Panaji, July 24, 2024: The fourth day of the 10th edition of the Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India, which is the biggest and the toughest off-road motorsport event of India, witnessed an intense fight among some of the most evolved off-roaders in the country for the top spot in the ranking table. At the end of Day 4 and as per the provisional results declared on completion of Special Stages (SS) 13 to 16 of RFC India 2024, the top three teams of the previous day managed to retain their positions on Day 4.
Dr Mohammed Fahed VP and co-driver Rajeev Lal from Kerala ended Day 4 at the first position with 1340 points out of 1600. Ujjal Namshum from Arunachal Pradesh and co-driver Chethan Chengappa from Karnataka have also retained their second spot with 1243 points. N Abinav Reddy (co-driver Vishuthi Varun Chakravarthy) from Hyderabad were at the third spot with 1160 points.
Goan driver and RFC India 2023 Champion Cedrick Jordan Da Silva (Mackvin Dias) has climbed up two spots to take the fourth position with 1135 points. Anand V Manjooran (Vishnu Raj) from Kerala has also come up the ranking order by two positions to claim his place in the Top 5 with 1096 points.
Regarding his performance at RFC India 2024 so far, RFC India veteran driver N Abinav Reddy said, “The first couple of days were difficult for us because of some mechanical issues with the vehicle but we are catching up now. I am trying to maintain a steady performance, which has helped us climb up to take the third position. I want to be in the Top 3 at the end of the competition this year and to achieve that goal, I plan to continue doing good without breaking the vehicle.”
Bijender Singh from Delhi, who has been competing in RFC India since its first edition in 2014, slipped down the table from fourth position on Day 3 to tenth position at the end of Day 4. Regarding this dip in his performance, he said, “This is the ultimate off-road motorsport event of India and there is no limit to how innovative you can be in terms of your vehicle preparation and your driving techniques. You can’t make excuses when you don’t perform at this event because you have to come prepared when you are competing against the best off-roaders of the country. I made a very basic mistake in one of the SS today because I haven’t gone off-roading in my vehicle over the last few months. So, I can’t blame anyone else if I slip down the ranking table. I should have practiced well when I was coming for such a prestigious competition.”
RFC India, which is the India Chapter of The Rainforest Challenge of Malaysia, is the longest running international offroad motorsport competition in India. Currently in its 10th edition, the competition is being held in Goa where 26 teams, consisting of some of the most evolved off-roaders of the country, are participating. The RFC India 2024 Champions will be announced on 26th of July after the completion of all the 26 Special Stages of the event. The top three drivers of RFC India 2024 will win free entry to the RFC Global Series 2024 Finale to be held in Malaysia at the end of the year.
