Veteran rally driver Jagat Nanjappa of Karnataka retained his top spot in the Isuzu RCF India and was leading in the off-roading competition, being held in Goa from last week.
After the announcement of provisional results of stages 18-21, which were held in the forests here, Nanjappa(co-driver Chetan Changappa) retained his top position with 1,614 points out of 2,100.
With his experience, Nanjappa emerged as the top performer in the two stages of the four and walked away with 100 points each from them.
The stages, which included a water challenge and difficult in nature, among others, tested the skills and the patience of the drivers and their team.
The competition is the India version of the Rainforest Challenge Malaysia.
Defending RCF India winner Gurmeet Virdi (co-driver Kripal Singh Tung), from Chandigarh, was placed on the second position with 1,490 points, while Malaysian driver Mervyn Lim (co-driver Alex Tan), who is driving for team G O A Fairmont, was positioned at the third spot with 1,411 points.
Nanjappa, who hails from Coorg, told reporters that compared to the last year, there were more sprints involved this time and the completion was tough.
"I am very happy with my performance," he said.
In the entire race, there is only one woman driver
Shruti Ranjan Pai, who came from Bengaluru (with co-driver Sara Fleming).
"I am participating for the first time and for women the completion is difficult, but not impossible and most of the challenges have been difficult, Pai said, adding she had to rent her car unlike others who make their cars as per required specifications.
The stages 22-25 are being currently held in Quepem in South Goa.
Tomorrow, the final stage of the competition will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat in Dona Paula near Panaji after which the winner will be announced.
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