Mangaluru: The duo of Amitrrajit Ghosh from Kolkata and Ashwin Naik from Mangaluru has won the European Rally Championship ERC 3 at Athens in Greece, organised by the Federation of Internationale de l’automobile (FIA). It is the first time that the Indian rally duo has won the coveted European Rally Championship.
The debutante duo drove a Ford Fiesta R2. Gosh and Naik were sponsored by Ramakrishna Race Performance Management of Kolkata and Pana- the Mangaluru based Educational conglomerate.
Commenting on the win, Ashwin Naik and Amittrajit Ghosh said that this was the first time any Indian team has made it to the top slot. The victory has given the European rallyists and the FIA a sense of awe. The international rally scenario for Indian drivers will not be the same anymore as the Ghosh-Naik duo has just raised the benchmark.
Congratulating the duo, Chairman of the Pana educational group, Dr. Prasad Hegde said that the team has brought laurels to the country and Pana group is extremely happy with the results. This was also the first international event that any Mangaluru based organisation has sponsored.
The team who’s debut victory in this class in a closely contested international rally were leading in their class right from day one of the three-day rally that passed through some torturous terrain. Ghosh, an ace driver, ably co-driven by Ashwin Naik and his immense experience, left no ambiguity about this victory when they started for the last leg on Sunday, June 3. “We both drove with safety as a priority in our minds which gave us confidence right from the word ‘go’. We just had to bring the car to the ramp in one piece which we did with great aplomb,” the winners said in a message sent from Athens.
In a Radio interview, Amit said, “I and Ashwin knew that we were racing with an older generation of Ford Fiesta R2. Our goal was always to finish the rally with honorable points but, we did it by winning the ERC 3 in the top slot which is so fulfilling.”
