At the end of day 4 of The Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India, 2025, and the completion of 19 of the 26 Special Stages (SS) of the competition, as per the provisional results, Chow Ujjal Namshum from Arunachal Pradesh and co-driver Chethan Chengappa from Karnataka continued their winning streak in the ‘4×4 Extreme’ category with 1722 points out of 1900.
Goan drivers Cedrick Jordan Da Silva (co-driver Mackwin Dias) and Viddesh Madgaonkar (Sahil Sadekar) also retained their second and third positions in the leaderboard with 1549 and 1425 points respectively.
In the ‘4×4 Modified’ category, Goan driver Steven Fernandes (Balwant Jagram) climbed up two spots to claim the first position with 1096 points out of 1300. Benzeer Palasseri Pulikkal (Naser CK) from Kerala climbed up to the second position with 1069 points while Cyril Dmello (Ameer Sadiq) from Maharashtra slipped down one spot to take the third position in the leaderboard with 1034 points.
In the ‘4×4 Stock’ category, Mihir Dharkar (Shantanu Grover) from Maharashtra continued to lead with 775 points out of 800. Bopaiah Kongettira (Bopanna Maleyanda) from Karnataka climbed up one spot to take the second position with 689 points while Tejas Patil (Karan Patil) from Maharashtra dropped one position to take the third spot on the scoreboard with 642 points.
Reflecting on his RFC India 2025 journey so far, Goan driver Cedrick Jordan Da Silva said, ‘The competition has been as tough as ever and we also had a rough start this year. On Day 1, my vehicle’s tyre popped out and we suffered a few damages. I was running on a new tyre and wasn’t sure of the right pressure, so we couldn’t perform well and ended the day in ninth place. But we kept pushing, climbed to fifth spot by Day 2 and the last two days have gone much better.’
‘I feel the stages have become more interesting over the past two days. The earlier ones felt a bit easy, but now the real challenge is emerging. I am hoping for more technical stages ahead because that’s where experience really counts. We may not be in striking distance of the top spot unless the leader makes a mistake, but if things go our way, we could still close the gap and finish strong’, he added.
This year, there are three women participants competing in RFC India. Expressing her happiness on competing in the 11th edition of India’s biggest and toughest off-road motorsport event, Aparna Umesh from Kerala, who is participating in the newly launched ‘4×4 Modified’ category, said, ‘Competing in RFC India has been a dream I have worked hard for, both physically and financially. Preparing for this wasn’t easy; I followed a strict fitness regime and took on multiple projects to fund my participation.’
‘Over the last five years, I have followed the event closely and even supported my team on the sidelines. So, finally being on the track is an incredible feeling. The experience so far has been everything I hoped for’, she mentioned.
