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Photo Credit: Snap Racing Media/ Praveen
The second round of MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship kicks off today in Coimbatore. A total of 42 cars will be flagged off at 12 pm today from Jenneys Club.
What's new in 2018?
The Rally of Coimbatore is known for its legendary windmill stages on the outskirts of the city, however, this year the rally features a new stage which is in contrast to the older stages. The 22.50km called S.M Agro, the surface is smooth, wide and expected to be faster than the stages used in the previous years. This stage will be run twice today and the action shifts to the old stages for Sunday.
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The Wind Mill stages will likely decide the results of the rally. These stages are prone to get rough as the rally progresses which in turn takes a toll on the rally cars and we have witnessed competitors dropping out like fire-flies in the last few years.
Who is driving what? What are the teams to watch out for?
INRC
The pair of Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif are the favorites to win the rally and will be looking to extend their lead in the championship standings. Gill's teammates Amitrajjit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik in the Mahindra XUV, Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai in the Arka Motorsport VW Polo are the best bet to snatch the win from the defending champion.
The Falkon Motorsport Polo R2 driven by Arjun Rao and Satish Rajagopal can be a game changer in these high-speed stages if they manage to finish the rally.
INRC 2
Karna Kadur and Rahul Kanthraj of Arka Motorsport, Phalguna Urs and Sumit Panjabi of Snap Racing, Syed Salman and Bopaiah of team champions, Younus IIlyas of Race Concepts are the top cars to watch out in this class.
INRC 3
Dean Mascarenhas and Vikram Rao Falkon Motorsport, Druva Chandrashekar of DC Motorsport, Darius Shroff of Chettinad Sporting and privateer Fabid Ahmer are the hot favorites in this class.
The competition in the INRC 2 and INRC 3 classes is going to really close this time around and the Coimbatore stages are going to be playing a vital role in the outcome of the rally.
Who do you think will win the Rally? Have your say in the comments below
