Ali-Musthafa win as table toppers, Satish-Savera, suffer mechanical failure; Chidu-Sujith move to top

By Vivek Phadnis

Bangalore, 17 Aug 2014: SK Ajgar Ali and his navigator MK Mohammad Musthafa, with a total penalty of 27 seconds, won the Pro Expert class in the Rally of Bangalore, the third round of the Indian National TSD Rally Championship, here on Sunday. They also emerged as the Overall winners. Sachin Singh and Prakash M finished second and KP Karthik Maruthi and S Sankar Anand finished second and third respectively.

Ali-Musthafa took the lead in the championship (53 points). Championship leaders before Sunday’s event Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza (50 points) did not finish the Rally due to a mechanical problem.

In the Pro Stock class, Team Tata Motors scored a 1-2-3 finish. Chidananda Murthy and BS Sujith Kumar, with a penalty of one minute, 35 seconds, won and took the lead in the championship table. They are now on 56 points. Their teammates Vikas Puttur and Sagar M finished second with a penalty of 1:36. Another Tata Motors pair of Saurav Chatterjee and Ashoke Kumar Basu clinched the third spot.

“It feels great to have won the rally at home and that too for the third year in succession. Moreover, now that we have taken the lead in the championship, it has served as a big encouragement for us and we will continue to give our best in the fourth round in Coimbatore next month,” said Murthy and Sujith Kumar.

They added: “As is the trend in the event in Bangalore, the route was good and it challenged us quite a bit. It feels good to win a challenging rally.”

The Rally route traversed through Anjanapura, Bannerghatta, Maralawadi, Kanakapura and surrounding areas before culminating at The Club (also the starting point) on Mysore Road. The route was made very challenging and there were rough sections, uphill, downhill and winding roads. Tricky time controls were set up and it proved to be a challenge for the drivers and navigators.

The Rally route was about 70 per cent tarmac and 30 per cent dirt. Out of a total of 43 entries, eight did not finish the Rally.

In the Green Run Rally, Ravindra HD and Murugan won the Pro Expert class title, while Vinay Kumar BP and Ravi Kumar BM won the Pro Stock class. Dinky Varghese and C Shakthivel triumphed in the Motorbike class.

Results (provisional):

Rally of Bangalore:

Pro Expert: 1. SK Ajgar Ali-MK Mohammad Musthafa (00:27 seconds time penalty); 2. Sachin Singh-Prakash M (00:30); 3. KP Karthik Maruthi-S Sankar Anand (00:34).

Pro Stock: 1. Chidananda Murthy-BS Sujith Kumar (01:35 minutes, Team Tata Motors); 2. Vikas Puttur-Sagar M (01:36, Team Tata Motors); 3. Saurav Chatterjee-Ashoke Kumar Basu (02:35, Team Tata Motors).

Green Run Rally:

Pro Expert: 1. Ravindra HD-Murugan (01:30); 2. Abhijeet Pai-Chandramouli (01:38); 3. Harish Ranjan-E Velumurugan (02:05).

Pro Stock: 1. Vinay Kumar BP-Ravi Kumar BM (06:02 minutes); 2. R Sai Prasad-Veerakumar (07:29); 3. Bharadwaj Rao-Anil Kumar (11:42).

Motorbike Class: 1. Dinky Varghese-C Shakthivel (01:03 min); 2. A Dhanpal-Sankar S (06:39); 3. V Suresh-alamurugan S (07:09).

Couple Class: 1. Harish M-Aswini (35:50 minutes).

eom/VivekPhadnis for Tata Motors/KMSC