Arjun Rao Aroor-Satish Rajagopal win Rally de North

Gurgaon, 18 Sept 2016: Ace rallyist Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajagopal won the Rally de North, the third round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) while championship leader Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) finished way back in fifth here on Sunday. But the Kolkata driver still kept his lead on the top in the championship standings.

Dr. Dhirendra Kumar and navigator Honey Narulla won the Indian Rally Championship (IRC) while for Asia Pacific Rally Champion Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif had to be content with an overall third place in the INRC as they found the bulky SUV500 a bit tough for the terrain. Arjun Rao Aroor clocked 47 minutes 10 seconds while Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai timed 48.04 seconds to finish second ahead of Gill and Musa who 20 seconds more than Karna clocking 48.24sec.

Organised by Sports Route Trust, the MRF Rally de North, the second gravel event of the calendar, saw INRC return to the North after a gap of over a decade. The last time a North Indian city hosted the rally was in 2005. The six Special Stages covered a distance of about 65km of dirt tracks on the outskirts of Gurugaon. A total of 38 cars started the rally.

PG Abhilash, who won Round 1 and 2 of IRC crashed out in Stage 2. Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai also won the INRC 2000cc category.

Dhirendra Kumar and Honey, entered in the MRF FMSCI Indian Rally Championship (IRC) and won their category with a time of 1:00:04 after overnight leader Samir Thaper retired. Indian drivers in Indian cars were eligible for the INRC while Indian or foreign drivers in Indian or foreign cars were eligible for the IRC.

Arjun Rao said: “Rally de North has always been lucky for me as I won overall way back in 2005 and then again history repeats. Overall, rally was very challenging as the stages became pretty rough towards the end and we had to save the car as well as keep pace and make sure we are doing good stage timings.”

The second-placed driver Karna Kadur said: “All I can say is that, it’s been an epic battle to finish 2nd on the podium along with Gaurav and Arjun.”

Finishing third was Gaurav Gill who said: “It was a great weekend rallying in the northern part of the country finally. Wasn’t the best for our team and car but we still managed to pick up the 3rd spot and that’s still good set of points in the bag.”

Results: Overall: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish Rajagopal 47 min 10sec; 2. Karna Kadur/ Nikhil Pai 48:04; 3. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure) 48:24.

IRC: 1. Dhirendra/ Honey Narulla 1: 00:04; 2.

2000cc: 1. Karna Kadur 48:04; 2.

(Note: Complete results are not released by the organisers/promoters)