Ziro: Gaurav Gill of Team Mahindra Adventure took another step forward towards his fifth MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, after winning the Rally of Arunachal on Sunday.
Partnering Musa Sherif, the three-time APRC champion was in a league of his own, scorching the two night stages on Friday and winning two out of the four stages on Saturday.
As calm as a milipond, the 36-year-old slowly built up a big lead of 50 seconds in the opening three stages but let off the hook in the next which was won by Dean Mascarenhas, while fellow Mahindra driver Amittrajit Ghosh came second.
But the four times INRC champion reassessed himself on the top in the very next round, to collect a total lead of 75 points, despite missing Round 4 in Chikmagalur. With the final round to be held at Bengaluru all Gill will have to do is drive smart to add one more crown to his list of Championships.
“They were the fastest and most technical stages that I have seen in the INRC in many, many years,” said Gill after his win.
“We had a great car, wonderful setup and tyres and we really enjoyed this win,” he added.
He will however have to be aware of second placed Dean, who consolidated his position in INRC 3 after finishing second in the overall category. The Team RAC driver who won four back-to-back rounds to virtually seal the title in his category has all it takes to cause an upset and with 63 points is the closest rival to Gill.
Meanwhile, fellow Mahindra Adventure teammates Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik took the third place after falling 11.8 seconds behind Dean and 43.2 seconds behind Gill’s final tally of 58:50.4 minutes in the six stages.
The duo of Younus Ilyas and Harish Kumar won the INRC division 2 after defending champion Karna Kadur and top contender Arjun Rao withdrew from the rally.
RESULTS –
INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik)
INRC 2: 1. Younus Ilyas (Harish Kumar); 2. Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Y Bhatt); 3. Jacob KJ (Venu Ramesh Kumar)
INRC 3: 1. Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival); 2. Daraius Shroff (Nitin Jacob); 3. Dr. Punyabrata Barma (Mrinmoy Saha)