Arjun Balu

Arjun Balu (18 January 1975) is an Indian motorsports driver. After starting as a road racing driver in 1992, he took part in the Indian National Rally Championship for 17 years. He won 11 Championships, all in road racing and is currently racing in the Indian Touring Car (ITC) class in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2023. He is the reigning National champion in the ITC class (2022).

Four of Arjun Balu's title victories were won before the championship got the Indian National status. He won events in both rallying and road racing.

Early career

Born in Coimbatore, Arjun Balu began his motorsports career as a teenager in 1992 with JK Tyre and shifted to rallying in 1995 as a team member of MRF, one of the premier rally teams in the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC). He represented the team for 17 years till he retired from Rallying in 2011 at the Coffee Day rally at Chikmagalur.[1]

Motorsports career

Arjun Balu began as a racing driver 1992[2] in the Indian Grand Prix at Irungattukottai track. He raced for JK Tyre team along with his brother Sanjay Balu in 1993.[3] After making his rally debut in the INRC in 1994 at the home rally, he was roped in by MRF as one of their top two drivers in 1995. Despite many victories, the National Rally Championship title eluded him and he retired after 17 years in 2011.[4] But he came back for road racing Nationals, taking part in touring car races at Coimbatore in 2012[5] and continued in 2013.[6] Arjun Balu's three-decade[7] long career saw him win five titles in FISSME (Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine) races, popularly known as Formula Maruti India. Then he won Formula Ford 1600cc and along with one Esteem class National title and four ITC titles, he is credited with 11 Indian National Championship victories.[8]

But after a gap of five years, Race Concepts Motorsports team principal Joel Joseph offered to prepare a car for Balu, if he is winning to make a comebackj. Balu returned to circuit racing in 2018.[9][10] In his third attempt after the comeback, he won the ITC National title in 2020[11] and went on to add two more Championship victories in 2021[12] and 2022.[13]

He took part in the MRF Formula 1600 in 2010 and 2011[14] and became the National Champion in the Indian Touring Car championship in 2012. Then after a five-year hiatus, Arjun Balu came back to circuit racing in 2018 taking part in the Nationals as part of Race Concepts Motorsports team.

As a rally driver, Arjun Balu won in 1999 the famous South India Rally (SIR),[15] the third round of INRC, along with co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy in an Esteem and took another victory at Hyderabad in December winning the Deccan Rally, the last round of the INRC 1999.[16] He won in Goa in 2003.[17] In 2009, he won the popular K1000 rally along with Sujith Kumar BS as navigator and took Indian cricket player Mahendra Singh Dhoni on a spin on the Super Special Stage track before receiving the trophy from the cricketer.[18][19]

Arjun Balu remained as the driver for the second team of MRF which deprived him of many results[20] but his first international rally victory came in 2001 in Changchun, China when he won the Asia Zone Rally Championship (AZRC), the precursor to the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC).

References
  1. "Quietly leaving the rally scene". Deccan Herald. 2011-11-26. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  2. "I have always enjoyed racing more than rallying, says Arjun Balu on his comeback". The Times of India. 2018-06-25. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  3. The Indian Express. The Indian Express.
  4. ANI (2023-02-02). "Salem's Sai Sanjay wins Indian National Car Racing Championship". The Statesman. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  5. IANS (2012-07-28). "Classy Balu leaves field cold in national racing". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  6. Periasamy, M (23 June 2013). "MMSC-FMSCI NATIONAL RACING CHAMPIONSHIP". www.thehinduimages.com. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  7. "Balu, Ghorpade win in MRF National Car Racing Championship Round 2". Autocar India. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  8. "Balu wins 11th national title, Sanjay crowned MRF F2000 champion". Autocar India. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  9. "Garrett Helps Boost India Racing Champ Arjun Balu Out of Retirement Back into Winner's Circle". Garrett Motion. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  10. "MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship 2018". The Automotive India. 2018-06-22. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  11. Service, Indo-Asian News (2020-11-29). "4W Indian National Championship: Balu wins ITC title". The Siasat Daily. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  12. migrator (2020-11-29). "4W Indian National Championship: Balu wins ITC title". www.dtnext.in. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  13. ANI (2023-02-02). "Salem's Sai Sanjay wins Indian National Car Racing Championship". The Statesman. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  14. "Driver: Arjun Balu | Driver Database". www.driverdb.com. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  15. Shacki. "Arjun Balu - rally profile eWRC-results.com". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  16. Shacki. "Season 1999 rally - eWRC-results". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  17. "Arjun Balu wins Rallye de Goa". www.rediff.com. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  18. "Arjun Balu clinches K-1000 rally title". The Hindu. 2009-08-23. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  19. "Balu-Sujith combine emerges triumphant". Deccan Herald. 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  20. "Quietly leaving the rally scene". Deccan Herald. 2011-11-26. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
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