The opening round of the FMSCI MRF Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded here on Sunday, had its twists and turns in determining the winner.
Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) of Team Mahindra Adventure and Samir Thapar (Gurinder S. Mann) of JCT Rallying were declared INRC and IRC winners respectively.
But, subsequently, P.G. Abilash of R3A PGA Motorsports, who had finished second in the IRC class, had lodged a protest and, the stewards, after hearing it, gave the verdict in his favour.
The INRC and IRC are two separate championships and the results are not clubbed together. The former is for the two-wheel drive Indian vehicles while the latter for four-wheel drive foreign vehicles. But page nine of the Supplementary Regulations (SR) clearly states ‘the fastest driver of the rally (IRC / INRC) will be declared winner and in this case it was Abilash and not Amittrajit as issued in a release to the media earlier.
Abilash did bring it to the notice of the FMSCI officials who were present, but in vain. “It pains me, that after spending so much, I am not declared winner,” said the privateer, the 2012 champion.
“We have taken the rights for the two championships (INRC & IRC) and have paid the rights fees separately. Further, they have two separate championship logos as well. Also, IRC is not a sub class of the INRC nor is INRC a sub class of the IRC,” said Arindam Ghosh of Ramakrishna Race Performance Management Pvt. Ltd (RRPM), the promoters of the event.
Cannot be clubbed“We cannot compare the performances of competitors in one against those in the other. This will again start the unfair comparison of foreign cars against Indian ones. If clubbed and compared to get a winner out of the two, it goes against the very reason why two separate championships have been conceptualised. We might as well run only the IRC with a sub category called up to 3500cc,” he added.
He said there is no overall winner of the rally. “There is a winner of the INRC and a winner of the IRC. We have already written to the FMSCI to this effect.”
Ashwin Pandit, the FMSCI Rally Commission Chairman, was aware of the confusion. He was quick to admit that it was Abilash (the fastest driver of the day) who was the winner.
“There has been some confusion with the SR but we can’t do much about it. Nobody is free from mistakes. It is quite unfortunate,” he said.
But the damage has been done for Abilash, who was on an EVO 8 for the event. “My sponsors always look for my performance and the mileage to go with it. I stand to lose here,” said Abilash, who pointed out that he had just got a communication from the organisers on Monday stating that he was the winner. But no clear picture is yet to emerge.
Similar confusions are bound to arise in the next four rounds of the championship. It is time the national federation takes a look before the sport loses its charm.
