Chennai, Jan 19 Delhi’s Philippos Matthai and Tarushi Vikram of Chikkamagaluru won two titles apiece in the finals of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Sprint Championship 2024 organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club at the Madras International Circuit here on Sunday.
Winner of multiple national titles in rally, autocross and sprint, the 41-year-old Matthai, along with co-driver Harish KN from Bengaluru, displayed controlled aggression on a wet track to post the quickest time of the day that earned him the victory in the premier Rally Sprint 1 class. He went on to clinch the Rally Sprint 2 class title too.
Chandan Manche Gowda of Bengaluru and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar of Coimbatore ended up second in both the top categories. However, Chandan and Ramesh had the consolation of winning the Rally Sprint 3 championship beating another INRC regular from Bengaluru, Arjun Rajiv (Pramod Raman).
Collegian Tarushi Vikram won the Ladies crown with a time of 09 minutes, 52.374 seconds. She also recorded the ninth-best time among 24 entries. With co-driver Amitha Aneesh, she also lifted the Junior National title beating 16-year-old newbie, Vihaan Bhat. Former rally driver Ashish Gupta returning to competition after 40 years, won the Veterans’ class.
Amey Desai of Goa (co-driver Mahamad Asif Mulla), who won the Autocross titles last Sunday, bagged the Rally Sprint 4 class and Thane’s Umesh Rane (co-driver Suraj Biswas, New Panvel), the lone entry in the Rally Sprint 5 class, walked away with the honours as the other qualifiers did not turn up for the finals.
Heavy overnight rains forced the organisers to change the original dirt track route to full tarmac. The 6.2 km circuit was run twice, and positions were decided on the cumulative timings.
The results (Provisional – cumulative timings – 2 laps):
Rally Sprint 1: 1. Philippos Matthai (Delhi) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (09mins, 11.211secs); 2. Chandan Manche Gowda (Bengaluru) / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Coimbatore) (09:17.096).
Rally Sprint 2: 1. Philippos Matthai (Delhi) / Harish KN (Bengaluru) (09:15.788); 2. Chandan Manche Gowda (Bengaluru) / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Coimbatore) (09:28.473); 3. Arjun Rajiv / Pramod Raman (both Bengaluru) (09:40.939).
Rally Sprint 3: 1. Chandan Manche Gowda (Bengaluru) / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Coimbatore) (09:11.231); 2. Arjun Rajiv/ Pramod Raman (both Bengaluru) (09:31.593); 3. Ramprasanth / Robert Antony (both Coimbatore) (09:39.603).
Rally Sprint 4: 1. Amey Desai / Mahamad Asif Mulla (both Goa) (10:02.552); 2. Sravan Kumar (Hyderabad) / Dinky Varghese (Coimbatore) (10:26.819); 3. Kushal Chaudhari / Suraj Biswas (both New Panvel) (10:27.018).
Rally Sprint 5: 1. Umesh Rane (Thane) / Suraj Biswas (New Panvel) (10:54.678).
Juniors: 1. Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) / Amitha Aneesh (Bengaluru) (09:52.374); 2. Vihaan Bhat / Rohit GR (both Bengaluru) (11:32.349).
Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) /Amitha Aneesh (Bengaluru) (09:52.374).
Veteran: 1. Ashish Gupta (Chennai) / Amitha Aneesh (Bengaluru) (11:15.800).
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