CS Santosh wins Motorsport Man of the Year award

A file photo of CS Santosh

Bengaluru, May 26 (IANS)

Ace cross-country bike racer C.S. Santosh won the coveted Motorsport Man of the Year award which carried a prize of Rs. 2 lakh. He won the award at the annual prize distribution function of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) here on Monday night.

Santosh received the Raymond Gautam Singhania Rolling Trophy for his achievements last season when he became the first and only Indian to participate in the world's toughest cross-country rally, the 9,000-km long Dakar in South America and finished 36th.

Arjun Maini, who at 17 is making a mark in international Formula racing, was presented with the Motorsport Star of the Future award while FMSCI chairman Vijay Mallya was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award "for his contribution to motorsport in India".

Trophies were also presented to champions in various disciplines during the previous season as FMSCI president R. Bharat Raj, in his keynote address, hoped that the awards will further motivate the recipients.

The champions for 2014 season:

Indian Rally Championship - Overall (Driver/Co-driver): Gaurav Gil /usa Sherif. Team: Mahindra Adventure. 2000cc: Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt. Team: Yokohama. 1600cc: Phalguna V Urs/Satish Rajagopal. Team: Yokohama.A FMSCI 1600 Cup: Adith KC/Harish KN.

Indian National TSD Rally Championship - Overall and Pro-Expert: KP Karthick Maruthi/S Sankar Anand. Pro-Stock: Chidananda Murthy/Sujith Kumar BS. Team: Tata Motors.

JK Tyre Rotax Max Championship - Senior Max: Ameya Bafna. Junior Max: Rocky Donison. Micro Max: Yash Aradhya.

MMSC-FMSCI National Racing Championship (4-wheelers) - MRF FF 1600: Tarun Reddy. LGB 1300: Goutham Parekh. Team: Wallace Sports and Research Foundation. Indian Touring Cars: Arjun Narendran. Team: Big Foots Racing. Indian Junior Touring Cars: Dr VJ Senthil. Team: Big Foots Racing. Super Stock: B Balavijay. Team: Performance Racing.

AJK Tyre Racing Championship (4w) - JK FB 02: Vishnu Prasad. JK LGB F4: Diljith TS. VW Polo R Cup: Karthik Tharani. VW Polo R Cup Junior: Anindith Reddy Konda.

JK Tyre-FMSCI Indian National Drag Racing Championship - Javed Khan MD (Indian Open) and Joel Joseph (Unrestricted).

MMSC-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Championship - Group D Novice (Up to 130cc): S Kannan. Team: TVS Racing. Manufacturer: TVS Racing. Group D Novice (165cc): R Harikrishnan. Team: Sparks Racing. Manufacturer: Yamaha. Group C (165cc) Open: K Jagan. Team: TVS Racing. Manufacturer: Yamaha.

MRF Mogrip FMSCI National Supercross Championship (2w) - Harith Noah (Foreign Open Grp A SX1: up to 250 cc 2 stroke/500 cc 4 Stroke), Rakesh Nagaraja (Novice Class Group C: 2/4 Stroke: up to 260 cc), Pramod Joshua (Indian Expert Class Group B: 2/4 Stroke: up to 260 cc), Abdul Wahid Tanveer (Indian Expert Class Grp C : 2/4 Stroke: up to 260 cc), Suhail Ahmed (Private Expert Class Group C: 2/4 Stroke : up to 260 cc), Ganesh Lokhande (Private Expert Grp A SX2: up to 250 cc 2 stroke /500 cc 4 Stroke) and Yash Pawar (Junior Supercross up to 250 cc 2/4 Stroke).