Arjun Rao-Satish Rajagopal pair wins K1000 rally

By Bodapati David

Bangalore,  5 Dec 2010: Darkhorse Arjun Rao Aroor of Team MRF, with Satish Rajagopal navigating the Mitsubishi Cedia, won the K-1000 Rally, the fourth round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship making a grand 1-2 finish for MRF as they displayed controlled aggression clocking the second-best time at the Super Special Stage here on Sunday.

However, it was Lohit Urs (Srikanth Gowda), who stole the limelight today with a lightening run covering the of the 4.5km in a blazing 5 minute 59 seconds, the only car on the day to go under six minutes. He thrilled the audience with his driving and as his car drifted sideways towards the grand stand, the crowd gave him a thundering applause. The MRF driver who was unfortunate to go out of contention for top honours on Saturday, finished second and was followed by Red Rooster Racing’s Vikram Mathias and PV Srinivasa Murthy. Vikram who stalled his car during the first lap lost a lot of time but still provided seat-edged thrills for the spectators to clock 6 min 20 seconds.

Thus, Arjun Rao Aroor pitchforked himself into contention for the Speed INRC title but even as Naren Kumar  leads the table with Vikram Mathias running close behind. “It was a fantastic day for me. I am at the crossed roads and  before this event I decided that I would prove all my critics wrong or else quit the sport. I am so glad, I won this rally,” said a visually pleased Arjun Aroor.

Bangalore Brothers Balram CG and Raghuram CG came overall third, a stunning performance and finished first in their class, the 1400 cc with a timing of 2 hours 17 minutes 14.5 seconds.  Rattan Gangadhar and Nikuj finished second.

The Rally Star Cup saw Kaushik H Shinde and Ninad A Mirajgaonkar win the K-1000 with a comfortable 39 second lead over Dr Dhirendra Kumar and Ravi Raidurg, who had to be content with a second position.

The Army team of Amrinder Brar, with Himanshu as co-driver, virtually won the Speed INRC title in the Gypsy class with a fourth straight win while teammates Shakti Bajaj and Dharmesh Sinha came second followed by Harpreet Singh Sidhu and Hardevinder Brar.

Though the Lankan team of Ahamed Farooque and Ashan E Silva, driving a Mitsubishi Evo 10, put on view the beast of a machine on Sunday in the Super Special Stage, they failed to finish the rally in the Open Class.

After the triple S, Speed Master and ambassador for Bharat Petroleum, Narain Karthikeyan, entertained the audience with a quick lap. The first Indian to drive in Formula One said that he took part in simulator test for Force India after the last race in Abu Dhabi recently. Olympian and hockey legend MM Somaya was also present.

Provisional Unaudited Final Results:

Overall: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish K Rajagopal (Team MRF) 1 hour 53 min 32.6 secs; 2. Lihitt V Urs/ Srikanth Gowda (MRF) 1: 53: 22.7 secs; 3. Balram CG/ Raghuram CG (privateers) 02: 17: 14.5 secs.

2000 N+ class: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish K Rajagopal (Team MRF) 1 hour 53 min 32.6 secs; 2. Lihitt V Urs/ Srikanth Gowda (MRF) 1: 53: 22.7 secs; 3. Vikram Mathias/ PV Srinivasa Murthy (Red Rooster Racing) 2: 17: 28.4.

1400 cc class: Balram CG/ Raghuram CG (privateer) 02: 17: 14.5 secs; 2.Rattan N Gangadhar/ Nikunj GN (pvt) 2: 57: 02.3.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Kaushik H Shinde/ Ninad A Mirajgaonkar (pvt) 2: 14: 15.8; 2. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/ Ravi Raidurg 2: 14: 54.0; 3. Aditya S /Kariappa KB (pvt) 2: 18: 00.4;

Gypsy class: 1. Amrinder Brar/ Himanshu (Army Adventure Wing) 2: 09: 40.6; 2. Shakti Bajaj/ Dharmesh Sinha (AAW) 2: 14: 51.1; 3. Harpreet Singh Sidhu/ Hardevinder S Brar 2: 17: 14.5;

Ends