Indian National Rally Championship 2021 to start on April 23

The FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 will kick-start here on April 23 with the competitors fighting it out over six gruelling rounds across the country. The upcoming edition will start from Chennai, which will also double up as one of the three Asian rounds of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship on April 23-25 and culminate in Nagaland on November 12-14.

Nagaland, which will be hosting its first ever INRC round, incidentally, shall also become the first state from the northeast to host the grand finale of the country's premier motorsport event. After round 1, the bandwagon will move to Bengaluru (May 28-20), followed by Coimbatore (July 17-18), Delhi-NCR (August 27-28) and Hampi (October 1-3).

Apart from Nagaland, the promoters have accorded the hosting rights to Delhi-NCR and Hampi for the first time as well. Also this year's championship will see the SUV class added into the mix to give a chance to other drivers in the country to display their skill on the national circuit.

"We could not go all guns out last year due to reasons known to all. The pandemic had tied our hands and it was very difficult for us to organise a full season but still we did what we could do best and completed three rounds," Vamsi Merla, director of Champions Yacht Club and promoter of INRC, said. "But we are back on the track again and will have six rounds again this year. We are anticipating a great year ahead and hope that it exceeds all our expectations."

While Chennai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Hampi have been ratified by the Rally Commission of the FMSCI, the Delhi-NCR and Nagaland round is subject to an FMSCI inspection and confirmation of the local organisers by the FMSCI.