FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific Final: Pragathi Gowda keeps Indian hopes alive to make Stage 3 cut

Bengaluru, October 11: Pragathi Gowda kept Indian hopes alive in the FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific Final as the Bengaluru-based driver qualified for Stage-3 of the competition at the Madras International Circuit, in Irungattukottai, near Chennai on Tuesday (October 11).

The 25-year old, who clocked a best lap of 1min, 41.96sec, was among 12 qualifiers for the final round which will be run on Wednesday (October 12) when the Asia-Pacific champion is decided.

As per a media release, Australia's Jaidyn Gluskie was overall the quickest with a blistering best lap of 1min, 34.08sec over a 1,300M course.

FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific Final: Harkrishan Wadia quickest as seven Indians advance into Stage 2 FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific Final: Harkrishan Wadia quickest as seven Indians advance into Stage 2

"I'm extremely happy to qualify for tomorrow's Stage-3. The conditions in the afternoon when I drove were much better than in the morning and I was able to perform well. Yesterday was my first experience driving a Cross Car, but now, I'm a little more comfortable with it and happy for the opportunity to compete at this competition," said Pragathi.

Distinctly unlucky

Earlier, six other Indians -- Harkrishan Wadia, Arnav Pratap Singh, Tarushi Vikram, Vedant Jouhari, Jasmehar Jubbal and Jeremy Miller -- were knocked out.

Of the lot, Wadia, the quickest Indian on the opening day was distinctly unlucky to miss the qualification for Stage-3 as he was docked a 2sec penalty for knocking down a couple of marker cones in his second timed-lap which put him third in the group, just 1sec behind Sri Lanka's Eshan Pieris.

Driving errors

"In the first timed-lap, the gear slipped into neutral and I lost time. In my second outing, I think I knocked down a couple of marker cones. But overall, it was a good experience," said a disappointed Harkrishan.

As in the case of Wadia, much was expected of Arnav Pratap Singh who had fared well in Stage-1, but a couple of driving errors during the timed runs today cost the Delhi driver.

Slippery terrain

The 25 contestants in Stage-2 today were divided into five groups of five each. The two quickest in each group advanced to Stage-3. They were joined by two others who topped a modified version of Nacon's WRC 9 game in the Digital Challenge, open to the drivers eliminated after Stage-2. The conditions, following overnight rain, were tricky.

The slush caught out many drivers, especially those starting down the order. The mud thrown up by the early cars rendered the terrain, which was a mix of tarmac and dirt, slippery, putting a premium on car control. The terrain improved considerably later in the day under bright sunshine and the drivers were able to clock faster times.

All set for finale

The winners of the Asia-Pacific region will be announced on Wednesday after all the drivers have been interviewed by the four-member Jury comprising FIA Rally Director Andrew Wheatley (Chairman), Pernilla Solberg, Maciej Woda and Guy Botterill (Driver Advisor).

The winner of the FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific Final will represent the region in the 2023 FIA Rally Star Training Season.