Victory for Arjun Rao and Satish Rajagopal after 7 years

Arjun Rajiv wins Junior INRC; Pragathi-Trisha pair clinches Ladies class

Mangaluru's Aroor Arjun Rao and Bengaluru's Satish Rajagopal, supported by MRF, took the Overall title in the 46th South India Rally, the first round of the Blueband Sports FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) organised by Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) at the Madras International Circuit (MIC) that concluded on March 19.

It was a first win for Arjun Rao in seven years. Sahil Khanna, along with Harish KN Gowda, from Bengaluru driving a Volkswagen Polo topped the INRC-2 category while Daraius Shroff from Mumbai along with Shahid Salman from Bengaluru driving VW Polo tuned by Chetinad Sporting from Slideways Industries sealed his maiden win in the National championship crown by finishing first in the INRC-3 category. Abhin Rai from Kodagu and D Uday Kumar from Bengaluru, driving a Honda CityVTEC tuned by Ideal, emerged champion in the INRC4 category. Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar, supported by MRF and Sidvin, driving VW Polo prepared by Aart, took the honours in the Ladies class and the Bengaluru pair of Arjun Rajiv and Rohit Gowda, also driving Polo tuned by Snap Racing, topped the Junior INRC category.

Super Special Stages (SSS)

Day 1 on Friday had two Super Special Stages (SSS), out of which the first run was dry and second run was run under wet conditions. Day 2 was no different. The longest Special Stage Aavisa was water-drenched during the second run as 30-minutes rain after the first stage was run rendered it slushy and slippery with cars getting stuck in the sticky mud. The rain spell changed the whole scenario of the earlier placings eamed by the drivers till then. Even top drivers struggled but the tail-enders had a relatively easier time as the track started drying up and it was almost dry towards the end. The tail-enders were faster than the cars in the higher classes.