Ogier clinches the Acropolis Rally

The 2011 season of the World Rally Championships is turning out to be the battle of team-mates. Going head to head, this time it was Sebastien Ogier who made the most of it running behind Sebastien Loeb to take the lead in the last five stages going on to win the event. This was his third win of the season.

Ogier started the final day 2.2 seconds behind his team-mate Loeb, despite having lost time on Saturday’s final stage due to a combination of over cast conditions and dust. However, due to cleaner lines on Sunday’s opening stage, he was able to snatch the lead from Loeb taking an advantage of 0.1 seconds. The second stage of the day once again saw the lead change hands as Loeb fought back with a faster time heading into the mid-morning service at Loutraki. Being first on the road, stage 16 and 17 proved to be hazardous for Loeb as he was unable to defend his position resulting in Ogier regaining the lead. This move meant that he could build a lead of 10.5seconds going in to the power stage. By winning the event, the Frenchmen claimed his well deserved 25 points along with three bonus points that the Citroen DS 3 driver got for being the fastest on the Power Stage. Loeb’s appearance at the event was his 100th podium finish in the WRC, while Citroen’s lead in the manufacturer’s standings has now increased to 55 points over their nearest rivals Ford.

It was Mikko Hirvonen who followed the Citroen pair to claim third place. This was despite the fact that the Finnish driver came within a striking distance to challenge Loeb going into the Power Stage but unfortunately was not able to capitalize on the opportunity. Meanwhile Petter Solberg who held a commanding lead after day one could not do much and in turn had to settle for a fourth place finish. Henning Solberg managed to put in his best performance of the season as he claimed fifth place for his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta team. Just behind him was team-mate Matthew Wilson who was followed by Kimi Raikkonen in seventh position. Dennis Kuipers claimed eighth place while Jari-Matti Latvala could only manage a ninth place finish due to mechanical failures.

Indian driving sensation Aditya Patel seems to be performing consistently in the on-going season of the Scirocco Cup in comparison to his fellow countrymen Sailesh Bolisetti. The recently concluded round 4 held in Norising, Germany saw the young lad grab 5th place after which his total points tally goes up to 131 points in the Driver’s Standings.

Swedish driver Ola Nilsson led the race from start to finish while Stefano Proetto of Italy finished second followed by Polish driver Mateusz Lisowski in third and Britain’s Daniel Lloyd in fourth place. Having qualified 7th on the grid, Aditya made up three places before turn one itself. He first went past the American, James Mobley, to claim sixth place before overtaking Polish driver, Adam Gladysz, for fifth position after which he managed to grab fourth place from Great Britain’s Daniel Lloyd. Patel maintained his position till Lap 19 wherein Daniel Lloyd outpaced him claiming back his fourth position.

Meanwhile things seem to be improving for Sailesh as the Indian racer – who started 22nd on the grid – managed to finish the race in 17th place. This was Bolisetti’s best finish in the Scirocco Cup thus far.

The Repsol Honda Team has comfortably dominated the last two races. Recently in Germany with 101,309 spectators at Sachsenring witness to an incredible battle, Dani Pedrosa finally clinched victory. In his second race after having missed three races due to an injury to the right shoulder, Dani Pedrosa returned to the top step of the podium and securing his second win of the 2011 season and his fifth Grand Prix victory. Meanwhile, championship leader Casey Stoner celebrated a seventh successive podium finish which is a personal record in the MotoGP class. He led the race for nine laps but was unable to match the pace of Pedrosa and was robbed of second place at the very last corner by Jorge Lorenzo. An exciting fight for fourth between Dovizioso, Simoncelli and Spies saw Dovizioso coming out on top to finish fourth and retained his third position in the Championship standings.

Earlier this month on a very hot day in Italy, reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo delivered an incredible performance, taking a hard fought victory at Mugello to claim the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM win, the second consecutive GP win for Yamaha this season. But once again it was the Repsol Honda team that dominated the race as Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso finished second and third respectively. Both riders had fallen in the free practice run and sustained injuries but nonetheless they still performed well. Stoner, never felt totally comfortable with his set up, and was very relieved to score some important Championship points. Andrea also still a little sore, experienced a tyre issue in the race which affected his ability to keep up with Stoner, who eventually built up a gap between the two riders.

The Repsol Honda Team will have no time to rest, as they pack all the race equipment and leave for the United States for the U.S GP hosted at the fascinating circuit of Laguna Seca. The battle for the Championship standings is heating up as Lorenzo with 153 points is catching up to Stoner’s tally of 168.

Amittrajit Ghosh won the second round of the INRC held in Chennai recently. Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik suffered gearbox problems, but nursed their car through the final four stages on the last day to win the South India Rally. Karna Kadur and Somonnita Ghosh came in second and were also the winners of the 2000cc N class category. Rahul Kanthraj and co-driver Vivek Bhatt came in third overall.

Gaurav Gill and Arjun Balu succumbed to electrical failures and retired from the rally on the first day itself and MRF’s Lohitt Urs had to face expulsion due to an incident where he tried helping his team-mate Gill when the latter’s car packed up during the transport stage.

Kadur posted impressive stage times to take the lead from Rahul Kanthraj in 2000cc class. Behind them were Vikram Devadasen and co-driver Somayya who finished third in the category. Vignesh Devarajan and Anoop Kumar won in the 1600cc category while Hrishikesh Thackersey and Kaushik H Shinde took home honours the in the Star Cup 1400cc category.

Sanjay Agarwal and Shivaprakash claimed victory in the Gypsy class, while Sachin Singh and Venu Ramesh came in second followed by Shafeeq-ur-Rehman and Adhiraj Bardhan in third place.

It was a month filled with action, drama and some brilliant driving skills on the track. The Kari Motor Speed way in Coimbatore, was host and witness to all that action that unfolded. Ameya Walawalkar from Mumbai clinched a double win in the Formula LGB Swift class. Starting fourth on the grid, he worked his way up to the top spot earning him a much needed win to place him third in the championship with 50 points.

There was another double in the Indian Junior Touring Car class with Diljith Shaji claiming the top spot in not only the races but also the championship. Drama unfolded on the track when a restart was necessitated as one of the drivers T-boned midway through the second lap, after which the race was reduced to 7 laps instead of the scheduled 10. It was MotoRev driver Bala Vijay who took the chequered flag but the celebration of this 4th successive win was short lived. Bala Vijay was stripped off his first place finishes in both races after officials found a technically illegal component in his engine, thus awarding Diljith Shaji the points and thereby the leader of the championship.

The Indian Touring Class too was a sight to watch as the drivers battled through 10 laps to gain top spot. B Vijaykaumar steered to the finish line giving the current championship leader TR Radha Selvarajan. Vijayakumar is currently placed 3rd in the championship.

Having taken the Polo R Cup by storm, nothing dampens the mood of Vishnu Prasad and he seems to be making winning a habit. He started 6th on the grid and a collision at the second corner gave Vishnu the opportunity to move past his competitors. Holding his nerves till the very end, he soon breezed past the leader of the pack, Oshan, only to be greeted by the chequered flag. With this win he stays the championship leader with 110 points, while Mihir Dharkar is placed second with 77 points to his name.