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Rally de North bumpy for drivers and organisers alike
GURGAON: It was a bumpy ride for both the organisers and the drivers at the Rally de North, the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), on
GURGAON: It was a bumpy ride for both the organisers and the drivers at the Rally de North, the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), on Sunday. The competitive stages were held near Manesar, on the gravel side roads of the Delhi Western Peripheral Expressway.
With the national rally championship coming to north India after over a decade, everyone was keen to see a grand event, adding geographic credibility to the circuit.
The rally fraternity clustered down south, where most of the rounds are held. Till this year, Rally of Maharashtra in Nasik was the farthest the bandwagon would venture up north.
The interesting bit is the north has produced some of India’s best drivers with former Asia Pacific Rally champion Gaurav Gill being the latest in an illustrious list that contains a legend like Hari Singh.
Even the national championship struggles every year to find a full sponsor and rally enthusiasts were hoping an event in the NCR would help tap into the lucrative market here.
However, an oversight on the part of the organisers while laying out the rally stages landed the event in trouble. The plan to run it on the trails near Mangar village, close to the Asola wildlife sanctuary, attracted a PIL leading to the National Green Tribunal cancelling the clearance.
The organisers then found an alternate venue adjacent to the KMP expressway. Two straight roads running parallel to the expressway were converted into special stages by throwing in a few chicanes. The turns were tight (tough for bigger cars like the Mahindra XUV and Mitsubishi Evo), while the artificial sand banks on the sides had most of the drivers worried about damages. More problems crept up, the third and fourth stages of the eight-stage rally were cancelled due to cattle crossing. However, the show did go on. The rally was won (provisional) by Arjun Rao and co-driver Rajgopal Satish in a Volkswagen Polo, edging out Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai of Team Yokohama (VW Polo). The Polos dominated as the bigger cars of front-runners Gill and Amittrajit Ghosh of Mahindra Adventure struggled in the tight corners. Gill, who heads out for the APRC Rally in Japan next week, finished third.
