chennai the indian national rally championship inrc is slowly but surely getting back to its glory days insists national motorsport federation president vicky chandhok the federation of motorsports clubs of india fmsci announced the proposed calendar of inrc 2011 with chennai making a comeback into the sevenround championship after a gap of 11 years the championship will also have a bigger prize purse with winner of each category earning rs 1 lakh something defending champion naren kumar and arch rivals gaurav gill and vikram mathias will be smiling about the 2011 championship begins in durgapur april 2224 followed by the challenging nashik rally from june 25 before heading south to chennai june 2326 coimbatore then hosts round 4 in july followed by bangalore and chikmaglur in august and november before the grand finale in bhubaneswar from december 911 hardcore motorsport enthusiasts find the thrills and slides of rallies more appealing than formula racing in fact the racing scene in india once was all rallies till the emergence of formula racing in the lateeighties with the amount of variables and fine details to be sorted out for organizing a rally staging a professional event requires a lot of effort last year mixups during the inrc bangalore k1000 a contender event for the asia pacific rally championship meant the city lost the right to host the fia event vicky president of fmsci and a former rally and race driver understands the amount of professionalism required to stage a rally and says the federation and coorganisers img sports are heading in the right direction when i was elected president i reiterated my intention of taking the rally championship back to its glory days and together with img sports we are now heading in the right direction said vicky this year sees an increase from five to seven rounds and we hope to see some fiercely fought battles through the championship he added and vicky believes the return of chennai where the famed south india rally used to be staged also promises excitement its been more than ten years since chennai has hosted a rally the city was known for its rallies and the return of inrc will be a boost for the championship said vicky adding that the plans for the stages in the city are not finalized by the madras motor sports club mmsc we will have a short and long stage at the mmsc race track in sriperumbudur our idea is to conduct the rest of the stages in such a way that it is easy for media and spectators to travel between stages and enjoy the action we are looking at properties off oragadom road in sriperumbudur for the stages added vicky this year will also see the introduction of the open class which will include diesel vehicles for the first time the gypsy and 1400 rally star cup will also remain as support classes to the main championship