Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 17 : Gaurav Gill, returning to rallying after a year's break, showed no sign of any rust as he put in a dominating performance to top the time sheets in the 49th South India Rally, which commenced at the Madras International Circuit here on Friday.
The three-day event is also the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship powered by Vamcy Merla and Round-1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, according to a press release.
The 44-year-old Delhi-based Gill, a three-time APRC champion and winner of seven National titles, clocked a combined time of two minutes, 51.5 seconds for the two loops of 1.45 Kms dirt Super Special Stage, piloting a Volkswagen Polo to finish 5.1 seconds ahead of his arch rival Karna Kadur in the APRC segment with Mangaluru's Jason Saldanha in third place.
Arjuna Award winner Gill also led the INRC with a 4.1 seconds advantage over local challenger Ritesh Rai, who is taking part for "some fun", while Kadur is in third position.
Gill, with the experienced Srikanth Gowda (Chikkamagaluru) as his co-driver for the first time, gave a near-flawless exhibition of pace, precision and car control and looked to be in good space going into tomorrow's Special Stages.
"It was a good start, and very happy to get back to rallying, which is what I love. My team, R-Tech, did a great job in getting the car ready in just three days due to the delay in getting spares and also in my decision to take part. It is the first time I am driving a Polo competitively. Then, a new co-driver in Srikanth (in his 36th season), but whose experience will also help over the next two days," said Gill.
A disappointed Kadur said some "gremlins" cost him fractions. "We had a restart to begin with; then my co-driver's (Kumar Ramaswamy, Coimbatore) watch stopped, and I had to reset my watch. Later, there was no intercom. So, not the start I was looking for with all these gremlins. Anyway, there is still a long way to go in this rally, and hopefully, we will be able to do better," said the former National champion.
Bengaluru's Arun Y Mavaji and Arvind Dheerendra topped the INRC 2 and INRC 3 classes, respectively, while Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) was the fastest in the Ladies class and also in the Junior INRC category.
Former Andhra legislator Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan and High Court Advocate, Hyderabad, K Jyothi Prasad, flagged off the event.
Provisional results (Leg-1, Section-1):
Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Gaurav Gill / Srikanth GM (India) (02mins, 51.5secs); 2. Karna Kadur / Kumar Ramaswamy (India) (02:56.6); 3. Jason Saldanha / PV Srinivasa Murthy (India) (02:58.3).
Indian National Rally Championship:
INRC Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill / Srikanth GM (02:51.5); 2. Ritesh Rai / Phalguna Raghavendra (02:55.6); 3. Karna Kadur / Kumar Ramaswamy (02:56.6)
INRC 2: 1. Arjun Y Mavaji / Jeevarathinam J (03:09.5); 2. Ritesh Guttedar / Suraj M (03:10.3); 3. Rakshith Iyer / Chandrashekar (03:18.2).
INRC 3: 1. Arvind Dheerendra / Shahid Salman (03:01.5); 2. Ashwin Pulagiri / Raghunath Swaminathan (03:01.9); 3. Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6).
INRC 3T: 1. Vikash Balachandran / Chiranth Jain (02:59.6); 2. Adith KC / Avinash CA (03:09.7); 3. Sidhartha Santosh / Sawan Sathyanarayan (03:11.9).
Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6); 2. Athira Murali / Arun Chakkalakkal (03:05.9); 3. Shivani Pruthvi / Vinay Padmashali (03:09.4).
Junior INRC: 1. Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6); 2. Hoshmand Elavia / Venu Ramesh Kumar (03:14.0).
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