Bengaluru:

Team Mahindra Adventure’s Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif, driving a Mahindra XUV 500, assured themselves of the 2014 Indian Rally Championship title garnering some valuable points after the first leg of the 40th K-1000 rally near Tumakuru on Saturday. This is their fourth national title.

Local star Arjun Rao Aroor-Satish Rajagopal, who were second in the overall standings, had a poor day and retired after barely starting the first stage. Their rally-specific Volkswagen Polo R2 suffered an engine failure.

Gill-Sherif have 145 points. Aroor-Rajagopal have 78 and Sunny Sidhu-PV Srinivasa Murthy 62 with one round remaining at Chikkamagaluru next month.

Gill and Sherif were assured of the crown although they trailed teammates Sidhu-Murthy by two seconds after Saturday’s first leg. Sidhu-Murthy’s total time after leg one was one hour, five minutes, 12.2 seconds while Gill-Sherif clocked 01:05:14.4. Their teammates Amittrajit Ghosh-Ashwin Naik were third overall with a time of 01:06:42.0.

“It was not a great day,” said Gill. “We had a comfortable lead but there were electrical problems with the cooling fan and the car began to overheat. Due to this, we had to nurse the car but managed to stay in second place. Hopefully, we will be able to get the lead on Sunday.”

A disappointed Aroor said: “We were barely 300 metres into the first stage of the day when the engine packed up. It is going to be very difficult to get the car back in action tomorrow. We will have to try our best in the last round in Chikkamagaluru next month.”

In the IRC 2000 class, Karna Kadur-BS Sujith Kumar (Mitsubishi Cedia) led after leg one with a time of 01:07:26.4, while championship leaders Rahul Kanthraj-Vivek Bhatt were 01:08:19.0.

In all, 10 out of the 41 cars retired on Saturday.

In the Super Special Stage, held at the Bangalore International Exhibition grounds under floodlights on Friday, Abhilash PG-Sanjay Agarwal were the fastest (one minute, 33.2 seconds) in a Mitsubishi Evo XI. Gill-Sherif were second fastest with 01:34.5, while Sidhu-Murthy were third with a 01:35.9.

Results (leg one, provisional and unaudited): IRC: 1. Sunny Sidhu/PV Srinivasa Murthy (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:05:12.2); 2. Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:05:14.4); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:06:42.0).

IRC 2000: 1. Karna Kadur/BS Sujith Kumar (Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:07:26.4); 2. Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt (Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:08:19.0); 3. Byram Godrej/Somayya AG (VW Polo, 01:09:06.8).

IRC 1600: 1. Phalguna Urs-Anoop Kumar (VW Polo, 01:06:50.5); 2. Hrishikesh Thackersey-Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo, 01:08:48.8); 3. Vikram Devadasen-Chandramouli (VW Polo, 01:10:13.7).

FMSCI 1600: 1. Adith KC-Harish KN (Honda City Vtec, 01:09:18.9); 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar-Nitin Jacob (Maruti Baleno, 01:15:15.20); 3. Parag C Dhiwar-Aditya R Dhiwar (Maruti Baleno, 01:15:35.0).

Caption: Gaurav Gill-Musa Sherif in action in the Beta stage on the opening day of the K-1000 rally near Tumakuru on Saturday.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports / by Sunil Subbaiah / November 22nd, 2014