Report by Santanu Ganguly, Coimbatore: Round three of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship was yet another successful outing for Pune-based Team Slideways Industries supported by Volkswagen Motorsport India and JK Tyre. Driving for Slideways Industries, former PWRC champion and multiple APRC champion Karamjit Singh (co-driver Jagdev Singh) put in a flawless run over the weekend to secure his second consecutive win in the Indian Rally Championship class with an overall time of 1 hour, 42 minutes and 12.1 seconds. Karamjit Singh said, "Respect! The stages here have been so rough and I drove really hard and flat out everywhere yet my VW Polo lasted. Very impressive. The JK tyres too have performed extremely well and the entire Slideways Industries team did not have a single puncture."
In the Group N 1600cc class Byram Godrej (co-driver Prajwal Pai) faced brake issues early on Saturday and ended the day in second place. He was back in stunning form on Sunday morning though and had a terrific run in the two special stages to make up over a minute to overhaul his overnight lead to seal his first win in the 1600cc class with an overall time of 1 hour, 47 minutes, 44.9 seconds. "It is hard to believe that the Volkswagen Polo is only three rallies old given the performance it offers," said Byram. "Stages in the Rally of Coimbatore are known to be extremely rough, but we haven't had any trouble."
Vikram Mathias (co-driver R Chandramouli) driving his first rally for Slideways Industries was in a comfortable lead of the class on day one but went off on the penultimate stage of the day. Sirish Chandran (co-driver Nikhil Pai) who had taken the Polo's first victory in the INRC had a forgettable weekend with a mechanical problem putting him out of contention on the very first special stage on Saturday.
The JINRC class gave the team some more reason with Team Principal Rohan Pawar (co-driver Arjun Mehta) securing another podium finish with an overall time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, 29.2 seconds. The weekend in fact saw Rohan and Aniruddha Rangnekar (co-driver Nitin Jacob), both Slideways Industries drivers in the JINRC class, engage in a close tussle between themselves. Rohan played catch up to Aniruddha on Saturday but was able to go faster than Aniruddha on Sunday to climb onto the podium. Elated with the finish Rohan said, "I am extremely happy with the team's and my own performance. Having veteran drivers like Karamjit Singh and Vikram Mathias in the team have bolstered everyone's spirits and of course our Technical Director Byram Godrej has done an excellent job in preparing and setting up the cars."
The rally was held concurrent with the first rounds of the JK Tyre Racing Championship and the Volkswagen Polo R Cup. With the Kari Motor Speedway being the base for both, enthusiasts and spectators were treated to the double whammy of witnessing the country's best racing and rally drivers in action together at the same time. The super special stage (SSS) was held at the race track itself, giving road racers a chance to witness rally cars running on their terrain. The rally Polos of Slideways Industries, which have performed excellently in the Polo R Cup on track for the past three years were at home for the SSS and had no trouble negotiating the tight corners of the track after sliding around the gravel stages of the rally.
For the fourth round, the championship now heads to Bangalore, for the famed K1000 rally. With just a month to go, the team now heads back to Pune to develop the cars further with support from Volkswagen Motorsport India.
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| Slideways Industries Victorious in Rally of Coimbatore |
Vikram Mathias (co-driver R Chandramouli) driving his first rally for Slideways Industries was in a comfortable lead of the class on day one but went off on the penultimate stage of the day. Sirish Chandran (co-driver Nikhil Pai) who had taken the Polo's first victory in the INRC had a forgettable weekend with a mechanical problem putting him out of contention on the very first special stage on Saturday.
The JINRC class gave the team some more reason with Team Principal Rohan Pawar (co-driver Arjun Mehta) securing another podium finish with an overall time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, 29.2 seconds. The weekend in fact saw Rohan and Aniruddha Rangnekar (co-driver Nitin Jacob), both Slideways Industries drivers in the JINRC class, engage in a close tussle between themselves. Rohan played catch up to Aniruddha on Saturday but was able to go faster than Aniruddha on Sunday to climb onto the podium. Elated with the finish Rohan said, "I am extremely happy with the team's and my own performance. Having veteran drivers like Karamjit Singh and Vikram Mathias in the team have bolstered everyone's spirits and of course our Technical Director Byram Godrej has done an excellent job in preparing and setting up the cars."
The rally was held concurrent with the first rounds of the JK Tyre Racing Championship and the Volkswagen Polo R Cup. With the Kari Motor Speedway being the base for both, enthusiasts and spectators were treated to the double whammy of witnessing the country's best racing and rally drivers in action together at the same time. The super special stage (SSS) was held at the race track itself, giving road racers a chance to witness rally cars running on their terrain. The rally Polos of Slideways Industries, which have performed excellently in the Polo R Cup on track for the past three years were at home for the SSS and had no trouble negotiating the tight corners of the track after sliding around the gravel stages of the rally.
For the fourth round, the championship now heads to Bangalore, for the famed K1000 rally. With just a month to go, the team now heads back to Pune to develop the cars further with support from Volkswagen Motorsport India.
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