Cougar Motorsport Pvt. Ltd. is back with the most awaited off-road motorsport battle on Indian soil! Season 5 of RFC India is going to be held in Goa over a period of 8 days from 21st – 28th July, 2018.
This year, 41 teams from across the country, including a women’s team, are going to compete for the coveted trophy. This includes 10 teams from Kerala, 7 from Telangana, 4 teams each from Karnataka and Maharashtra, 3 teams each from Chandigarh, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Delhi and 1 from Haryana. Moreover, for the first time in the history of RFC India, 3 teams from Arunachal Pradesh will be travelling to Goa to participate in the Mecca of India off-roaders. This will be the first time when teams from North-East India will be competing in RFC India.
Launched in 2014, RFC India is one of the top three RFC Global events among the 51 editions held across 21 countries and enjoys a cult following in the Indian and international offroading arena. It is an extreme off-road motorsport competition that tests the contestants’ driving and vehicle recovery skills, team spirit along with their physical and mental strength under extreme off-road conditions. Each team, comprising a driver and a co-driver, undertakes 26 Special Stages (SS) or challenges during the course of the competition.
The event follows a point system, where the team with maximum points at the end of the competition claims the RFC India Champion title. The total benefits to the top Indian driver of RFC India 2018 will amount to USD 10,000, including an automatic free entry worth USD 3,900 to the RFC Mother Event, to be held in Malaysia at the end of the year.
Mr. Ashish Gupta, Founder and Director, Cougar Motorsport, said, “In the last 4 editions of RFC India, we have witnessed some exceptional offroading talent and I am confident that this trend will continue this year as well. It’s overwhelming to see such a tremendous response to RFC India 2018 registrations. We filled all the available slots within 72 hours of posting the registrations call on Facebook in February. I am humbled by the immense love & acceptance from the entire offroading fraternity and promise to bring a better, tougher and a more gripping competition this year.”
Tan Eng Joo (co-driver Tan Choon Hong) of Malaysia, representing Force Motors, emerged as the winner of the first two editions of RFC India. However, at the third edition in 2016 he was dethroned by Gurmeet Virdi (co-driver Kirpal Singh Tung) of Chandigarh in a tough-fought battle. The first Indian to claim the top-spot in RFC India, Gurmeet repeated his success at RFC India 2017. As the margin between top contenders for the RFC India trophy narrows every year, it would be interesting to see who braves out the odds to claim the RFC India 2018 Champion title.
Concurrently, Cougar Motorsport has announced that the maiden Rainforest Trophy (RFT) India, an extreme offroading adventure expedition, will be held in Arunachal Pradesh from 16th October to 20th October. The organization has partnered with the Manabhum Offroaders Club of Arunachal (MOCA) for conducting this event. It is a non-racing event that was launched by the Rainforest Challenge Founder Luis J.A. Wee in Malaysia last year. RFT India is going to be similar in nature to RFT Malaysia as well as the Borneo Safari.
The underlying idea behind RFT India is to bring off-road adventure seekers from across the country on a single platform, wherein they work in teams to maneuver their way through natural obstacles, as they traverse distances through rough trails. Modeled into an expedition format rather than a competition one, RFT India 2018 will be held over a period of five days.
Explaining about the maiden RFT India edition, Mr. Ashish Gupta said, “There are many offroading enthusiasts who want to experience extreme 4X4 adventures, but not in a competition like RFC India because of the extreme vehicle modification requirements and the amount of time one has to spend training for the competition. Moreover, due to limited participation slots, many entries fail to make it to the RFC India participants list every year. So, in order to extend the sport and give a thrilling experience to Indian offroaders, we are bringing the Rainforest Trophy to India. I am confident that it will be a giant leap towards making international level of offroading experience accessible to more people in India.”
RFC India will, however, continue to be the flagship event for the Rainforest Challenge franchise in India. With an exciting mix of some fresh faces and several battle-hardened RFC India veterans, it will be interesting to see who wins the coveted RFC India Champion trophy this year.
