Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif sensationally made almost a minute over Mahindra Adventure teammate and overnight leader Sunny Sidhu (co-driver PVS Murthy) to clinch the coveted Overall title in the 40th of the IMG K-1000 Rally, the penultimate round of the 2014 FMSCI-Indian Rally Championship, here Sunday.
In the process, Gill, the 2013 Asia Pacific champion, and Sherif, in a Mahindra XUV500, clinched the National Championship which they had virtually sealed at the conclusion of Saturday's Leg 1, adding six points to his tally of 145 for an unassailable lead.
Trailing Sidhu by 2.2 seconds, Gill made up the deficit in style and ran up a 59.6-second lead to secure his fourth overall K-1000 crown.
"It was a good battle with my teammates and to have my name as the winner of the 40th K-1000 feels great," said Gill who thus led a 1-2-3 sweep of Mahindra Adventure as Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) finished third.
"We were prepared for it and the car was perfect, thanks to the team, mechanics and Red Rooster High Performance. The new MRF SUV tyres we used were good. Everything fell into place and I am happy that Mahindra got the top three podium places," added Delhi-based Gill.
"We are looking forward to the last round in Chikkamagaluru. We want the team to do well there also," added Gill, referring to the sixth and final round of the Championship to be held mid-December.
Bengaluru duo of Karna Kadur and BS Sujith Kumar, in a Mitsubishi Cedia, won the IRC 2000 class in the K-1000, pipping city-mates Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt of Team Yokohama, also in a Mitsubishi Cedia.
Kanthraj and Bhatt have sealed the IRC 2000 National championship after taking an unbeatable lead on points.
Mysuru's Phalguna Urs and co-driver Anoop Kumar, in a VW Polo, won the IRC 1600 class of K-1000 to take the championship lead going into the final round, while Adith KC (Harish KN) in a Honda City V-Tec clinched the FMSCI 1600 class to virtually assure themselves of the National championship in this category.
On the final day that saw one stage interrupted owing to a car breakdown in the middle of the second stage, Kadur finished fourth Overall, ahead of Urs.
Results (after Leg 2, unaudited and provisional):
IRC: 1. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:35:32.0); 2. Sunny Sidhu / PV Srinivasa Murthy (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:36:31.6); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV500, 01:38:17.9).
IRC 2000: 1. Karna Kadur / Sujith Kumaar BS (Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:39:47.0); 2. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:40:57.3); 3. Byram Godrej / Somayya AG (Slideways Industries, VW Polo, 01:41:55.4).
IRC 1600: 1. Phalguna Urs / Anoop Kumar (VW Polo, 01:40:26.3); 2. Hrishikesh Thackersey / Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo, 01:42:08.9); 3. Vikram Devadasen / Chandramouli (Team Yokohama, VW Polo, 01:43:23.1).
IRC FMSCI 1600: 1. Adith KC / Harish KN (Honda City V-Tec, 01:42:57.5); 2. Bopaiah KM / Konganda Karumbaiah (Maruti Esteem, 01:48:00.5); 3. Aniruddha Rangnekar / Nitin Jacob (Maruti Baleno, 01:49:37.7).
