Team Mahindra Adventure's Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif picked up useful Leg points which virtually assured them of the Overall title in the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship as they ended the day just two seconds behind teammates Sunny Sidhu and P.V. Srinivasa Murthy in the 40th Karnataka-1000 Rally here Saturday.
Having won three of the four rounds of the National Championship, Gill, driving XUV 500, had to contend with electrical problems while Sidhu put in a fine performance to head the time charts.
Gill's closest rival in the Overall championship stakes Mangaluru's Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driver Satish Rajagopal), retired after his Volkswagen Polo R2 suffered engine failure.
Gill had 145 points going into this rally while Rao was on 78 and Sidhu 62 with the final round in Chikkamagaluru next month.
Sidhu clocked one hour, five minutes, 12.2 seconds as against Gill's 01:05:14.4 while teammate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) were placed third at the end of Leg 1.
Gill, the 2013 Asia Pacific Rally Champion, said: "It was not a great day. 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 Sunday."
A disappointed Rao 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 2000 class, Karna Kadur (B.S. Sujith Kumar), in a Mitsubishi Cedia, led after Leg 1 with a time of 01:07:26.4 while championship leader Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) was second in 01:08:19.
The 1600cc class saw Phalguna Urs (Anoop Kumar), in a Volkswagen Polo, take the first leg lead with a time of 01:06:50.5 while Hrishikesh Thackersey (Ninad Mirajgaonkar) was second in 01:08:48.8.
In the FMSCI 1600 class, Adith K.C. (Harish K.N.) were in the lead with a time of 01:09:18.9 in the Honda City V-Tec.
In all, 10 of the 41 cars that were flagged Saturday morning, retired due to various reasons. The rally will conclude Sunday when another loop of the three Special Stages will be run.
Results (Leg 1, provisional and unaudited):
IRC: 1. Sunny Sidhu/P.V. 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).
IRC 2000: 1. Karna Kadur/B.S. Sujith Kumaar (Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:07:26.4); 2. Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Mitsubishi Cedia, 01:08:19.0); 3. Byram Godrej/Somayya A.G. (Slideways Industries, 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 (Team Yokohama, VW Polo, 01:10:13.7).
FMSCI 1600: 1. Adith K.C./Harish K.N. (Honda City V-Tec, 01:09:18.9); 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/Nitin Jacob (Maruti Baleno, 01:15:15.20); 3. Parag Dhiwar/Aditya Dhiwar (Maruti Baleno, 01:15:35.0).
