Sizzling Gaurav Gill wins Robusta Rally, back in contention for INRC title

Ammathi (Kodagu), 24 Nov. 2024:Seven times National champion Gaurav Gill displayed enough speed and skill to emerge triumphant in the Robusta Rally, the fifth and penultimate round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2024 organised by Robusta Adventure and Sports Academy here, on Sanday.

Notching up his second straight win after the success in the Rally of Hyderabad last month, Arjuna Awardee Gill, along with co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar, was in superb form and exhibited controlled aggression on the final day for a comfortable win and bagged full 40 points.

The win saw Gill drawing closer to table topper Karna Kadur (Musa Sherif) of Arka Motorsports, who finished second overall. 2021 champion Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) upped the game in the last stage to pip local favourites Jason Saldanha (Thimmu Uddapanda) by a second to take overall third place.

“It is a nice feeling to win back-to-back. I must thank my team, probably the smallest with just four mechanics, who have put in a lot of hard work to give me a perfect car. JK Tyre also deserves commendation for the tyres they specially developed for my car. I think I am getting better as a driver. I would say I was in total control in both Hyderabad and here. My first aim this season has been to bring the car home and I am happy that I managed to do that in two consecutive rallies this season.”

Himachal Pradesh duo Aditya Thakur and Virender Kasyap won the INRC2 class beating the Karnataka pair of Jason Saldanha and Thimmu Uddapanda while Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah) powered his way from 11th to third in the class.

In INRC 3 class, Daraius Shroff (Mumbai) and Arjun Dheerendra of Chettinad Sporting, the championship leaders won by over a minute to stay at the top. Gurugram-Bengaluru pair of Arnav Pratap Singh and Rohin N of Snap Racing came second and Jeet Jhabakh of Hyderabad with Sekar of Erode as co-driver, also from Chettinad Sporting, pushed his way to the third place. Arnav Pratap also won the Junior INRC.

Dehradun’s Anushriya Gulati (co-driver Karan Aukta) won the Ladies class followed by talented Nikeetaa Takkale (Raghuram Saminathan) in second and Shillong’s Phoebe Nongrum (Nash Ross).

Provisional Final Results:

INRC Overall:

1. Gaurav Gill (privateers, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (01 hour, 40 minutes, 36.6 seconds);

2. Karna Kadur (Arka Motorsports, Bengaluru)/ Musa Sherif (Kasargod) (01:41:57.0);

3. Aditya Thakur (Chettinad Sporting Solan) / Virender Kashyap (Shimla) (01:44:27.3);

INRC2:

1. Aditya Thakur (Chettinad Sporting Solan) / Virender Kashyap (Shimla) (01:44:27.3);

2. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (01:44:28.5);

3. Dean Mascarenhas (Pvt. Mangaluru)/ Gagan Karumbaiah (Virajpet) (01:44:51.8);

INRC3:

1. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:45.02.4);

2. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit N (Bengaluru) (01:46:10.3);

3. Jeet Jhabakh (Chettinad Sporting, Hyderabad)/ V. Sekhar (Erode) (01:46:53.8);

Ladies Class:

1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka Motorsports, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (Jubbal) (01:52:20.9);

2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Raghuram Saminathan (Coimbatore) (01:55:07.3);

3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ Nash Ross (Hyderabad) (02:05:49.0);

Junior INRC:1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit N (Bengaluru) (01:46:10.3);

2. Abhin R Rai/ Arvind Dheerendra (Ideal Racing, both Bengaluru) (01:47:53.2);

3. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay Padmashali (Both Bengaluru) (01:49:14.6);