Gaurav Gill back to winning ways; Clinches Rally of Hyderabad: INRC Round 4

Hyderabad, 20 October 2024: Celebrated motorsports driver Gaurav Gill displayed high skills and admirable car control to come out triumphant in the Blueband Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2024, which concluded in Shamshabad, near here, on Sunday. The round of the Nationals was organised by Telangana Motors Sports Foundation and promoted Blueband Sports.

The only Arjuna Awardee in motorsports, Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar, supported by JK Tyre, began the second day with a blistering run in the first stage and the seven-time National champion, eased off to nurture the car with superb consistency thereafter, and notched a well-deserving victory. “This is one of the hottest rallies and the terrain is treacherous. So, we were calm and consistent and that paid rich dividends. We had some new upgrades and new compounds and JK Tyre has been supporting me with a lot of faith and we are happy to get back a win in the middle of the year,” said a visibly happy Gill. When asked if this win can change the fortunes, he paused for a second. “You never know. A win always changes the path to a positive one. If you have noticed, this season we had different winners in all the rallies. And two more rallies with more than 70 points to win. Despite not getting good results, JK has backed me thoroughly and it is time to get back to winning ways,” was his parting shot.

Former champion Chetan Shivram and co-driver E Shivaprakash of A & A Motorsports took an admirable overall second, with two stage wins, and they also won their class, INRC2. Kerala’s ace driver, Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Milen George, supported by MRF, showed great resilience to grab an overall podium pipping a marauding Arka Motorsports pair, Karna Kadur and co-driver Musa Sherif, by a mere two seconds. However, Karna and Musa, supported by MRF, took the overall lead in the INRC 2024 championships with two more rallies to go.

Gurugram’s Arnav Pratap Singh and co-driver Rohit of Bengaluru won the INRC3 class and also came out on top in the Junior INRC. Anushriya Gulati of Dehradun with Karan Aukta as co-driver won the Ladies class while the Chikmagalur-Bengaluru pair of Dr Akarsh Sundar and co-driver Ravikumar won the gypsy class.

“The husband-wife duo of Aneeshnath and Amitha Aneesh from A & A Motorsports won the FMSCI Classic Challenge Cup. ‘We are very happy to clinch victory in this tricky rally,’ said the Bengaluru pair. When asked about having his wife as a navigator, Aneesh replied, ‘It has been wonderful over the last few rallies, and she has played a big part in my success. We share great chemistry both inside and outside the car,’ he quipped, adding a sparkle to the eyes of his life partner.”

Out of the 55 that took the start, 12 cars logged a DNF as the terrain proved treacherous for many drivers. The next rally will be in Coorg followed by season finale, the popular K-1000 at Tumkur, also in Karnataka.

Final Provisional Results:

INRC Overall:

1. Gaurav Gill (privateers, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (01hour, 48 minutes, 18.7 seconds);

2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4);

3. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1);

INRC2:

1. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4);

2. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1);

3. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (01:51:14.0);

INRC3:

1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1)

2. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:51.59.4);

3. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay Padmashali (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2);

Ladies Class:

1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka Motorsports, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (01:55:26.0);

2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Arvind Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:58:23.3);

3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ KP Aravind (Bengaluru) (02:11:00.7);

Junior INRC:

1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit N (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1)

2. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2);

3. Abhin Rai (Ideal Racing)/ Moideen Jasheer (both Chikmagalur) (01:53:08.3);

Fmsci Classic Challenge:

1. Aneeshnath S (A & A Motorsports)/ Amitha Aneesh (Both Bengaluru) (02:03:48.0);

2. Shaik Hussain Pasha (Addons Motorsports, Hyderabad)/ Ashfaque Afrid (Sattupalli, AP) (02:30:43.9);

3. Praveen Dwarakanath (Pvt., Bengaluru). Arun V (Tirupur) (02:39:38.7);

Fmsci Gypsy Challenge:

1. Dr Akarsh Sundar (Pvt., Chikmagalur)/ Ravi Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:02:51.2);

2. Baljinder Singh Dhillon (A & A Motorsports, Delhi)/ Goutham CP (Chikmagalur) (02:04:39.8);

3.Sachin Singh (Pvt., Hyderabad)/ Anand Raj (Erode) (02:05:47.5);

Star of Hyderabad:

1. Uday Pilani (Chettinad Sporting)/ Sheraz Ahmed (01:58.48.7);

2. Amit Sanghi (Arka Motorsports)/ Dinky Varghese K (02:04:10.9);

3. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (pvt.)/ Nash Ross 02:04:32.7).