Pan-India presence for National TSD Rally Championship

The FMSCI-Indian National TSD Rally Championship, which kicks off at Chikmagalur this weekend, will see the number of rounds almost doubled from the previous year and at least one to be held in each of the four zonal regions.
Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallying is enjoyed by a wide spectrum of people as speed is not the main criteria, and the rallies are usually staged on regular city roads as well as smooth dirt roads on the outskirts of cities and participation open in stock automobiles.
This is because the objective of TSD rallying is to maintain precise times and precise average speeds on various segments of a predefined route, the focus being on navigation.

After being predominantly south India-based last year, the 2014 season of nine rounds will have three rounds in the East zone (Baripada, Kolkata and Ranchi), one each in North (Jaipur) and West (Nashik) and four in the south (Chikmagalur, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chennai).
Competitors and teams registered for the National championship will have to take part in a minimum six rounds, with one round in each zonal region mandatory, to quality for honours.
The two main categories are Expert and Stock. The Expert class allows the use of unlimited gadgets, while only stock Odometer and any calculating device are permitted in the Stock class. An exclusive ladies category has been introduced this year.

Drivers and navigators registered for the National championship aside, each rally independently attracts local entries ranging between 50 and 70 cars.

KP Karthick Maruthi and his navigator S Sankar Anand are the defending champions in the Overall and Expert categories, while Chidananda Murthy and his navigator BS Sujith Kumar will look to make it three-in-a-row in the Stock class.
Team Tata Motors have confirmed their participation in the National championship and will field five cars in the opening round.
The Championship calendar: Chikmagalur (June 7-8), Jaipur (June 28-29), Bengaluru (Aug 16-17), Coimbatore (Sept 6-7), Nashik (Sept 20-21), Baripada (Nov 8-9), Kolkata (Nov 15-16), Ranchi (Nov 29-30) and Chennai (Dec 20-21).