Indian truck drivers shine
TATA PRIMA T1 RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Racing trucks for the first time, Jagat Singh and Nagarjuna A made it to the top among the 12 Indian truck drivers selected for the third season. Story by: Ashish Bhatia
The third season of the Tata T1 truck racing championship will go down in history as the one that helped Indian truck drivers make an indelible mark. Held on March 20, 2016, twelve Indian truck drivers put out a stellar show at what would be their first truck racing experience ever. Reflecting on a rigorous selection and training program, the drivers provided enough reason for the audience to look up to them; to acknowledge the fact that truck racing has truly arrived in India, and is here to stay. Some two months before the race, which is run under the aegis of FIA (Federation Internationale De L’Automobile) and managed by FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India) and BTRA (British Truck Racing Association), Tata Motors took the wraps off the Indian drivers and offered a glimpse of how they were selected and trained.
The qualifying race
Media was conspicuously kept away as the six Indian drivers climbed into their racing Primas on March 19, 2016, at the Buddh International Circuit. Until the final race was over, interaction with the Indian drivers was embargoed. Starting under an open sky, the tempo began to build as the pack of six — Jagat Singh, Malkeet Singh, Rabinder Yadav, Rajkumar Mahato, Mohammed Parvez and Syed Akram Pasha cautiously rounded the first corner and began their qualifying journey as part of the Batch 1 race. The drivers speeding down the straight at speeds of no less than 130 kmph, Rabinder Yadav proved to be the fastest in lap 2. Malkeet was fastest in the next lap. The season 3 Primas, treated to modifications to lower their weight and increase
their speed and handling (see box), seemed to be at their best. In lap four it was the turn of Jagat Singh to set the fastest lap time. Malkeet followed close on his heels. Rajkumar Mahato also set the fastest lap time. His average speed was 78.92 kmph. At the end of the last lap (Lap 6) Jagat Singh was firmly in lead, and clinched the Batch 1 qualifier title at an average speed of 79.40 kmph. A close second was Malkeet Singh from Gurgaon with a gap of 0.058 seconds. He did an average speed of 79.36 kmph. Rabinder Yadav came third with a gap of 0.295 seconds. He clocked an average speed of 79.19 kmph.
By the time the other six drivers climbed behind the wheel of their trucks for the Batch 2 qualifier race, the tone was set. A six lap race between six drivers – Bhag Chand, Nagarjuna A, Anand, Bacchu Singh, Mohammed Iliyas and Jitendra Singh got off to a good start. Providing a sence of the drivers observing restraint, born perhaps out of the fact that it was their first such outing ever, the group accelerated out of the first corner without an incident. Bhag Chand picked up the lead. He would retain it till the end with Nagarjuna breathing down his neck. A ferocious Nagarjuna continued to build pressure on Bhag Chand as the duo negotiated corners. In Lap 2, Jitendra Singh, who would finish last, set the fastest lap time. This race was beginning to look more exciting than the one before or it seemed. The fight for lead was intensifying between Chand and Nagarjuna. Not the one to give up easily, Nagarjuna, exerted pressure on Bhag Chand till the end. Would Bhag Chand buckle under pressure? By the time the race entered Lap 4, Bhag Chand set the fastest lap time. He was however not the only one. Placed third, and pursuing Nagarjuna, Anand also set the fastest lap time in Lap 4. Pursuing Bacchu Singh, Mohammed Iliyas, placed fifth, also set the fastest lap time in Lap 4. It was evident that the confidence levels of the Batch 2 Indian drivers were quickly rising. The way they raced reflected upon a new-found ‘josh’. Something that was until the last two seasons the territory of the foreign drivers. Nagarjuna clocked the fastest lap time in lap 5, placed second. Bacchu Singh recorded the fastest lap time in Lap 6. Bhag Chand held on to the lead with Nagarjuna hot on his heels. Bhag Chand won. Nagarjuna came a close second with a gap of 0.411 seconds. Anand came third with a gap of 0.859 seconds.
The final race
The final race on March 20 began at 1.25 pm for Batch 1. It would be an eight lap race. Having won the qualifying race, Jagat
Singh rolled to the front of the grid. Malkeet Singh came to a halt next to him. Rabinder Yadav, Rajkumar Mahatao, Mohammed Parvez and Syed Akram Pasha made up the rest of the grid. Putting their qualifying experience to good use, it was Jagat Singh who grabbed the lead from the start. Malkeet Singh occupied the second place. A sense of caution seemed to prevail though, and was visible when negotiating corners. Perhaps a part of their training or as per the instructions they were receiving from their team managers, the drivers seemed to avoid bottle-necking in corners. They seemed to play it safe. This was especially visible as the pack negotiated the first corner. The order did not change in Lap 2 with Jagat Singh in a firm lead. Malkeet Singh was seen upping his ante to exert pressure on the leader. He tried to gain from the air resistance (rafting) by closing in on Jagat Singh’s racing Prima. Jagat Singh however did not let Malkeet Singh succeed.
Placed fourth, Parvez was beginning to exert pressure on Mahato with Yadav pulling close behind. Both Parvez and Yadav (placed fifth) clocked the fastest lap time of 1:54.522 seconds and 1:54.458 seconds respectively in Lap 2. In a bid to overtake Jagat Singh, Malkeet Singh, while negotiating a corner ran wide and off the track. He had a 360-degree spin but quickly regained control and was back on the track – down to fifth. Keeping calm, the next lap and a half would leave him to fight back, which he would. By the time the race entered Lap 3, action was on at the second, third and fourth level with Malkeet Singh beginning to exert pressure. In Lap 4 Malkeet Singh set the fastest
lap time of 1:54.458 seconds, displaying a surprising calm and a determination to get back up. By the end of Lap 4, Malkeet Singh began moving up. By the end of Lap 6, he overtook Rajkumar Mahato and Rabinder Yadav to regain the second position. With pressure building up — with Malkeet Singh back to the second position, it was Jagat Singh who set the fastest lap time in Lap 6 at 1:54.305 seconds.
In a twist of events, Rabinder Yadav fell down two more places as Mahato and Parvez overtook him to grab the third and fourth position each. Doing speeds of up to 131 kmph on the straight, the Indian race drivers were burning some serious rubber by now. In Lap 7, it were Mahato and Pasha who set the fastest lap times of 1:53.913 seconds and 1:55.366 seconds respectively. By the time the race entered the last lap, Jagat Singh took a firm lead with Malkeet Singh in hot pursuit. Jagat Singh won the race by completing it in 15:33.241 seconds with an average speed of 77.15 kmph. He was a good 15 seconds faster than the rest of the pack. Malkeet Singh fought a fierce battle to regain the second position. He put up an impressive time of 15:48.985 seconds. Rajkumar Mahato came third, and Parvez came fourth. The top three winners took home a trophy and a prize money amounting to Rs.10 lakh, Rs.6 lakh and Rs.4 lakh each.
The Batch 2 final race began at 4 pm. Bhag Chand rolled over to the front with Nagarjuna A besides him. The rest of the field was made up of Anand, Jitendra Singh, Bacchu Singh and Mohammed Iliyas. Bhag Chand took the lead coming out of the first corner. Racing in front of a crowd of 50,000 people, the 3.1 km track would provide the Indian racing truck drivers ample opportunity to showcase their skills. By the end of Lap 1, Nagarjuna, using slipstream effect to his advantage, overtook Bhag Chand to grab a firm lead. Speeding past the grandstand on the long straight with the audience cheering him, the fight between Nagarjuna and Bhag Chand proved to be fierce as the two seemed to pull away from the rest. Anand clinched on to the third position. Despite much effort, Bhag Chand, could not pass Nagarjuna to gain the lead. In Lap 4, the duo clocked their fastest lap each at 1:52.952 and 1:53.078 seconds respectively. Nagarjuna kept the lead over Bhag Chand by a good four seconds and over Anand by a good twelve seconds.
At the back of the field, Jitendra Singh continued to be in the fourth place; Bacchu Singh continued to be in the fifth place, and Mohammed Iliyas continued to be in the sixth place. The action, limited to the top, saw Nagarjuna set the fastest lap time of 1:52.952 seconds in Lap 4. Starting his love affair with trucks on a Tata 2515 Ex, Nagarjuna shone like a bright star. Claiming to have learnt the skill of driving a truck by merely observing his father drive one, Nagarjuna, working for a logistics company as one of their fleet drivers, did not relent to continued pressure from Bhag Chand. On the contrary, Anand, placed third, upped pressure on Bhag Chand by clocking the fastest lap in Lap 6 at 1:54.033 seconds. Anand was not the only one; two other drivers clocked the fastest time in Lap 4 as well. Jitendra Singh clocked a fastest lap time of 1:54.069 seconds, and Bacchu Singh clocked the fastest lap time of 1:53.735 seconds.
Nagarjuna kept the lead. In the last lap he further consolidated his position with Bhag Chand firmly entrenched in the second place. Iliyas, placed sixth, clocked the fastest lap time of 1:53.183 seconds in the last lap even as Nagarjuna went on to win the race. Admitting to driving a truck by sheer gut as his biggest strength and at good speeds, Nagarjuna became the second Indian truck driver (after Jagat Singh) to clinch the top title at the Tata Prima T1 racing championship.