Malaysia's Joo wins inaugural RFC India

Malaysia's Tang Eng Joo (co-driver Tan Choon Hong) clinched the inaugural Force Gurkha Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India title here Thursday.

At the end of the six-day off-road motorsport event, Joo, in his Force Gurkha, accumulated a total of 1,877 points to beat compatriot Mervyn Lim (Hamizan Bin Abdul Hamid), who finished only a point behind. Lim, also driving a Gurkha, had led almost the entire duration of the event until the penultimate day when Joo went ahead.

Driving a Mahindra CJ3B, Kabir Waraich (Gagan Sachdeva) from Chandigarh-based team Gerrari Offroaders was the top Indian, finishing third with 1740 points.

It wasn't an easy ride for Waraich who had a bad start by finishing 10th after the first six Special Stages (SS) on the first day at IT Park, Dona Paula. However, he made his way up the ladder to earn a podium finish. Importantly, being the top Indian, Waraich will get an automatic entry into the prestigious RFC Malaysia to be held in November.

Waraich's teammate Gursahib Singh (Tajinder Pal Singh) failed to get a podium finish as he gave away the third position he had held on to in the initial days. Gursahib, in his Maruti Gypsy, ended with 1559 points in fourth position while another Gerrari Offroader Karan Bali (Gurmeet Virdi) finished fifth with 1525 points in his Mahindra CJ3B of a total of 23 competitors.

The six-day event was divided into four stages -- Prologue, Predator, Terminator and Twilight -- comprising a total of 25 Special Stages (SS). The courses were designed in such a manner that the difficulty level increased as the challenge progressed, testing the driving and recovery skills of the participants under extreme off-road conditions.

The RFC is an off-road motorsport event where drivers have to fight rain, manoeuvre through changing paths, mud, steep slippery slopes, deep ruts, gullies, flooded rivers and landslides in their modified 4X4 All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV).