Gaurav Gill once again established his supremacy by giving Team Mahindra Adventure a 1-2 finish in round 2 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) on Sunday.
Both Gill and his and co-driver Musa Sherif topped the rally in both the stages to outclass the field. According to a release, the 36-year-old needed just 1:14:30.1 to complete the five Special Stages and won with a handsome margin of 1 min 1.1 seconds ahead of all the other ralliyst.
Gill’s teammate Amittarjit and his co-driver Ashwin Naik was equally sharp throughout the rally and finished 10-15 seconds behind Gill in all the stages, to put up a complete all-round team performance.
Meanwhile, 2016 INRC champion, Karna Kadur (with co-driver Nikhil V Pai), finished third in the overall category after his efforts to overtake the leaders proved futile. He, however, managed to win the INRC 2 category to make it 1-2 for Team Arka Motorsports.
FMSCI President Akbar Ebrahim came third in the INRC 1 category, proving that even after 25 years the touch remained.
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Kadur’s teammate Rahul Kanthraj (co-driver Vivek Y Bhatt) claimed the second place, while Phalghuna Urs (co-driver Srikanth Gowda; Snap Racing) took the third place.
There were no changes in the leaderboard in the INRC 3 category with Aroor Vikram Rao (co-driver Anand Somayya) of the Falkon Motorsports winning.
Suhem Kabeer (co-driver Jeevarathinam) claimed the second place while Chetan Shivram (with Rupesh Koley) took the third position on the podium.
Defending INRC 3 champion Dean Mascarenhas, who had slipped to the bottom of the table after failing to finish the second stage on Day 1, fought back on Day 2.
Results:
INRC: 1) Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:14:30.1); 2) Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:15:31.2); 3) Karna Kadur/Nikhil V Pai (Arka Motorsports; 01:16:24.8).
INRC 2: 1) Karna Kadur/Nikhil V Pai; 2) Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Y Bhatt (Arka Motorsports; 01:17:36.9); 3. Phalghuna Urs/Srikanth Gowda; Snap Racing; 01:17:40.7).
INRC 3: 1) Aroor Vikram Rao/Anand Somayya (Falkon Motorsports; 01:17:11.8); 2) Suhem Kabeer/Jeevarathinam (Team Champions; 01:17:48.8); 3. Chetan Shivram/Rupesh Koley (01:17:58.4)
FMSCI 2WD: 1) Adith KC/Suraj K; 2) Suraj Thomas/Sob George; 3) Lokesh Gowda V | Venu Ramesh Kumar.