JOIN USGaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif won the Mahindra Adventure-IMG 40th K-1000 Rally here on Sunday to clinch the Indian Rally Championship for the fourth time in his career.
Racing for team Mahindra Adventure, the Delhi based driver went head of the overnight leader Sunny Sidhu to win the round five of the series. Sunny Sidhu and PVS Murthy finished second in while Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik assured that the podium belonged to Mahindra Adventure as they won the third spot.
“It was a good battle with my teammates and to have my name as the winner of the 40th edition of K-1000 feels great,” said Gill. “We were prepared for it and the car was perfect, thanks to the team and mechanics. The new MRF SUV tyres we used were good. Everything fell into place and I am happy that Mahindra got the top three podium places.”
The 2014 season will draw to a close in Chikkamagaluru next month. “We are looking forward to the last round in Chikkamagaluru. We want the team to do well there also,” said the 2013 Asia-Pacific Rally winner talking about the final race in the series.
Bengaluru duo of Karna Kadur and BS Sujith Kumar, in their Mitsubishi Cedia, won the IRC 2000 class and assured them the category title as they raced past city-mates Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt of Team Yokohama taking an unassailable lead on points.
Mysuru’s Phalguna Urs and Bengaluru’s Anoop Kumar won the IRC 1600 class to take the championship lead going into the final round, while Adith KC and Harish KN clinched the FMSCI 1600 class to virtually assure themselves of the National championship in the category.
Results: IRC: Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure) 01:35:32.0; Sunny Sidhu/ PV Srinivasa Murthy (Team Mahindra Adventure) 01:36:31.6,2; Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure) 01:38:17.9, 3.
IRC 2000: 1. Karna Kadur/ Sujith Kumaar BS (Mitsubishi Cedia) 01:39:47.0; Rahul Kanthraj/ Vivek Bhatt (Mitsubishi Cedia) 01:40:57.3, 2; Byram Godrej/ Somayya AG (VW Polo) 01:41:55.4, 3.
IRC 1600: Phalguna Urs/ Anoop Kumar (VW Polo) 01:40:26.3. 1; Hrishikesh Thackersey Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo) 01:42:08.9, 2; Vikram Devadasen/ Chandramouli (VW Polo) 01:43:23.1, 3.
IRC FMSCI 1600: Adith KC/ Harish KN (Honda City Vtec) 01:42:57.5, 1; Bopaiah KM/ Konganda Karumbaiah (Maruti Esteem) 01:48:00.5, 2; Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Nitin Jacob (Maruti Baleno) 01:49:37.7, 3.