Amittrajit Ghosh wins 2013 INRC championship at K1000 rally

The K1000 is a rally that is a must watch for fans and a must compete in for drivers. And a win at the this rally ranks pretty high up there as far as national rallies go. So it came as no surprise that the 2013 edition of the legendary rally was going to be hotly contested. There were things that were new this time, though - the stages being one such novel factor. They were held near Tumkur and comprised a 14.50 km Alpha Stage that hosted SS1, SS4 and SS7. The Beta Stage was 14.55km in length and hosted SS2, SS5 and SS8. While the India Mines Stage, held as the name suggests within India Mines, was the shortest stage at 7.32km and hosted SS3, SS6 and SS9. And it was at these stages, with plenty of red mud and dust kicked up into the air by rally cars yumping and going sideways, that the 2013 Indian National Rally Championship would be decided.

Amittrajit Ghosh was crowned 2013 Indian National Rally Champion at the K1000

Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driven by Ashwin Naik), who was leading the 2013 championship with three rounds already done, only needed a fourth place finish at the K1000 in order to clinch the championship. And, despite the fact that they made the wrong choice of dampers for the car given the conditions of the stages, he found himself leading the INRC 2000 class from the word go. Ghosh didn't relinquish his lead in the class even once through the rally. Which led him to win his class comfortably, and also claim an overall victory in the Indian National Rally Championship. It was his second consecutive INRC title, something the driver was pleased about. "My parents won here in 1981, the year my sister was born, so it's a special feeling to win this rally," he declared. And what of the charge of his Mitsubishi Cedia? "It's been great to prove to the world that the Cedia, if setup right, can take the challenge to any other car, and with Leela (N Leelakrishnan) setting up the car, we've managed to prove it has what it takes," he declared. Finishing second overall at the K1000 was Rahul Kanthraj (co-driven by Vivek Bhatt) took second place overall in the rally and the INRC 2000 class as well. While Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driven by Satish Rajagopal) finished third overall in their Volkswagen Polo.

The Polo R2, piloted by Karamjit Singh, made its INRC debut at the K1000

The big story, perhaps, was the IRC class, where Karamjit Singh was piloting a Volkswagen Polo R2. The 130bhp R2 is still in the development and testing stage, and will be homologated for the 2014 season of the championship. And while by Singh's own admission the car suffered from braking issues, that didn't stop him from being the second fastest car of the rally. The former Production World Rally Champion even declared that he was indeed looking forward to doing a full season in India next year, and he'd be happy to drive the R2 in the 2014 Indian Rally Championship. Finishing second in the IRC class at the K1000 was Sumit Panjabi (co-driven by Prakhyath Shirole).

Third overall and first in the INRC 1600 cc class for Arjun Rao Aroor at the K1000

Over in the 1600cc class of the Indian National Rally Championship, it was a Polo wash all through. The Polo R WRC liveried car piloted by Arjun Rao Aroor took first place, while Phalguna Urs (co-driven by Anoop Kumar) finished second and Sirish Chandran (co-driven by Nikhil Pai) finished third.

The JINRC class was Suhem MK (co-driven by J Jeevarathinam, while Aroor Vikram Rao (co-driven by Somayya AG) finished second, and Rohan Pawar (co-driven by Arjun Mehta) finished third.

Fastest car of the rally for the fourth rally in a row for recently crowned APRC champion Gaurav Gill in his SuperXUV

What of the overall fastest car of the rally though? As has become something of a trend, it was the SuperXUV of reigning Asia Pacific Rally Champion, Gaurav Gill (co-driven by Musa Sheriff) that was the fastest car of the rally all weekend long. Gill finished first in the SUVNRC class, ahead of Lohitt Urs (co-driven by Bonnie Thomas).

N Leelakrishnan piloted the JCT Rallying Evo X at the K1000, co-driven by D Ram Kumar

The final round of the 2013 Indian National Rally Championship will be held between the 12th and 14th of December, 2013 at Chikmagalur.