After tasting victories in the first two rounds of the 4 round FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, the boys in yellow of JK Tyre, are all set to take over in the Rally of Coimbatore scheduled from Jan 30-31.
Arjuna Awardee & three times APRC Champion Gaurav Gill reigned in the first two rounds of Rally of Arunachal, is now all geared up in hope to seal his championship title in the third round in Coimbatore itself.
Driving the powerful Mahindra XUV 300, he along with his teammate Amittrajit Ghosh make the strongest team in the fray as both of them clinched podiums in their last outing.
In order to further enhance the entire team’s driving skills and train them for the Rally of Coimbatore, Team leader Gill conducted a two-day workshop in Kethanur, on the outskirts of Coimbatore. The leafy environs where a 5km gravel stretch was created for the training which had flat straights, sinuous corners giving the drivers an experience of the real rally stages that they are about to witness this weekend.
Gill feels he has a lot to teach the next bunch of aspiring rally drivers. “For me, rallying is a science. There is a lot to be learnt and my attempt was to educate the boys on what to do, what were the corrections to be carried out and many more technicalities,” said Gill.
With the INRC next round, Rally of Coimbatore coming up this weekend, it will be interesting to see what the boys imbibed from this training.
Maninder Singh Prince, who was essentially a Motorcross driver shifted to rallying. “I was told one thing by Gaurav to go flat out and attack the corners and the rest he would teach me. He told me I had speed and that was most important. I was going fast and when it came to the corners, Gill taught me about weight transfer, left-foot braking and then what all I could do to become smoother. Aggression, alone, is not what counts in rallying is what I have learnt,” said Prince, as he is known among the boys.
Dean Mascarenhas from Mangalore, shared similar sentiments. “Yes, what Gaurav has taught us is the science of rallying. There are so much technical inputs we received. I go back with a lot in my mind and the next thing is to put it to use. There are certain things you have been doing while driving for years. Unlearning it or adjusting will not happen overnight. I am happy I could gain valuable inputs and this effort needs to be done regularly,” said Mascarenhas.
As for Gill, Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsport, JK Tyre said, “The 2019 Arjuna Awardee, has shown not only is he a good rally driver and brand ambassador for the sport but also a good tutor who has patience and knack of imparting knowledge.”
JK Tyre is supporting a huge delegation of 10 teams in the forthcoming rally.
1. Gaurav Gill with Co-driver Musa Sherif
2. Amittrajit Ghosh with co-driver Ashwin Naik
3. Dean Mascarenhas with co-driver Shruptha Padival
4. Suhem Kabeer with co-driver Jeevarathinam
5. Maninder Singh Prince with co-driver Vinay Padmashali
6. Fabid Ahmer with co-driver Eldo Chacko
7. Syed Salman with co-driver Rishabh BK
8. Harkrishan Wadia with co-driver Chirag Thakur
9. Shivani Pruthvi with co-driver Deepti Pruthvi
10. Phurpa Tsering with co-driver Lenin
Gill in action 
Gill with his team at the Rally training school 
JK TYre Rally School in progress with Gill
