Gaurav Gill-Musa Sherif win opening round at Nashik

By David Bodapati

Nashik, 27 June 2010: Speed devil Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif began with a bang and put Team MRF on the top winning the opening event of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship as they displayed controlled aggression with a comfortable lead in hand and won the Rally of Maharashtra with ease at the Dadasaheb Phalke Smarak here on Sunday.

The spectacular speeds at the spectator spectacle unfolded at the crowded Phalke Smarak and for once Gill had to control his speed an make sure the car does not play truant like last year. However, he did not shy away from entertaining the crowd with his drifts sliding down the corners without lifting off the gas. In the course, it was Red Rooster’s Vikram Mathias, last year’s winner here, who zoomed to the best timing in the Super Special Stage came out trumps in 1 minute 48.4 seconds, a clear 3.1 seconds faster than Gill but had to be content with the second place in his Mitsubishi Cedia with co-driver PVS Murthy. Kolkata’s Amittrajit Ghosh and Aswin Naik also of Team Red Rooster Racing took the third place on the podium in the inaugural event..

“It was a grand opening round for me and my team MRF. Finally, I got the monkey off my back and broke the Nashik jinx,” was how a relieved National champion Gill reacted. At the same venue last year, Gill’s car stalled soon after the start and was out of the competition. Gill never won at Nashik till today morning.

“We went in with a different set-up today and I was more intent on doing some drifts just to give the spectators something to cheer about. Overall, it was a good outing for us and we had no problems with the car,” said Gill as he busied himself to leave for New Zealand for the Asia Pacific Rally championship commencing next weekend.

In the 2000cc N category, Girijashankar Joshy and co-driver Chandramouli won the first title in the season for Team Ovion in its debut race with a timing of 1hr 29:46.5secs. Teammates Sujay Suresh and Varun Sathyanarayan made it a one-two for team Ovion while Sirish Chandran and Nikhil Pai came third.

Bangalore duo, Rahul Kantharaj with Vivek Bhat navigating in the 1600cc notched up an authoritative win over Shailender Hegde/Shiraz Ahmed. “We are very happy to launch our campaign with a win in,’’ said Rahul while Vivek said: “It was a daunting rally for the navigator with a lot of blind corners. The first day was slushy but otherwise it was a good rally with a lot calls. We enjoyed it.’’

Overnight leaders Dr Bikku Babu and co-driver Gerorge Varghese of Kerala won the 1400cc class while Byram Godrej/Anjay Kapadia came second. Monish-Jeeva pair took the third place.

Amrinder Brar and co-driver Himanshu Pareek put paid to the hopes of  Sachin Singh/Adhiraj Bhardan pair in their Gypsy while Shakti Bajaj and Dharmesh duo finished third.

In the Rally Star Car category, Mysore pair Phalguna V Urs and Anoop Kumar made sure of their first title of the season with a comfortable win edging out Coimbatore pair Venkatapathy/Santosh Kumar. VS Ratan and Preetham came third.

Final Results (Provisional unaudited classification):

Overall and 2000cc N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team MRF) (1 hr 22:42.5); 2. Vikram Mathias/PVS Murthy (Team RRR) (1hr 25:03.2); 3.Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1:26:35.7);

2000cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy/Chandramouli M (Ovion Racing) (1:29:46.5); 2.Sujay Suresh/Varun Sathyanarayan  (Ovion Racing) (1:32:01.3); 3. Sirish Chandran/Nikhil Pai (1hr 34:30.7)

1600 cc: 1. Rahul Kanthiraj/Vivek Bhat (1hr 36:15.4); 2. Shailender Hegde/Sheraz Ahmed (1hr 40:02.5).

1400cc: Dr Bikku Babu/George Varghese (1hr 36:24.8); 2. Byram Godrej/Anjay Kapadia (1hr 36:39.9); 3. Monish/Jeeva (1hr 45:49.1)

Gypsy: 1. Amarinder Brar/Himanshu Pareek (1hr 37:03.6); 2.Sachin Singh/Adhiraj Bhardhan (1hr 41:19.4); 3. Shakthi Bajaj/Dharmesh Sinha (Army)(1hr 43:00.7)

Rally Star Cup: 1. Phalguna V Urs/Anoop Kumar (1hr 37:26.7) 2. Venkatapathy Mettuchetty/ Santosh Kumar Selvaraj (1hr 38:57.1); 3. VS Ratan/Preetham(1hr 41:58.6).