Reigning FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Champion (APRC) Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) put in another brilliant drive to wipe off the 52-second overnight deficit and win the Overall title in the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra, the first round of the FMSCI India Rally Championship (IRC), here Sunday.
The 32-year-old Gill from Delhi, driving the XUV 500 for Team Mahindra Adventure, was again the quickest Sunday when one loop of the three Special Stages was run as he finished with a timing of one hour, 28 minutes and 30 seconds.
Gill thus led a 1-2 finish for Mahindra Adventure as teammate and overnight leader Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik), driving the factory-backed XUV 500 for the first time, followed Gill home in 01:30:18, well ahead of Byram Godrej (Somayya A.G.) of Slideways Industries in a VW Polo.
Although being the quickest Saturday, Gill lost the top spot to the 29-year-old Ghosh from Kolkata after being docked a road penalty that put him 52 seconds in arrears. However, in the very first Stage Sunday, Gill made 57 seconds on Ghosh and never looked back.
"The Mahindra team had prepared the SUV very differently than the previous year. So, I was not very conversant with the vehicle prior to the event. Also, the Stages were more difficult than last year but I enjoyed thoroughly. It's the best organised round of the IRC," said Gill.
Provisional classification (after Leg 2):
IRC Overall: Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 1 (1 hr, 28 mins, 30 secs); Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 2 (1:30:18); Byram Godrej/Somayya A.G. (Slideways Industries, VW Polo) 3 (1:32:11).
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IRC: Gill/Sherif 1; Ghosh/Naik 2; Samir Thapar/Gurinder Mann (JCT Rallying, Mitsubishi Evo X) 3 (01:32:48.0).
IRC 2000: Godrej/Somayya 1; Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Mitsubishi Cedia) 2 (1:33:23); Sumit Panjabi/Venu Ramesh Kumar (Mitsubishi Cedia) 3 (1:38:40).
IRC 1600: Hrishikesh Thackersay/Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo) 1 (1:32:21); Sirish Chandran/Nikhil Pai (Slidways Industries, VW Polo) 2 (1:32:34); Druva Chandrasekar/Roopesh B. (VW Polo) 3 (1:36:59).
FMSCI 1600 Cup: Anirudha Ranganekar/Arjun Mehta (Maruti Baleno) 1 (1:40:03); Adith K./Harish K.N. (Honda City VTEC) 2 (1:40:12); Parag Dhiwar/Aditya Dhiwar (Maruti Baleno) 3 (1:40:42).