At the close of Day 1 of the eleventh edition of The Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India, the country’s biggest and toughest off-road motorsport event, the Provisional Results for the ‘4×4 Extreme’ category, following the completion of 4 out of 26 Special Stages (SS), placed Chow Ujjal Namshum from Arunachal Pradesh, and his co-driver, Chethan Chengappa from Karnataka, at the top of the leaderboard with an impressive 380 out of 400 points.
The duo demonstrated exceptional teamwork and off-roading prowess, securing a perfect score in two stages and finishing second in the remaining two.
Bijender Singh (co-driver Gajender Singh) from Delhi, claimed the second spot with 349 points while there was a tie for the third position between Aniruddha Shete (Amrut Kadam) of Maharashtra and Erec Benny (Sirajudheen RV) from Germany with 329 points.
Sharing his experience on Day 1 of the competition, Chow Ujjal Namshum said, ‘Day 1 at RFC India 2025 was intense right from the start. The first stage was a blind speed run for everyone, but we had a strong start and secured 100 points. From there, the stages became more technical. During SS2, we debated whether to drive or winch up a tricky climb. We took a chance on the drive and it paid off. Stage 3 proved challenging for many teams, but we stayed focused and came out fastest once again.’
‘I did make a small error at the finish box that cost us 10 points, but we recovered quickly. In the later stages, my vehicle’s rear axle broke, the locker failed, and we had to winch multiple times. But my co-driver Chethan was spot on with his guidance, and we just kept pushing. Despite the setbacks, we maintained our pace and ended up topping the scoreboard. That feels incredibly satisfying’, he added.
‘When I first participated in RFC India in 2018, I used to focus on preserving my vehicle during the initial stages. But there is no room for that anymore. The competition has become much tougher, and now it’s all about going flat-out in every single stage. So that’s the plan for tomorrow-no compromises. We make mistakes, we live with them. But we are here to give it everything we have got,’ Ujjal further said.
Scrutiny for the 22 teams competing in the ‘4×4 Modified’ category was also completed today, and their competition is set to begin tomorrow.
