Rally of Jodhpur incident: FMSCI president J Prithiviraj faces three-year ban as race official
A five-member FMSCI panel that included well-known motorsport personalities like Vicky Chandhok and Akbar Ebrahim has recommended that a three-year ban on officiating in motorsport events be placed against Prithiviraj J, who is also the current president of the FMSCI.
Prithiviraj was the Clerk of the Course (COC) at the Rally of Jodhpur event where Gaurav Gill's rally car collided with a motorcycle that had forcibly entered a live stage, and resulted in the death of three. The event was subsequently called off and criminal charges were levied against Gill, who has since been granted bail. While the ban will prevent Prithiviraj from officiating in motorsport events, he will continue to serve as the FMSCI president.
FMSCI president, J Prithviraj, addresses the gathering at the FMSCI awards
This decision was passed unanimously by the 10-member panel, which was head by Farokh Commissariat. It has been reported that Prithiviraj was not present in this panel, having recused himself.
The FMSCI has also banned Maxperience and Arvind Balan, the event organisers of the Rally of Jodhpur, for a period of three years - till December 31, 2022.
Prithiviraj was elected president of the FMSCI in November 2018, and is part of the Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC). He has served as President of the FMSCI for one year - 2014 - in the past.
"The panel's recommendation is to impose a ban on the COC of the event from officiating as a COC of any National Championship events for a period of three years and must officiate as DCOC for one year after three years," an official quote from FMSCI says.
OVERDRIVE reached out to the concerned parties, but failed to get a response from them with regard to this matter. As soon as we do get a response, this story will be updated.
