Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, Dec 10 (IANS) Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF took a 38-second lead over team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) at the end of the first day in the Rally of Odisha, the sixth and penultimate round of the Indian National Rally Championship here Saturday.

With his main challenger and former team-mate Lohitt Urs (P.V. Srinivasa Murthy) retiring due to an electrical failure, Gill had the field for himself and he put in some really fast times to head the charts.

Driving a modified (Group N+) Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia, the Delhi-based 30-year-old Gill picked up seven leg points that took his championship tally to 140 and beyond the reach of Urs who remained on 91.

“We were doing high speeds and I was pushing the car to the limit. Unfortunately, with just a kilometre to the finish, the engine failed,” said a disappointed Urs, whose championship hopes were effectively dashed.

In the 2000cc (Group N) class, talented youngster from Bangalore Karna Kadur and his lady co-driver from Kolkota Somonita Ghosh, clocked fastest times in all the three special stages to take a 42-second lead over Dr. Yogeshwar Gill (Jeevarathinam) while strong contender Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) retired due to mechanical problems.

Championship leader in the 1600cc class, Aniruddha Rangnekar of Pune (Anoop Kumar) had a spin in SS 4 and lost about 55 seconds as Hanoosh Soorapaneni (Ravinder Kumar) took the lead.

Rafeeq Ur Rehman (Ajith KP) were ahead of husband-wife duo of Sachin Singh (Shree Latha) followed by Sanjay Agarwal (Ramesh Kumar Venu) in the Gypsy Cup.

In the 1400cc Star Cup, title contender Karan AM (Shanmugha SN) took a slender 12-second lead over talented Mangalore youngster Dean Mascerenhas (Shruptha Padval) while Vikram Aroor (Somayya) was in third spot.

Results (Provisional):
Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Team MRF) 39minutes, 15.9 seconds; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 39:54.4.

2000cc N: 1. Karna Kadur / Somonnita Ghosh 41:46.7; 2. Dr Yogeshwar Gill / Jeevarathinam 42:29.3; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar / Honey Narulla 48:18.0.

1600cc: 1. Hanoosh Surapaneni / Ravindra Kumar 46:29.1; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar / Anoop Kumar 47:40.1; 3. Azgar Ali / Debashis Ghosh 47:48.2.

1400cc: 1. Karan AM / Shanmugha SM 44:52.4; 2. Dean Mascerenhas / Shruptha Padival 45:04.8; 3. Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somaya 45:16.1.

Gypsy Cup: 1. Shafeeq Ur Rehman / Ajith KP 47:54.1; 2. Sachin Singh / Sri Latha 53:37.2; 3. Sanjay Agarwal / Ramesh Kumar V 01min, 04.33.6secs.