Virdi defends RFC title

The team from Chandigarh wins the RFC India for a second time and bags an entry to the mother event in Malaysia

THE FOURTH EDITION OF the Force Gurkha Rainforest Challenge took place in Goa between July 24 and 30, 2017 where the team of Gurmeet Virdi and Kirpal Singh Tung of Gerrari Offroaders successfully defended their title. In the runnerup position was V5 Offroaders’ Jagat Nanjappa and Chetan Changappa, followed by the other Gerrari team of Sanbir Singh Dhaliwal and Gurpartap Singh. The competition took place deep in the forests of Goa — a total of 26 stages, with the last two spectator-friendly stages being held in Dona Paula, near Panjim.

Virdi showed his dominance on day 1 itself, claiming the most points and topping the leaderboard straight off the bat. Acclaimed rallyist of yesteryears Jagat Nanjappa too showed that he was not to be trifled with, sitting just 35 points behind the leaders. Siddartha Santhosh and his co-driver Prithviraj AC of BODA managed to claim the third position. However, this was just day 1 — only 5 of the 26 stages had been attempted and there was still a long way to go. Virdi slipped up on day 2 though, flipping his car on stage 8 and injuring himself. He managed to get the car upright and finish the stage, but lost crucial time. He slipped down to second, while Santhosh leapfrogged in to first. Nanjappa dropped to third as well. Santhosh suffered a similar fate as Virdi on day 3, flipping his car and losing time. Virdi regained his spot at the top of the points table, while Nanjappa remained in third. Virdi retained his spot at the top until the end of the competition, though his rivals came awfully close to getting the better of him. At the end of day 4, Santhosh trailed Virdi (who had racked up 1307 points so far) by a single point. On day 5, Santhosh broke an axle that caused his car to lose drive at one wheel. He lost a significant amount of points, and dropped to third place with Nanjappa in second. It was on the last day that Gerrari boys Sanbir and Gurpartap Singh, who were trailing Sathosh in fourth put in solid performances. On the last two stages, they scored 95 points out of a maximum of 100 in each, overtaking Santhosh in the final order by a mere five points.

Normally, the champions are awarded a subsidised entry in to RFC Malaysia, along with the cost of the tickets to Malaysia and $3000 sponsorship for hiring a vehicle. Virdi and Tung did win these prizes, but after the competition was over, Cougar Motorsport announced that they would be extending these benefits to the top four teams this year. So now Nanjappa, Sanbir, Santhosh and their co-drivers will be getting subsidised entries and sponsored flight tickets. The vehicle hiring sponsorship however, is offered only to the winners. ⌧