MADIKERI: A youngster from Kodagu is emerging as the favorite driver in the motor rally world even as he was declared the National Champion 2023 at the Indian National Rally Championship. Abhin Rai, a 24-year-old motor enthusiast from the district, shares his dream and experience at the recent rally.
Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) is a pan-India rally championship that was held across six stages this year. The rally began at Arunachal Pradesh and then was held at Chennai, Coimbatore, Kodagu, and Bengaluru.
Abhin enthusiastically took part in this rally and has emerged as the champion. He was leading in points, was named the National Champion in four categories, and was declared the second runner-up at the Junior-level INRC rally. He also won the Rising Star award during the rally at Kodagu.
“Ideal Racing has supported me throughout the rally and my Honda City was perfectly tuned by Amshad Pasha. Each category has a different number of participants and they were over 60 in all. The overall experience was great despite facing technical issues in Hyderabad,” shared Abhin. He turned up first in three stages and fifth in Coimbatore. However, he did not finish the rally in Hyderabad due to technical troubles. Nevertheless, his unabated performance helped him emerge as the champion.
He started off rallying only in 2022 and he participated only at the K1000 rally last year. “I could not finish the rally then and it was like a test run,” he recalled. However, in his second year as a rallyist, Abhin has made everyone’s head turn. “I started driving at a very young age and I drove at an autocross in a pickup. I later bought a race car without the knowledge of my folks and I attended races discreetly. However, after winning several trophies, I revealed my passion to my parents, who are now very supportive,” he added.
Apart from the national championship, Abhin has won 48 trophies in autocross even as he has bigger dreams for the sport.