Jaipur, June 27: After missing out on a win - due to a technical error - in the Rally of Chikmagalur, Team Tata Motors' Chidananda Murthy and BS Sujith Kumar (both Bangaloreans) hope to clinch the top spot in the second round of the 2014 Indian National TSD Rally Championship here.

The Rally of Jaypore (Jaipur) will be held on June 28 and 29 and they drive a Tata Indica Vista.

Murthy and Sujith Kumar, taking part in the Pro Stock category, missed out on a win and ended up finishing seventh in Chikmagalur. But they hope to win here and ultimately extend their championship wins to three by the end of the 2014 season.

Vaneeta Kang (Chandigarh) and Poonam Das (Kolkata), driving a Tata Safari will form the all-ladies team of Team Tata Motors. Kang, partnering Nidhi Mittal (Mumbai), had won the Ladies' Class in the Rally of Chikmagalur.

The third Team Tata Motors car will be driven by Amol Satoskar (Goa) and Nirav Mehta (Mumbai) and they will be taking part in the Pro Expert category in a Tata Indica Vista.

Srikanth Gowda and M Chandrashekar will be the fourth entry from Team Tata Motors and they will drive a Tata Xenon in the Pro Expert category.

About the upcoming round, Murthy said: "It was unfortunate that we lost out on a win due to a minor technical calculation in Chikmagalur. But we will not let that bog us down. We are ready for the Jaipur round and will give it all we have got."

Sujith Kumar said: "The second round in Jaipur is going to be challenging due to the stiff competition that we are likely to face. But, we will not let that affect us in any way. We will just get on with our jobs and try our best to win."

Auto majors Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki will also be taking part in the event but Team Tata Motors are all geared up for the challenge. Competitors and teams registered for the National Championship need to take part in at least six rounds, with one round in each zonal region mandatory, to quality for honours.

TSD, or Time-Speed-Distance, Rallying involves no high speeds. In fact, it is more about calculating precise times and average speeds so as to attract the minimum penalty. Penalty is given to competitors who arrive at the finish too early or late from a given time of arrival. The team that attracts the minimum penalty wins and that is why reaching the finish line at the specified time is key.

The two main categories are Pro Expert and Pro Stock. The Expert class allows the use of unlimited gadgets, while only the stock Odometer and any calculating device are permitted in the Stock class. An exclusive ladies category has been introduced this year.

Titles will be given to the best driver, navigator and team in the Expert, Stock and overall classification, and to the driver and navigator in the exclusive ladies Stock category.

After Jaipur, the subsequent rounds will be held in Bengaluru (August 16-17), Coimbatore (September 6-7), Nashik (September 20-21), Baripada, Orissa (November 8-9), Kolkata (November 15-16), Ranchi (November 29-30) and Chennai (Dec 20-21). This is the first time the Championship is moving to so many venues across the country. The interest generated will surely go a long way in promoting the sport.

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