Haldia Autocross 2019, Indian National Autocross Championship East Zone Qualifier-1, thrilled the nearly 10,000 strong local crowd during this weekend 30th November- 1st December 2019. This was the second consecutive year of this championship being held in Haldia which witnessed stiff competition among the top driver of this zone.
The event was supported by Haldia Municipality, Haldia Development Authority and Indian Oil Haldia Refinery. This year the championship had nine categories, divided according to engine capacity and modification, to make the competition as fair as possible. There was a separate event planned for the amateur drivers and ladies as well. The total number of entries were 104 among which the number of lady participants were five.
Haldia’s local lad Sk. Saddam Ali achieved the fastest time of the event clocking 1 minute 55.5 seconds followed by Abhijit Singh, Ibrahim Ali and Mazdeyer Vatcha. Among the known names Sourabh Chaudhuri and Nirav Mehta won in their respective categories. Veteran rallyist Subir Roy and his son Chandrasish, the youngest participant, also pushed very hard to get their place on the podium. Among the ladies, Deepshikha Bhaduri won the most accolades finishing first in class 9 and third in class 6.
Speaking on the occasion, Saurav Chatterjee and Sk. Ajgar Ali, former National TSD Rally Champions and the key organisers of this event explained the aim of the event is to woo the youth away from road racing to regulated motorsports, where safety of the drivers is of paramount importance. They explained autocross is not only about raw speed; one has to match that with driving acumen and physical stamina as well. The goal of FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship is to identify young budding talents from the
regional zones and thus Haldia Autocross is a big step forward to the eminent goal. Motor Sports Association of Eastern India and Calcutta Motor Sports Club, the organising motorsports clubs, wants to be the guiding force of many raw talents in the near future.
Power Drive 