Gaurav Gill (left) and co-driver Anirudh Rangnekar celebrate victory in the second round of the FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup) at MIC on Sunday. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
India’s Gaurav Gill won the second round of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Rally Cup) at the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) here on Sunday.
The South India Rally concluded with two of the four special stages abandoned due to overnight heavy rains causing the Madras International Circuit (MIC) track to become water-logged and unbalanced.
Gill partnered with Anirudh Rangnekar for the first time in his career.
Reflecting on his performance, Gill said: “I’m very relieved because it was a very tough weekend mentally. I had some injuries to my car that were gone forever, and I’m glad to have made it back home safe.” Am.
“There were also extreme changes in conditions. Yesterday (Saturday) one stage (MIC track) was completely dry and another (Avisa) was muddy, and today (Sunday) it was the reverse. I had a hard time negotiating.
“As the new co-driver, Anirudh worked hard and it was good considering it was my first time with him. I was a little nervous in the beginning, but we calmed down. Looking ahead, I will be back in the INRC this season and also plan to do the final round of the APRC in Indonesia later this year.”
Mangaluru’s Aroor Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) won the overall title at the Blueband Sports FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship – his first win in seven years.
Provisional classification: FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup): 1. Gaurav Gill & Anirudh Rangnekar (1hr, 50mins, 23.0secs); 2. Mana Pornsirichard and Thanyaphat Meenil (1:51:12.0); 3. Amitrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik (1:58:44.0).
Total INRC: 1. Aroor Arjun Rao & Satish Rajagopal (1:55:26.6); 2. Darius Shroff and Shahid Salman (1:58:11.1); 3. Sheshank Jamwal and Aseem Sharma (1:58:30.1).
INRC-2: 1. Sahil Khanna and Harish KN Gowda (2:01:38.9); 2. Charan Chandran and Vignesh Mahalingam (2:15:29.4); 3. Harikrishnan Wadia and BK Rishabh (2:16:53.8).
INRC-3: 1. Darius Shroff & Shahid Salman (1:58:11.1); 2. Sheshank Jammwal and Aseem Sharma (1:58:30.1); 3. Vishak Balachandran and Anil Abbas (1:59:29.8).
INRC-4: 1. Abhinay Rai and D. Uday Kumar (2:04:48.5); 2. KV Dheeraj and Pramod Raman (2:07:51.2); 3. Arun Mohan and KR Rishikesh (2:45:44.9).
Junior INRC: 1. Arjun Rajeev and Rohit Gowda (2:00:13.2); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh and SSB Arjun (2:00:50.6); 3. Jahan Singh Gill and Suraj Keshav Prasad (2:01:04.9).
Women’s Cup (Open): 1. Pragati Gowda & Trisha Alonkar (1:59:58.5); 2. Shivani Parmar and G. Sanath (2:20:12.4).
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav & Arvind Dhirendra (2:03:12.1); 2. Darshan Nachappa and Abhinav Ganapathy (2:09:35.8); 3. Baljinder Singh Dhillon and CP Gautam (2:15:26.4).
