Amittrajit Ghosh takes lead after two Stages; Gill in striking distance: INRC
Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) June 14, 2023: Double INRC champion Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik of Arka Motorsports took a narrow 7.2-second lead at the end of two stages on Day 1 of the Rally of Arunachal, the second round of the Blueband fmsci Indian National Rally Championship here on Wednesday.
Overnight rains made the hilly tarmac terrain challenging and the Special Stages started late. Keeping in view the safety aspects and lack of time, the final two Special Stages scheduled for the evening were cancelled. However, the short 4.1km Super Special Stage (SSS) will be held in the night for the benefit of the local spectators.
After the completion of two special stages, Kolkata’s Amittrajit Ghosh along with Mangaluru’s co-driver Ashwin Naik took the lead with consistent times in both the stages. However, first round winner of the South India Rally, Aroor Arjun Rao and co-driver Satish Rajagopal, who began with a blistering pace winning the first stage, played safe in the next stage, and were in third place after the finish of two Special Stages.
Arjuna Awardee and three-time Asia Pacific Winner, Gaurav Gill (Aniruddha Rangnekar) who skipped the first round to take part in APRC Asia Cup qualifier that were held together, overcame initial hiccups and clocked the fastest time in Special Stage 2 and stood overall second after two Special Stages. He lost about 20 seconds to the front runner Arjun, in Chimpu SS1, but is back in the game to mount a challenge as four special stages are slated for tomorrow in Ziro.
Suhem Kabir and co-driver Jeevarathinam of Ammyfied Rallying were leading the INRC2 class while Sheshank Jamwal (co-driver Aseem Sharma) of Arka Motorsports is in the top spot in INRC3 category. In the INRC4 class, the pair of Abhin Rai and Uday Kumar was heading the field with another Ammyfied Rallying pair topping the Gypsy Challenge after two stages is Samrat Yadav and Arvind Dheerendra.
Talented Jahan Singh Gill is leading the Junior INRC while International lady driver Anushriya Gulati posted a comfortable lead over Nikeetaa Takkale in the Ladies class.
After the 4.10km Super special Stage tonight, the rally caravan will travel uphill to Ziro mountains on Thursday for four more Special Stages. The Prize Distribution will be held on June 16 at the Ziro resort.
Provisional Unaudited Results (Day 1): Overall and INRC:
1. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) (18minutes, 59.6seconds); 2. Gaurav Gill/ Aniruddha Ragnekar (Privateer, Delhi/Pune) (19:06.8); 3. Aroor Arjun Rao/ Satish Rajagopal (Mandovi Racing) (19:07.8);
INRC2:
1.Suhem Kabir/ Jeevarathinam J (Ammyfied Rallying) (19:38.2); 2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (Snap Racing) (19:56.8); 3. Dr Bikku Babu/ Milen George (Chettinad Sporting) (20:04.2).
INRC3: 1. Sheshank Jamwal/ Aseem Sharma (Arka Motorsports) (19:43.0); 2. Jason Saldanha/ Thimmanna Uddapanda B (Dark Don Racing) (20:14.400); 3. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (SNAP Racing) (20:14.9).
INRC4: 1. Abhin Rai/ Uday Kumar (Ammyfied Rallying) (21:28.5); 2. Vivek Ruthuparna/ Sanjay Agarwal (SNAP Racing) (22:20.8); 3. Hage Chada/ Pramod Raman (pvt, Itanagar/Bengaluru) (23:10.2).
Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav/ Arvind Dheerendra (Ammyfied Rallying) (20:54.2); 2. Amanpreet Ahluwalia/ Amber Udasi (Pvt. Delhi/Chanigarh) (21:34.7); 3. Baljinder Singh Dhillon/ Goutham CP (Pvt. Delhi/Chikmagalur) (22:48.8).
Junior INRC: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill/ Suraj Keshava Prasad (Snap Racing) (20:14.9); 2. Arvan Pratap Singh/ Arjun SSB (Ammyfied Rallying) (20:30.8); 3. Abhin Rai/ D Uday Kumar (Ammyfied Rallying) (21:28.5).
Women’s class: 1. Anushriya Gulati/ Arjun Dheerendra (Dark Don Racing) (21:32.5); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale/ Venu Ramesh Kumar (Ammyfied Rallying) (21:48.8); 3. Shivani Parmar/ Dr Vani Parmar (Chettinad Sporting) (22:00.6).
