Gaurav Gill-Farooq Ahmed clinch Bosch K1000 Rally

By David Bodapati

Bangalore, 13 August 2006: Talented Gauravsingh Gill and experienced co-driver Farooq Ahmed maintained the overnight lead they had built and coasted to a facile win in the Bosch K1000 Rally, the 4th round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship(INRC) which concluded at The Club, here, on Sunday.

Gill and Ahmed completed the 13 special stages in the Mitsubishi Cedia with a timing of 1:28.14, 35 seconds ahead of Team MRF’s Karandip Singh (co-driver Jaidas Menon), with Team MRF’s Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy) coming in third in 1:29.04, driving the Ford Fiesta.

However, Team MRF had the satisfaction of storming to the top of the points table, Karandip’s second-placed finish fetching him 12 points to take his tally to 33.

Gill victory seeds him in second place with 31, while Naren Kumar is in third spot with 29.

The 1400 cc category saw overnight leaders Girijashankar Joshy (co-driver Srikanth GM) pop the champagne, while Sanjay Agarwal (Pradeep Kumar) finished second Dr Bikku Babu (Bonnie Thomas), making a return to rallying after four years, finished third.

Rajesh Gadakh and Paritosh Kohok also secured their second consecutive title of the season when they drove to victory in the Rally Star Cup. In the Gypsy Cup, overnight leader Sanket Shanbhag (Ramesh Shanbhag) went off the road and into a tree in the day’s second last stage, losing more than a minute in the process, wiping out their lead. Second-placed Suresh Rana then maintained the slender two-second lead to win the title.

Gill, who has emerged as a strong contender to break into the echelons of Indian rallying, occupied by the likes of Naren Kumar and Karandip Singh, was ecstatic after his win. “I was never in trouble throughout the two days and thoroughly enjoyed my drive,” said the young champion. After the day’s first three stages, Karandip Singh had managed to whittle the overnight lead of 52 seconds to 28, thanks to rear suspension problems for Gill, but after the final service, with his car fixed up, Gill then stepped on the pedal in the last three stages to drive home a comfortable winner.

“The choice for me was to either go all out and risk not finishing or ease off a bit and settle for second place. Since the second place was giving me the championship lead, I decided to play safe,” said Karandip Singh, for whom action now shifts into hometown Chandigarh, the venue for the next round of the championship.

Defending champion Naren Kumar (Ram Kumar) of Team JK Tyre pushed hard in an attempt to make good the difference in timing, but though he finished with the day’s fastest timings, which fetched him 3 points, he could not better on his overall fifth finish. Fourth place was taken by Team MRF’s Lohith Urs (Musa Shereif).

Final provisional placings:

1600cc: 1. Gauravsingh Gill/Farooq Ahmed (Team JK Tyre, Mitsubishi Cedia) (1hour, 28min, 14sec); 2. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1:28.45); 3. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Ford Fiesta) (1:29.04); 4. Lohit Urs/ Musa Sherif (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1:29.26); 5. Naren Kumar/D Ram Kumar (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) (1: 29.28).

1400cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy/Srikant GM (1:31.45); 2. Sanjay Agarwal/Pradeep Kumar (1:32.50); 3. Bikku Babu/Bonnie Thomas (1:36.56).

Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok (1:38.12); 2/ Amanpreet Ahluwalia/Manoj Shadija (1:38.58); 3. Deepak Chinappa/Sri Karnuya (1:40.25).

Gypsy Cup: 1. Suresh Rana/Surendar Kumar (1:39.38); 2. Sanket Shanbhag/ Ramesh Shanbhag  (1:39.40).