Arjun Rao and Satish Rajgopal the boys from the South triumphed in Round 3 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) – the MRF Rally de North while Dhirendra Kumar and Honey won the MRF FMSCI Indian Rally Championship (IRC). At the glittering podium ceremony followed by champagne shower held here in Gurgaon, the winners were awarded the trophies along with a prize money of Rs 50,000/-, in the presence of Mr. Arindam Ghosh, Director, Ramakrishna Race Performance Management (RRPM) – the promoters of the 2016 MRF FMSCI INRC and IRC.
MRF Rally de North, the second gravel event of the INRC and IRC 2016 was a super challenging and exciting event for all the competitors. The route was so challenging that many teams couldn’t finish the rally due to mechanical failure. The South Boy Arjun took over Gaurav Gill from Team Mahindra Adventure while Amittrajit Ghosh from Team Mahindra Adventure in-spite of rear suspension failure managed to finish 5th maintaining the lead in the year’s championship. On the other hand PG Abhilash, who won Round 1 and 2 of IRC crashed out in Stage 2.
The team of Arjun Rao and Satish Rajgopal won the rally with an overall time of 47 minutes 10 seconds followed by Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai as the first runners-up (48:04) and Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, as the second runners-up (48:24) at the spellbinding MRF Rally de North which was organized by the Sports Route Trust. Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai also won the INRC 2000cc category.
Dhirendra Kumar and Honey, entered in the MRF FMSCI Indian Rally Championship (IRC) won their category with a time of 1:00:04 which ran concurrently with the INRC. Indian drivers in Indian cars were eligible for the INRC while Indian or Foreign drivers in Indian or Foreign cars were eligible for the IRC.
It must be noted that the INRC and IRC are two separate championships and their results are not clubbed together or compared as they run distinctively different vehicles, most importantly, the INRC is for two wheel drive Indian vehicles only while the four wheel drive foreign vehicles are allowed in the IRC.
The prizes for the different categories are as follows:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| INRC Overall | Arjun Rao and Satish Rajgopal
Rs 50,000/- + Trophies |
Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai
Rs 30,000/- + Trophies |
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif
Rs 20,000/- + Trophies |
| INRC 2000 cc | Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai
Rs 50,000/- + Trophies |
Bikku Babu and Milen George
Rs 30,000/- + Trophies |
Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt
Rs 20,000/- + Trophies |
The MRF Rally de North, which is the 3rd round of the MRF FMSCI INRC and IRC 2016 season, zipped through the 6 stages covering about 65 kms. of dirt roads on the outskirts of Gurgaon. 38 teams from all over the country competed in this super thrilling rally.
Mr. Arindam Ghosh, Director, RRPM said, “I want to thank MRF Tyres, Mahindra Adventure, Polaris and Pincon for sponsoring the 2016 INRC and IRC championships. I also congratulate all winners and the entire team of Sports Route Trust. We look forward to coming back to North India again next season”
The overall winning driver of the MRF Rally de North (INRC), Arjun Rao said “Rally de North has always been lucky for me as I won overall way back in 2005 (the last Rally de North) and then again history repeats. Overall rally was very challenging as the stages became pretty rough towards the end and we had to save the car as well as keep pace and make sure we are doing good stage timings.”
The second placed driver Karna Kadur said, “All I can say is that, it’s been an epic battle to finish 2nd on the podium along with Gaurav and Arjun.”
Finishing third was Gaurav Gill who said “It was a great weekend rallying in the northern part of the country finally. Wasn’t the best for our team and car but we still managed to pick up the 3rd spot and that’s still good set of points in the bag.”
About RRPM:
Ramakrishna Race Performance Management Pvt. Ltd. (RRPM) is a company formed with the sole intention of promoting “Professional Motorsports” in India and provides all kinds of technical assistance and information required to be at par with the National Level.
RRPM was started in 2003 by Mr. Arindam Ghosh, an icon in his own rights with rallying and organizational experience of over 40 years. RRPM is proud to be a part of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, which is the apex body of India.
The schedule of the MRF FMSCI INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) & the MRF FMSCI IRC (Indian Rally Championship) 2016 is as follows –
| DATE | LOCATION |
| 23rd & 24th July 2016 | Coimbatore |
| 27th & 28th August 2016 | Nashik |
| 17th & 18th September 2016 | Gurgaon |
| 26th & 27th November 2016 | Bengaluru |
| 3rd to 5th December 2016 | Chikmagalur |
