10 women racers to compete in Indian National Rally Championship 2021

Ten women drivers will line up on the grid for the first time in the upcoming edition of FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, to be held in Chennai later this month. The women riders and co-drivers will feature in the upcoming INRC after coming out on top in a nation-wide talent hunt conducted here at the Unite Off-Road Track.

The one-of-a-kind selection and training programme was conducted by former INRC champion Chetan Shivram. A total of 25 talented but unheralded women racers were shortlisted from across the country and were given beginners' and advanced training in rally cars by ace rallyists Suhem Kabeer and Dhruva Chandrashekar before the shootout. The winners were judged on the basis of their lap timings in the final selection round which was supervised by a FMSCI jury team.

Athira Murali of Kottayam emerged the winner and will be co-driven by her city mate George Varghese. Renuka G of Andhra Pradesh (and Chandni Kotian of Mumbai), Ojasvi Mehta of Mumbai (and Belgaum's Isha Sharma), Anupma Bindra of Gurgaon (and Pallavi Yadav of Mumbai) and mother-daughter duo from Mumbai Shivani Parmar (and Dr Vani Parmar) are the other drivers who made the final cut.

They will be accorded a fully sponsored ride by the promoters of INRC which includes entry fee, prepared rally spec car, rally tyres and accommodation. The next edition of the INRC kicks-off with the South India Rally on April 23-25 in Chennai, which also doubles up as the Asia round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.