a more environment-friendly fuel compared to regular petrol.

The price advantage: With all its advantages and better

Firstly, higher-octane fuels allow the development of engines with higher compression ratios for better efficiency and lower emissions.

Thus, there was a long-standing demand from SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) for 95-octane petrol. With the launch of XP95, Indian Oil has fulfilled this need.

Secondly, corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) norms will become effective from 2022.

Indian Oil XP95 will facilitate the auto industry to meet these norms.

Thirdly, XP95 is a welcome arrival for manufacturers of turbo-petrol engines, which otherwise have typically low-fuel efficiencies.

XP95: Numbers speak >Up to 3.95% increase in fuel efficiency depending upon vehicle model > Up to 44% reduction in carbon monoxide emissions >Up to 13% reduction in hydrocarbon emissions >Up to 4% increase in engine power >About 20% increase in acceleration capacity

Indian Oil fuels the first flight

I

ndian Oil Aviation fuelled the first flight of Alliance Air at Sindhudurg Airport on 9th October 2021 to mark the inauguration of this greenfield airport at Sindhudurg in Maharashtra.

The government has allocated Indian Oil for making refuelling arrangements at Sindhudurg Airport. State-of-the-art refuelling arrangement has been made by the Aviation Wing of Indian Oil at Sindhudurg Airport for taking care of fuelling arrangements of all schedule and non-schedule Airlines.

With the arrangement of fuelling facility at Sindhudurg airport, charter tourist flights with Sindhudurg destination can directly land and operate from Sindhudurg Airport.

Across the country, Indian Oil operates Fuelling Stations at 42 airports operated under RCS. So far, six Greenfield airports

namely, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala, Orvakal in Andhra Pradesh and Kalaburagi in Karnataka have been operationalized in the country. Maharashtra Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray and other Maharashtra State Ministers and Government officials from M/o Civil Aviation spoke during the event.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Shri Jyotiradiya M. Scindia virtually flagged off the first-ever flight between Sindhudurg and Mumbai today. The inaugural event was conducted in hybrid mode where Chief Minister Shri Uddhav Thackeray flagged off the flight from the Sindhudurg Airport, in parallel. Shri Scindia flagged off the flight from the greenfield airport Sindhudurg under Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik" Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN-RCS).

Aatmanirbhar Bharat IndianOil introduced XP100 ultra-premium petrol and BS-VI fuels in 2020, which is a shining example of the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Now by introducing XP95, Indian Oil has filled an important niche, to the delight of mainstream users as well as vehicle manufacturers.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 57

SAFE DRIVE

“Rash driving, low in ation and potholes are considered to be the major reasons for quick wearing out of tyres. Road hazards, in ation pressure, tyre section height and structure are important parameters for understanding the quality of tyres.”

Ravin Kurian, Chairman Indian Tyre Technical Advisory Committee

Bringing Tyre Safety

to the Centre stage R

avin Kurian, Chairman, Indian Tyre Technical Advisory Committee (ITTAC), the technical arm of Automotive Tyre Manu-facturers Association (ATMA) has been champio-ning the cause of tyre care & safety. For over 35 years, Kurian has been intensely involved in the product development of a variety of products ranging from two-wheelers to passenger car and commercial tyres and tubes.

In the recently concluded two conferences under the Tri-Series on "Road Safety Advocacy for Tyres'' held jointly by ATMA/ITTAC and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to spread awareness about tyre maintenance and its crucial role in safe driving, Ravin Kurian was the key speaker on Safety. Kurian spoke at length about the Safety, Durability and Failure analysis of tyres. He pointed out that rash driving, low inflation and potholes are considered to be the major reasons for quick wearing out of tyres, and highlighted that road hazards, inflation pressure, tyre section height and structure are important parameters for under-standing the quality of tyres.

58 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

ITTAC ITTAC is actively involved in creating awareness on Tyre Care and Road Safety through on-ground activities, mobile tyre clinics, safety seminars, mass media messaging, social media campaigns, participation at exhibitions, the launch of safety calendars and animation films to reach out to motorists.

During this journey several leading organisations including Infosys, Honda Cars, ISRPL, Pipapav Port, Indian Oil, Haryana Tourism & Haryana Transport Department etc have joined hands with ATMA/ ITTAC for tyre safety training for Passenger as well as Commercial vehicles . A nation-wide School/ College Connect programme has been launched so as to create a sense of Tyre & Road Safety amongst students.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 59

TEST RIDE

TEXT: ARVIND SHOBA PHOTO BY: GAJENDRA VAGALE

NEW AVATAR YAMAHA FZ-X: FZ with retro-modern looks.

6O autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

BENGALURU

E

ver since Yamaha revealed the XSR155 model to the world two years ago, the enthusiasts were waiting for its launch in India, Yamaha had a different plan specifically for India and hence the new model FZ-X, which is identical to the standard FZ with minor tweaks and few additions up the sleeves.

Design After first glance, the FZ headlamp stands out with its bifunctional LED bordered by three sleek position lights, the teardrop ship fuel tank comes along with radiator shrouds, although there is no radiator for this bike the radiator shroud is purely cosmetic.

The teardrop tank looks big but the capacity of the tank is just 10 litres when compared to standard FZ which has capacity of 13 litres. The seat is pretty long with the new LED tail-lamp the rear looks sorted out and clean.

From the sideways, it looks a bit awkward possibly because of shorter exhaust and monoshocks though the tire hugger does a decent job. The bike

comes with a display which is neat and gives most of the information required which includes trip meter, rpm meter, speedometer, fuel gauge and few other details and additionally it also has Bluetooth connectivity comes at a premium of Rs 3,000 unfortunately the app doesn't have turn by turn navigation. The bike has 12V power outlet which can be handy for charging mobiles, power bank and few other gadgets.

Performance Yamaha has stuck on to the tried and tested 149cc air-cooled motor which caters to the FZ series of bikes. Power is rated at 12.4bhp and torque output is 13.3Nm. The chassis too remains the same. On the downside, the FZ-X is a bit heavier and has a kerb weight of 139kg. Ground clearance at the same time is 165mm. Because of the low power end, the bike feels a lot underpowered whenever cruising on a highway especially when you try to overtake you have to go for a downshift or two simultaneously you got to open the throttle completely, the bike

can do 80kmph with vibrations, it gets too difficult to cruise about 100-110kmph. The only positive aspect of this tuning with respect to performance is the exhaust note which feels a lot peppier and reminds you of the Honda Cb350.

Handling By the look of it feels the Yamaha clearly negotiated power to comfort and practicality the seating triangle, it's far more relaxed with a bit higher handlebar more forward-set

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 61

BENGALURU

TEST RIDE footpegs, wider spacious seat and it feels nimble on the streets.

The FZ-X has also been envisaged to be as a 'sort of' scrambler and to that Yamaha has added the dual purpose MRF tyres. The tyres work well in the dirt and gravel, but the suspension surely does not play ball. Additionally, once up on the peg, the tank does not offer

much grip. The suspension is tuned on the firmer side, and it works well even on the broken monsoon ravaged roads. However, when it comes to cornering the dual-purpose tyres don't offer the best grip. The FZ-X deploys a Bosch singlechannel ABS system up front and braking duties are taken care by a 282mm disc. The rear is catered by a smaller 220mm disc, the

62 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021

front brake feels a bit dull as it doesn't have the bite, The bike maybe designed like an off-road but its capabilities are limited as the standard FZ. One of the major concern is the gear lever position, it gets tedious to up and downshift the gears as the foot position is quite flat and one has to reach out while trying to change the gears.

Conclusion The Yamaha FZ-X is a good product no doubt from Yamaha.

Priced at Rs 1.16 lakh (exshowroom, Delhi), the FZ-X sure offers good value. It offers a comfortable ride and also a decent list of features. Not to forget that it looks good too. It also will please the rider on daily jaunts with its performance. But it sure has lost out on the 'oomph factor' which mesmerized enthusiasts in the first place. FZX is on a pricier note compared to its competitors like Bajaj, Hero, Honda, Suzuki and TVS.

ITALY third.

Paolo Andreucci, Driver, Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, "It was a great rally and I am happy to be able to take a podium position with Team MRF Tyres. The car worked well throughout the rally and we were always at the front. We were able to take another podium position and get more data for the tyres. Thanks to the team for the weekend and I am looking forward to the final round of the season.”

Double podium delight for team MRF Tyres in Italy

T

eam MRF Tyres secured second and third places on the podium as MRF Tyres also won the Female Championship in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT) that concluded on Sept. 13.

Team MRF Tyres continued its podium winning form in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (CIRT) and the Rally dei Nuraghi e del Vermentino. The fifth round of the CIRT saw seven stages and 68.08 kms of competitive action with Paolo Andreucci / Rudy Briani in their Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, Simone Campedelli / Gianfrancesco Rappa in their VW Polo GTi R5 and Tamara Molinaro/Piercarlo Capolongo in their Citroën C3 Rally2 propelling Team MRF Tyres to podium finishes.

Going into the rally, the team was in a strong position after winning the previous round and had high expectations of a good result and gathering important tyre data.

The rally started well for Team

MRF Tyres with the first two stages, Telti being run twice on Friday night. Campedelli / Rappa had won SS2, while Andreucci / Briani were equal leaders of the rally at the end of the day. Saturday had the bulk of the competitive action and the fight was intense.

Andreucci / Briani pushed hard, winning SS4 Oschiri 1 and SS7 Monte Olia 3. Throughout the rally, they were inside the top three on every stage, ensuring they were in the mix.

Campedelli / Rappa were also putting in a strong performance winning SS3 Monte Olia 1 and finishing second on the rest of the day's stages.

These performances ensured that the gaps at the top of the timesheets were tight. Going into the final stage, the top three were separated by less than 10 seconds with Team MRF Tyres drivers fighting hard with Umberto Scandola / Danilo Fappani.

By the end of SS7, the final stage of the rally, Team MRF Tyres drivers fought to within

3.5 seconds of the win, with the top three being separated by incredibly small margins.

A technical problem for Campedelli / Rappa after the final stage saw them check-in to a time control late, taking a 20second penalty in the process.

However, the podium success for Team MRF Tyres could not be denied with Andreucci / Briani taking second and Campedelli / Rappa finishing

Meanwhile, Molinaro / Capolongo ran a strong rally in their Citroën, maintaining their 100 percent winning form in the Female category. The result allowed the pair to take home the Female Championship, one round before the end of the season. Bringing the car home on every stage with consistent pace, they were able to finish inside the top 10 in the CIRT and, in addition, took fourth position in the Under 25 category.

Tamara Molinaro, Driver, Citroën C3 Rally2, said "We had some technical issues during the rally so we lost time with that. It was a challenging rally but we gained a lot of experience and won the Female Championship with one rally to spare so that is fantastic.

A big thanks must go to MRF Tyres this year as well! The tyres worked well through the rally and allowed us to get this result."

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 autotrack.ind.in 63

OFF-ROAD, MAHISAGAR

Ramanand and Suresh triumph Suresh Patel wins Endeavour Class PHOTO BY: JAYESH VASHI

R

amanand Gandevikar and Suresh Patel came out triumphant in the 2nd edition of Untamed Umeta, the off-road event held at Umeta Mahisagar river bed. Participants from Ahemadabad, Vadodara and Silvassa took part in the event. Two different colour flags for different points were allotted and collected for various stages that were setup.

Over 30 participants in the two classes of SUV and 4X4, were in the fray and they will take on the four stages.

4X4 class Ramanand Gandevikar from Baroda driving a Mahindra Thar won the class with a timing of 11:93.85 from four stages and 120 points from flags accumulation. Jaypal Sinh Parmar from Silvassa, driving a

Mahindra Jeep, stood second with a total time of 13:43.50 and 120 points. He accumulated 130 points but had consumed 10 points as penalties. Jignesh Mistry from Silvassa, driving a Maruti Gypsy, clocked 12:94.39 and with 110 points completed the podium.

SUV class Suresh Patel driving a Ford Endeavour clocked 18:27.95 and with 130 points was the winner of the class. He was followed Dhiren Vyas in a Toyota Fortuner in 18:52.51 for the second position despite a DNF in the last stage. Shahi Panday, also driving a Toyota Fortuner, finished third clocking 17:39.18. He also took a DNF in the last stage.

The best off-roader of the day was bagged by the Baroda offroader Ramanand Gandevikar.

64 autotrack.ind.in SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021