National Rally Championship Rally WRC, Rally

Gaurav Gill suffers mechanical problems again; Karna Kadur leads Coffee Day Rally: INRC

David Bodapati December 1, 2018

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Karna Kadur in action as he took the overall lead on Saturday. Photo by Anand Philar

Chikkamagaluru, 1 Dec 2018: Local star Karna Kadur along with co-driver Nikhil Vittal Pai of Arka Motorsports emerged as overall leader with a 59.7 seconds advantage at the end of Leg-1 in the Coffee Day India Rally, the fourth round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, here on Saturday. While favourite Gaurav Gill, assisted by navigator Musa Sherif, of Mahindra Adventure team suffered mechanical problems after leading four stages in the coffee estates of Malnad.

However, the surpirse of the day was Bopaiah, who emerged as the best of the rest with a brilliant run on Saturday to stand second overall in the INRC standings.

On a day of drama with 11 casualities, Gill, who was enjoying a comfortable lead, met with disaster as the lower arm of his XUV 500 broke, forcing him to stop in SS-6. He will re-join the competition tomorrow in a bid to score leg points. “A bad day in the office. We had a good morning, winning all the Stages, but on the fifth Stage (of the day), we had an issue with the lower arm with the ball joint completely shearing off. A case of metal fatigue perhaps. We are driving tomorrow and take whatever points we can and stay in the championship. So, maximum attack tomorrow,” said Gill.

Bopaiah (Gagan Karumbaiah) speeding in SS4 on Friday. Photo by David Bodapati

While Gill packed up for the day, Bopaiah KM, with co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah, eased into Overall second spot, just 16.5 seconds ahead of an ailing Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) of Mahindra Adventure. Ghosh, battling an allergy and suffering from breathing problems, strove manfully to finish the day without any mishap.

The Special-Stage rallying took its toll as 11 of 46 competitors retired due to reasons ranging from mechanical problems to crashes, because the surface deteriorated as the day wore on. The day’s last Stage was cancelled after Aroor Vikram Rao crashed and only three cars passing the stage ahead of him.

Reflecting on his performance today, Karna Kadur said: “I think the day went pretty well and we got more than what we bargained for. We were concentrating only on our category (INRC-2). In the Super Special Stage, we were the quickest in our category and so we knew how we wanted this rally to be. We took one Stage at a time. We trailed Gaurav (Gill) by 20 seconds after the first Stage today and so, we pushed in the next, and improved. In the process, we got past (Amittrajit) Ghosh which was part of our strategy. Unfortunately, Gaurav packed up as he was our benchmark. Tomorrow, we will try to keep our position as we have a comfortable lead.”

For Ghosh, it was a huge task to even drive the XUV 500, given his indisposition following a “shell fish allergy” that he caught on the flight from London earlier this week. “It is the toughest drive of my rally career. I couldn’t push to my limits. I am just forcing myself to drive. I am not looking at the timings and if we can make a place tomorrow, then we will. Even as I am talking now, I am gasping. I have not had any solid food the whole of this week. Tomorrow, I will drive at the pace I am comfortable with and take whatever points I can from this Rally,” said Ghosh.

Mujeeb Rahman, navigated by Moideen Sharfali in a Maruti Esteem topped the time sheets in the FMSCI 2-wheel drive Cup category and privateers were followed by Vikram Gowda and Sudheendhra BG of Team Champions in a Honda City while another privateer Prakhyat H Shirole was third, also in a Honda City.

In the FMSCI 4-wheel drive Cup class, Team Champions Sanjay Agarwal and Smitha Prasad were leading after Saturday’s Leg 1 by over a minute with Sachin Murthy and Nikhil J running in second and third place respectively.

The results (Provisional):

Overall: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) (01hr, 12mins, 50.0secs); 2. Bopaiah / Gagan Karumbaiah (Team Champions) (01:13:49.7); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure) (01:14.06.2).

INRC-1: 1. Ghosh / Naik; 2. Michu Ganapathy / Venu Rameshkumar (Team Champions) (01:16:30.8); 3. Harshita Gowda / Vidhya M (Pvt) (01:24:20.6).

INRC-2: 1. Kadur / Pai; 2. Bopaiah / Gagan Karumbaiah; 3. Younus Ilyas / Harish KN (Pvt) (01:14:52.4).

INRC-3: 1. Arjun Rao / Milen George (Chettinad Sporting)(01:15:17.2); 2. Fabid Ahmer / Shahid Salman (Chettinad Sporting) (01:16:33.0); 3. Darius Shroff / Nitin Jacob (Pvt) (01:18:22.8).

FMSCI 2WD Cup: 1.Mujeeb Rahman / Moideen Sharfali (Pvt) (01:19:19.8); 2.Vikram Gowda / Sudheendhra BG (Team Champions) (01:19:42.2); 3. Prakhyat H Shirole / Bharath SM (Pvt) (01:20:13.4).

FMSCI 4WD Cup: 1. Sanjay Agarwal /Smitha Prasad M (Team Champions) (01:19:52.4); 2. Sachin Murthy / Sathyapal (Pvt) (01:21:07.9) 3. Nikhil J / Arjun Dheerendra (Pvt) (01:26:07.1).