Rarh Bengal Tigers (motorsport)
| Founded | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Joseph Thomas Pottamkulam |
| Base | Kolkata, West Bengal |
| Team principal(s) | Sourav Ganguly Rahul Todi |
| Current series | Indian Racing League F4 Indian Championship |
| Current drivers | Indian Racing League Ruhaan Alva Nikhil Bohra Fabienne Wohlwend Alister YoongF4 India Akhil Agarwal[a] Ruhaan Alva Giancarlo Artho[a] Raiden Samervel |
| Teams' Championships | 2022 Indian Racing League |
| Website | https://shrachisports.com/ |
Rarh Bengal Tigers (formerly Godspeed Kochi) is an Indian motorsport franchise that competes in the Indian Racing League and the F4 Indian Championship.[1]
History
[edit]The franchise was founded initially as Godspeed Kochi in 2022, headed up by Thiruvananthapuram-based businessman and former rally driver Joseph Thomas Pottamkulam, as a last-minute entry into the Indian Racing League.[2][3] Local drivers Ruhaan Alva and Nikhil Bohra were set to be joined by British GT4 driver Jordan Albert and Brazilian F4 driver Aurelia Nobels, however Nobels was unable to obtain a visa and was replaced with W Series driver Fabienne Wohlwend. Albert left the series after the first round in Hyderabad was cancelled, with Pottamkulam claiming he "ran away", and was replaced with Alister Yoong.[4] At least one of the teams' cars scored a podium finish in all but one of the races that season, including the Yoong/Bohra combination winning all three races in the final weekend of the season, on their way to the teams' championship whilst all four drivers finished inside the top six in the championship.[5]
The four drivers who completed the 2022 IRL season were retained for 2023, whilst the franchise expanded into the new F4 Indian Championship for its' inaugural season.[6] The IRL championship format changed to place emphasis on the results of driver combinations over individual achievements, but despite claiming half of the available race wins Kochi were relegated to 3rd behind franchises representing Bangalore and Goa. Bohra's younger brother Akshay was joined by Salva Marjan for the F4 program, however Marjan failed to qualify for the opening round and his replacement Veer Rajwade withdrew from the second, leading to Singaporean Nooris Gafoor moving across from Bangalore for the final two rounds – with all events held at Madras International Circuit, Bohra finished third in the drivers' championship having won the first race of the season.[7]
The franchise was bought by cricketer Sourav Ganguly and the Shrachi Group prior to the 2024 season, initially renaming it Kolkata Royal Tigers before later changing it to Rarh Bengal Tigers – referencing the historical region of Rarh.[8][9] As well as running two cars for the existing drivers in IRL, the franchise expanded to four cars for Indian F4; keeping two under the old Kochi title. Yoong scored the teams' only race win in the 2024 IRL at the first round, however consistency kept Alva and Wohlwend in the championship fight up to the last race – Car #5 ultimately finished third in the entrants' standings after colliding with Akash Gowda, whilst the franchise finished runner-up to Goa in the teams' championship.[10] Alva completed double-duty having also campaigned in F4, finishing runner-up in the standings to South African Aqil Alibhai – Hugh Barter had set the pace early in the season under the Kochi banner with three race wins, but withdrew after the second round.[11][12]
Results
[edit]Indian Racing League
[edit]Drivers / Entrants championship
[edit](key)
| Year | Entry | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | HYD1 R1 |
HYD1 R2 |
HYD1 R3 |
IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU1 R3 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU2 R3 |
HYD2 R1 |
HYD2 R2 |
HYD2 R3 |
||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#2) | Alister Yoong
|
2 | Ret | 1 | 4 | 1 | P | 1 | 3rd | 131.5 | ||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#2) | Nikhil Bohra
|
C | C | C | Ret | Ret | P | 3 | 4 | P | 1 | 1 | 4th | 118 | ||
| Godspeed Kochi (#1) | Ruhaan Alva
|
C | C | C | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5th | 106 | ||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#1) | Fabienne Wohlwend
|
C | C | C | 2 | 2 | 9 | 5 | Ret | 6 | 6th | 92 | ||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#2) |  Jordan Albert
|
C | C | C | NC | — | ||||||||||
| 2023 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU3 R1 |
IRU3 R2 |
||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi #2 | Nikhil Bohra
|
4 | 1 | 1 | 3rd | 79 | ||||||||||
| Alister Yoong
|
Ret | 8 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi #5 | Ruhaan Alva
|
1 | 9 | Ret | 9th | 28 | ||||||||||
| Fabienne Wohlwend
|
Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||
| 2024 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IGR R1 |
IGR R2 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
COI1 R1 |
COI1 R2 |
COI2 R1 |
COI2 R2 |
||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers #5 | Ruhaan Alva
|
3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Ret | 3rd | 123 | ||||||||
| Fabienne Wohlwend
|
4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers #2 | Alister Yoong
|
1 | 3 | 4 | DNS | 7 | 4th | 97 | ||||||||
| Nikhil Bohra
|
5 | DNS | 6 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Jaden Pariat
|
4 | |||||||||||||||
Teams championship
[edit](key)
| Year | Entry | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | HYD1 R1 |
HYD1 R2 |
HYD1 R3 |
IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU1 R3 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU2 R3 |
HYD2 R1 |
HYD2 R2 |
HYD2 R3 |
||||
| Godspeed Kochi | #1 | C | C | C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 5 | Ret | 2 | 6 | 1st | 445.5 | |
| #2 | C | C | C | 2 | Ret | Ret | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2023 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU3 R1 |
IRU3 R2 |
||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi | #2 | Ret | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3rd | 107 | |||||||
| #5 | 1 | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||
| 2024 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IGR R1 |
IGR R2 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
COI1 R1 |
COI1 R2 |
COI2 R1 |
COI2 R2 |
||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers | #5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | Ret | 2nd | 220 | |||
| #2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | DNS | 4 | 4 | 6 | DNS | 8 | 7 | ||||||
F4 Indian Championship
[edit](key)
| Year | Entry | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU1 R3 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU2 R3 |
IRU3 R1 |
IRU3 R2 |
IRU3 R3 |
IRU3 R4 |
IRU3 R5 |
IRU4 R1 |
IRU4 R2 |
IRU4 R3 |
IRU4 R4 |
||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#31) | Akshay Bohra
|
1 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 3rd | 211 | |
| Godspeed Kochi (#97, #28) |  Nooris Gafoor
|
different team | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 9th | 57 | ||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#97, #28) | Veer Rajwade
|
WD | WD | WD | different team | 12th | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#97, #28) | Salva Marjan
|
DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | NC | – | |||||||||||||
| 2024 | IRU1 R1 |
IRU1 R2 |
IRU1 R3 |
IGR R1 |
IGR R2 |
IRU2 R1 |
IRU2 R2 |
IRU2 R3 |
IRU2 R4 |
COI1 R1 |
COI1 R2 |
COI1 R3 |
COI2 R1 |
COI2 R2 |
COI2 R3 |
||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers (#27) | Ruhaan Alva
|
3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2nd | 264 | |
| Godspeed Kochi (#68, #21, #64) |  Hugh Barter
|
Ret | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5th | 95 | |||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#68, #21, #64) / Rarh Bengal Tigers (#10, #65, #23, #64) |
Raiden Samervel
|
different team | Ret | 8 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 11th | 40 | |||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#73, #34) | Giancarlo Artho
|
different team | 7 | 10 | Ret | 11 | Ret | 7 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 8 | Ret | Ret | 15th | 20 | |||
| Godspeed Kochi (#68, #21, #64) | Akhil Agarwal
|
8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 16th | 16 | |||||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers (#10, #65, #23, #64) | Arjun Chheda
|
13 | 4 | Ret | 19th | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers (#10, #65, #23, #64) | Tarun Muthiaiah
|
9 | Ret | 8 | 9 | Ret | 21st | 8 | |||||||||||
| Rarh Bengal Tigers (#10, #65, #23, #64) |  Esmee Kosterman
|
9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 24th | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Godspeed Kochi (#73, #34) | Aditya Patnaik
|
14 | Ret | DNS | 27th | 0 | |||||||||||||
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers Gear Up For 2024 Indian Racing League Kickoff At Madras International Circuit". The Daily Guardian. 24 August 2024.
- ^ "Anything is Possible and Nothing is Impossible. | Joseph Thomas | TEDxThiruvananthapuram". TEDx Talks on YouTube. 7 February 2017.
- ^ "I am open to any role when it comes to motorsports but racing has my heart, says Jose Pottamkulam". Mathrubhumi. 17 September 2022.
- ^ "Fireside Chat w/ Jose Thomas". F1 FanFiction Podcast on Apple Podcasts. 10 January 2023.
- ^ "Hyderabad team finishes second in racing league; Kochi bags top spot". The Hindu. 11 December 2022.
- ^ "Indian Racing Festival gears up for exciting second season in Chennai". Daily Thanthi. 28 November 2023.
- ^ "Webster looking to seal maiden International title". Auto Action. 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Indian Racing League Official on X: "Kolkata, start your engines! Catch a new powerhouse burning rubber in Season 3 of the Indian Racing Festival in 2024."". X. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- ^ "Indian Racing League on X: "A formidable lineup for the newest team on the block - #RarhBengalTigers"". X. 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ Gidithuri, Unnatee (18 November 2024). "Goa Aces JA Racing wins 2024 Indian Racing League". Autocar India. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
- ^ "Aqil Alibhai crowned Indian F4 champion at Kari finale". Formula Scout. 17 November 2024.
- ^ "Indian Racing Festival Round 1: Hugh Barter scores double wins". Autocar India. 27 August 2024.