Gaurav Gill, Musa Sherif finish season in style with emphatic win

By David Bodapati

Kolkata, 18 Dec 2011: Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill and experienced co-driver Musa Sherif finished the 2011 rally season in style with a resounding victory at the Rally de Bengal, the 7th and final round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) to assert their supremacy as the best rally driver and co-driver respectively in the country at Durgapur, about 80 kms from here, on Sunday.

Having clinched the National title for 2011 in the penultimate rally at Orissa, the 30-year-old MRF driver Gill and Sherif put paid to the hopes of challenger Lohit Urs and co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy, who finished second here. Urs-Murthy duo driving a Cedia prepared by Red Rooster Performance posted faster times in two stages today and won the runners-up place in the overall category of the National championship. Ghosh and Naik could not complete the rally as their car stalled in the transport section. But for the break-down their third place finish would have been enough to clinch the runners-up spot in the National Championship 2011.

Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Y Bhatt managed to stay on top despite losing times in all the stages today to win the 2000 N class and also came overall third pipping Bangalore youngster Karna Kadur and Kolkata’s Somonnita Ghosh to the second place. However, a second place was enough for Team Kadur, who drove their Cedia on Yokohama tyres, to have the last laugh in clinching the National title. Soham Hazra/ Jeevarathinam finished third in the Rally de Bengal.

Local stars Azgar Ali/ Debasish Ghosh did well to win the 1600 cc class edging out Aniruddha Rangnekar and co-driver Anoop Kumar to second place. Aniruddha of Pune won the national championship for drivers’ in this class.  Rohan Pawar and Nitin Jacob came third.

Team Woodlander had a double bonanza with both their drivers winning their respective classes. In 1400cc Star Cup, Mangalore teenager Dean Mascarenhas with co-driver Shruptha Padival kept their cool to thwart the challenge of Vikram Aroor/ AG Somayya while Pritul Dey and Mukesh Thakkar finished third. Mascarenhas and Padival won three of the four rallies they took part this year and were supported by Woodland for the last two rallies. The other Woodlander team who came out with top honours is Sanjay Agarwal-Venu Ramesh Kumar pair in the Gypsy class. Rafeeq Ur Rehman (co-driver Ajith KP) came second followed by husband-wife duo Sachin Singh/ Shree Latha of Hyderabad. Dean Mascarenhas, the youngest competitor in INRC, showed enough talent, aggressive speed and control; if nurtured well he has the potential to go places.

Final Results (Unaudited provisional classification):

Overall : 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour, 03 minutes, 47.2 seconds; 2. Lohit Urs/ Srinivasa Murthy PV(privateers)1: 04:29.1;  3. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Y Bhatt 1: 09: 46.9;

2000 cc N-plus : : 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour, 03 minutes, 47.2 seconds; 2. Lohit Urs/ Srinivasa Murthy PV(privateers)1: 04:29.1; 

2000cc N: 1. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Y Bhatt 1: 09: 46.9; 2.Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh  1: 09:55.8; 3. Soham Hazra/ Jeevarathinam 1: 15:43.7;

1600 cc: 1. Azgar Ali/ Debashis Ghosh 1:21:05.0; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/ Anoop Kumar 1:21:32.4; 3. Rohan Pawar/ Nitin Jacob 1: 25:05.9;

1400cc: 1. Dean Mascarenhas/ Shruptha Padival 1: 12: 42.3; 2. Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya  1: 12: 51.8; 3. Pritul Dey/ Mukesh Thakkar 1: 26:43.7.

Gypsy: 1. Sanjay Agarwal/ Venu Ramesh Kumar 1: 17: 34.6; 2. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/ Ajith KP 1: 17: 35.6; 2. Sachin Singh/ Sri Latha1:44.08.9.