APRC India round postponed to 2015

The Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Asia Cup round -- allotted to India after the successful conduct of the Coffee Day Rally in Chikmagalur in December as a candidate event -- will now be held next year.

The decision to sit out the 2014 round, scheduled for April 25-27, was in view of the inability to conduct the event as per programme in late April due to India's general elections slated for April-May.

There has so far been no official release from the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) to this effect. However, the official APRC website carried a joint statement from FMSCI rally commission chairman Ashwin Pandit and incumbent president Vicky Chandhok expressing India's inability to conduct the event.

"After trying all permutations and combinations, we are left with no option but to stay out of calendar in 2014. We will be definitely in for 2015 and will prefer a November date for Chikmagalur. Parliamentary elections due in April and May and then monsoon are the main reasons for staying out in 2014. We'd like to thank the APRC officials for their support and guidance as we build towards a great event in 2015," the statement said.

The Coffee Day Rally had received top marks from the two international automobile federation (FIA) observers Murray Brown of New Zealand and Malaysia's N.S. Nathan who attended the event.