Chennai, Mar 23 (IANS): The 44th South India Rally, which doubles up as a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship 2022 (APRC 2022) and the final round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021, will be held in Sriperumbudur from March 25-27.
The events will be anchored to the MMRT circuit which will be the venue for start and finish of the event besides the Spectator Special Stage (tarmac) and the 12.9km-long Special Stage (dirt) bordering the race track. Another Special Stage (17.78km), is located about 23km from the MMRT. Both stages will be run four times -- twice in forward direction (Saturday) and twice in reverse direction (Sunday) while the Spectator Special Stage once on each day. On Friday (March 25), the competitors will do a reconnaissance of the stages.
While four entries have been received for the APRC (Asia Cup) round, which returns to India after a four-year gap, the INRC has attracted 44. Three-time APRC champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif), Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai) of Arka Motorsports, Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) and Younus Ilyas (Anirudha Ranganekar) of Race Concepts will take part in the APRC and also headline the INRC entry list.
FMSCI president Akbar Ebrahim said, "It is a matter of pride and privilege that India is hosting a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship after a gap of several years, and concurrently with the third and final round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021. All of us have been through some challenging times due to the pandemic and I am happy that the 2021 INRC got underway, though it spilled over into 2022."
The competition in the FMSC-promoted INRC segment is expected to be fierce since titles in all categories are up for grabs. Aditya Singh Thakur (Virender Kashyap) of Chettinad Sporting leads the overall standings with 54 points, just one ahead of Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G). Considering that a maximum of 40 points are on offer and the top-five competitors, including seven times National champion Gill, are separated by just 16 points, the overall championship is wide open.