BENGALURU: The Cafe Coffee Day India Rally has taken a big leap forward this year by being a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) which will be run in Chickmagaluru through December 3 to December 5, 2016. The event thus has become an international one.
Thirty minute capsules of the event will be featured on one Indian and one international channel every day of the event – the Indian one being news channel Times Now. For international channels, the event will be produced by New Zealand’s Asia Pacific Sports Media’s (APSM) APRC TV, a channel with a sponsorship revenue model. APSM specialises in providing television and media from international sports events.
The current edition of the Coffee Day India Rally is supported by Café Coffee Day’s The Serai Resorts, MRF Tyres, Hindustan Petroleum and Blue Water Mediacom. Coffee Day Hotels and Resorts director Venkatesh M said, “At Coffee Day, we have been consistently working towards creating new levels of excitement for the spectators and rallyists. Bearing in mind this sentiment, our association with our international partners continues to evolve and strengthen every year. The Coffee Day rallies date back to 1982, when the rally was first held in Chikkamagaluru. Our association with APRC has helped put us on the global map especially since we will be hosting a leg of the APRC this year.”
FMSCI Rally Commission chairman and Chikmagalur Motor Sports Club vice-president Farooq Ahmed said: “The Coffee Day rallies are one of the most awaited motor racing sport in the country. It is this enthusiasm and the sporting spirit of the racing community which encourages us to present an exciting experience to our partners and spectators. We are really excited to take our international association to the next level and look forward to an enthralling session this year.”
More about the rally
Amongst the participants in this year’s rally include India’s Gaurav Gill, who has already sealed the 2016 APRC driver’s title by winning all the previous five rounds, and his long-time partner Glenn Macneall from Australia; the team of German champion Fabian Kreim and Christian Frank as co-driver that currently stands second in the championship. Other participants include New Zealand’s Michael Young (Malcolm Read), Pune-based Sanjay Takale with his regular Japanese co-driver Noriko Takeshita; the only female in the APRC category, and former multiple Asia Cup winner Yuva Sumiyama (Takahiro Yasui), also from Japan.
Adding to the start grid are five entries for the FIA Asia Cup in Phalguna Urs, Younus Ilyas, Dhirendra Kumar, Amol Saloskar and the lone female driver in this category, Harshita Gowda.
The field for the National Championship has leader Arjun Rao in the Volkswagen R2 at the top followed by two Mahindra Adventure team entries Amittrajit Ghosh and Sunny Sidhu in the Mahindra XUV 500 (all INRC Overall), besides the likes of Karna Kadur and veteran Rahul Kanthraj of Team Yokohama India 2K, and Dean Mascarenhas (INRC 2000).
Running in the top-end IRC class are two seasoned campaigners Sameer Thapar of JCT Rallying and PG Abhilash driving a modified Mitsubishi Evo.
Completing the grid are the young guns in the FMSCI Cup led by Jacob KJ who will be seeking his fourth consecutive win this season, and the popular Gypsy Cup which makes a one-off return to the IRC after being scrapped a few years ago.
The APRC participants will cover 225.41 kms spread across 17 Special stages, beginning with the Super Special Stage at the Amber Valley school grounds while the National Championship cars will do 113.81 kms over nine Special Stages. The entire rally route is located in the Coffee Day Global’s estates bordering Chikkamagaluru.
