JK Tyre Arunachal Festival of Speed

The second edition of the JK Tyre sponsored event in the North East featured a star driver as well as local participation.

The second JK Tyre Arunachal Festival of Speed, organised by the Motorsports Club of Arunachal, is that it combines three forms of off-road racing and rallying comprising Autocross, Rally Sprint and 9.3-km Hill Climb on a single platform. For the Autocross and Rally Sprint, the option of choosing the best time from a maximum of three permissible runs gave the participants ample opportunity to make up for a bad stint. It also helped to keep the competition alive till the last moment.

The main categories; such as the 1600cc class, the SUV class and the Quad Class where the top draws. Apart from the Open Class, which was a mixed category, drivers from the North East had the added incentive of competing in the North East Class.

After three days of high-voltage action, 2013 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship winner Gaurav Gill – while competing in the 1600cc class in a VW Polo and in the SUV class in a Grand Vitara - emerged as the overall winner with a total of 75 points. Saazid Singha, with 42 points ensured a second place finish in the Open Class apart from winning the SUV category, while Philippos Mathai, despite unable to complete the Hill Climb, had banked enough points in Autocross and Rally Sprint to finish in third place in the Open class with 30 points.

The second edition of the event, brought to fore a number of local talents who gave a good account of themselves in categories outside of the North-East Class, in particular Kamlesh Das who placed third in the SUV class behind Singha and Gill.

Other standout performances came from Arindam Saikia, Jitu Kalita in their respective categories from the three-day event.