Rally of Coorg under a cloud

Ammathi (Kodagu) - With thunderstorms lashing the region and cancellation of one of the three physical Special Stages, the signs are rather ominous for the Rally of Coorg that is slated to commence here Saturday.

The second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship returns to the sylvan settings of Kodagu after a lapse of five years with the Special Stages located in the coffee estate plantations.

The competitors, however, have little time to enjoy the scenery as their concern centres around the terrain that evoked groans and justifiable fears after the reconnaissance run Friday morning.

“The first Special Stage, in particular, is extremely rough with embedded rocks in the middle of the road and if it rains, then I am not sure whether it will be motorable,” said Lohitt V. Urs, winner of the Karnataka 1000 Rally last month in Bangalore and who starts off as a favourite in his Group N Mitsubishi Cedia.

Meanwhile, the Stewards after going on the route Friday morning, recommended cancellation of the 9.5-km-long Woshully Stage which meant that the 40 vehicles would be running the two other Special Stages, Pollibetta (6 kms) and Yemmegondi (13.40 kms), four times instead of the original three. The event concludes Sunday with the Spectator Special Stage (2.7 kms) at Polibetta.

“The first Stage, after 3.2 kms, was not motorable. It was too rough and tight. At one of the turns, we had to reverse our vehicle. Also, in case of emergency, I doubt we could take an ambulance to the spot because of the terrain. Hence we recommended the cancellation of the State,” said Chief Steward Zayn Khan.

However, even as the officials re-worked the itinerary, it began to rain heavily and with more of it forecast for the weekend, it is anybody’s guess as to the fate of the event. The Stewards will be checking the route at 6 a.m. Saturday to ascertain the condition of the Stages.

The rally, being organised by Motorsports INC, will have three classes – the Indian Rally Championship for Group A (modified) 4-wheel drive cars, the Indian National Rally Championship for Group N (unmodified) cars (2000cc and 1600cc) and the Junior Indian National Rally Championship for drivers below 23 years of age.

Mysore’s Urs (co-driver B.S. Sujith Kumar) of PGA Motorsport besides Kolkata’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) and Karna Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) who finished in that order in the Karnataka-1000, headline the 2000cc class in their Cedias.

The 2000cc field also includes experienced crews such as Vikram Devadasen (Somaya A.G.) who was fourth in K-1000, Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) of PGA Motorsport, Dr Bikku Babu (George Verghese) and Prithvi Dominic (Prithvi Ithal).

Down the grid, in the 1600cc class, Adithya S. (Kariappa K.B.), Sidharth Ranganekar (Nitin Jacob) and Prakhyath Shirole (S.M. Bharath), the top three finishers in the category in the K-1000 Rally.

In the JINRC class, the promising collegian from Mangalore Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival), who arrived here within hours after completing his semester exams, will be keen to extend his dominance after a fine win in the K-1000.

Ranged behind him are Karan A.M. (Shanmuga S.N.) and Vincent Tom Vincent (Sob George) who had finished second and third in K-1000.

One of the prime attractions at the Rally will be Zuhin A. (Musa Sherif) who is the lone entry in the IRC class driving a Group A Subaru Imreza. Though he was off the pace in the K-1000 Special Stages, Zuhin was the quickest in the Spectator Special Stage and is expected to provide more thrills to the Rally fans.