Amitrrajit Ghosh of Kolkata and Ashwin Naik from Mangaluru duo have won the European Rally Championship ERC 3 held in Athens in Greece, organised by the Federation of Internationale de l’automobile (FIA).
It is for the first time that the Indian rally duo has won the coveted European Rally Championship. The debutantes Ghosh-Naik drove a Ford Fiesta R2.
The event for the Indian duo was sponsored by Ramakrishna Race Performance Management of Kolkata and Pana, the Mangaluru based educational institution.
Top slot
Giving details, Ashwin Naik and Amittrajit Ghosh said that this was the first time that any Indian team has made it to the top slot. The victory has taken the European rallyists and the FIA with a sense of awe. The international rally scenario for Indian drivers will not be the same anymore as Amit-Ashwin duo have just raised the benchmark.
Congratulating the duo, Chairman of the Pana educational group of Mangaluru Dr Prasad Hegde said the Amit-Ashwin team has brought laurels to the country and Pana group is extremely happy with the results. This was also the first international event that any Mangaluru-based organisation has sponsored, he said.
The Indian duo, who scripted debut victory in this class in an international rally closely contested at that, was leading in its class right from the day one of the three-day rally that passed through some torturous terrains.
Ghosh, an ace driver ably co-supported by Ashwin Naik and his immense experience left no ambiguity about this victory when they started for the last leg on Sunday.
“We both drove with safety at top of our mind which gave us confidence right from the word go. We just had to bring the car to the ramp in one piece which we did with great aplomb,” the winners said in a message sent from Athens.
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