RFC India announces 40 entries for season four
Rainforest Challenge India will feature a record 40 entries in 2017, with multiple foreign drivers expected to take part in the fourth edition of the event.
Photo by: RFC
Headlining the entry list will be last year’s champion Gurmeet Virdi, who also took a class win in RFC Grand Finals in Malaysia in December.
Mumbai-based Fairmont Group will field four entries, including veteran Malaysian driver Mervyn Lim and Group’s Director Sameer Chunawala. Fairmont is also expected to run an American driver in its strong four-car line-up.
Meanwhile, Kabir Waraich will return to Gerrari Offroaders this year, having driven for the factory Force Motors squad in 2016.
Another notable driver is Tejinder Singh, who won the RFC North round in January, 2016.
This year’s RFC India is expected to be tougher than even before, with organisers planning multiple changes to add to the challenge.
“This year, the event will have a changed format for the Special Stages, with a variation in the running order and sequence of the SS," Ashish Gupta, Director, Cougar Motorsport said.
“We also plan to have some part of the competition at new sites and will shortly start the recce process for the same.”
As always, the winner of RFC India will win a free entry to the mother event in Malaysia. For this edition, the organisers will contribute towards the cost of procuring the vehicle for RFC Malaysia, while also increasing the overall prize money.
“We are also increasing the stakes this year as the total benefits that the top Indian driver of the competition will get will amount to Rs 5,35,000 ($8,000),” Gupta said.
“This includes the automatic fully paid for entry in the RFC 2017 Grand Final in Malaysia that is worth Rs 2,36,000 ($3900) and the travel expenses amounting to around Rs 74,000 ($1,100).”
“Additionally, this year Cougar Motorsport will contribute up to $3,000 towards the cost of arranging the competition vehicle for the Mother Event in Malaysia.”
The fourth edition of RFC India will take place between July 22-30 at its traditional home in Goa.
The localised editions in North and South India aren't expected to be held this year.
Entry list for 2017 edition:
S.No |
Driver |
Co-Driver |
City |
Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Dr Chaitanya Challa |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
|
2 |
Rajasekhara Prabhu |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
|
3 |
Kranthi Kumar Vengala |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
|
4 |
Krishna Reddy |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
|
5 |
Venkat Devineni |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
|
6 |
Abinav Reddy Nukala |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
CORAC |
7 |
Jithender Nath A |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
CORAC |
8 |
Laxmikanth Reddy |
TBA |
Hyderabad |
CORAC |
9 |
Sam Kurian Kalarickal |
TBA |
Kerala |
KTM Jeepers |
10 |
Anand V Manjooran |
TBA |
Kerala |
KTM Jeepers |
11 |
Raju Paul |
TBA |
Kerala |
KTM Jeepers |
12 |
Shemy Mustafa |
TBA |
Kerala |
KTM Jeepers |
13 |
Shibu Varghese |
TBA |
Kerala |
|
14 |
Robish M.K. |
TBA |
Kerala |
|
15 |
TBA |
TBA |
Kerala |
Team Flywheel - KASC |
16 |
Sameer Chunawala |
TBA |
Mumbai |
Team Fairmont |
17 |
Mervyn Lim |
TBA |
Mumbai |
Team Fairmont |
18 |
TBA |
TBA |
Mumbai |
Team Fairmont |
19 |
TBA |
TBA |
Mumbai |
Team Fairmont |
20 |
Daulat Deepram Choudhary |
TBA |
Pune |
|
21 |
Ajit Bache |
Sandip Yadav |
Pune |
Pune Offroaders |
22 |
Cedrick Jordan DaSilva |
TBA |
Goa |
|
23 |
Tejas Prakash Shindolkar |
TBA |
Goa |
|
24 |
Dattaraj Dessai |
TBA |
Goa |
|
25 |
Vivek Kuriakosse |
Ashok Kuriakosse |
Bangalore |
BODA |
26 |
Lokesh Shivaraja |
Rohith KR |
Bangalore |
BODA |
27 |
Siddartha Santosh |
Prithviraj AC |
Bangalore |
BODA |
28 |
Prashanth GV |
Pradeep Gowda |
Bangalore |
BODA |
29 |
R Sumanth Shenoy |
Mohnish L |
Chikmagalur |
|
30 |
Narthan Byramudi |
TBA |
Sakleshpur |
Mudhogs |
31 |
Jagat Nanjappa |
Chetan Changappa |
Coorg |
V5 Offroaders |
32 |
Gowtham Santhakumar |
TBA |
Pollachi |
|
33 |
Guhan Shetty |
Umesh Rane |
Tirunelveli |
Spartan Off Road Motor Sports |
34 |
Bijender Singh |
TBA |
Delhi |
NIOC |
35 |
Pragun Arora |
TBA |
Delhi |
NIOC |
36 |
Dr Kartik Sharma |
TBA |
Delhi |
NIOC |
37 |
Sushant Saini |
TBA |
Yamunanagar |
|
38 |
Kabir Waraich |
TBA |
Chandigarh |
Gerrari Offroaders |
39 |
Dushyant Khosla |
TBA |
Chandigarh |
Gerrari Offroaders |
40 |
Gurmeet Virdi |
TBA |
Chandigarh |
Gerrari Offroaders |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments