Gaurav Gill tops time charts to take comfortable lead: INRC MRF South India Rally
Chennai, 28 April 2018: The legend of Gaurav Gill continued to grow following another superlative performance that put him firmly in control of the MRF South India Rally, the first round of the Indian National Rally Championship here today. At the end of Leg 1, Gill, piloting the XUV 500 for Mahindra Adventure, led the field by over a minute and with just five more Stages to be run tomorrow, victory for the three-time Asia Pacific Rally Champion is virtually assured.
With his vehicle suffering from a locked hand-brake leading to overheating of the turbo and the engine, Gill, with Musa Sherif in the co-driver’s seat, still had enough in the tank to destroy the opposition.
“We had an issue with the hand-brake during the first loop in the morning. The rear wheels got locked and the turbo temperature soared. So, we were down on power which is reflected in the Stage timings.
“During service after the first run, we decided to do away with the handbrake. It meant I had to change my driving style. It was absolutely wild to drive this XUV without handbrake especially the Track Stage being very twisty. Anyway, I still managed to make plenty of time on others. Tomorrow, I will just cruise as the priority is to bring the car home safely,” said the 36-year old Delhi-based ace.
Second overall after Leg 1 was Younus Ilyas (co-driver Harish KN) of Race Concepts, driving a Mitsubishi Cedia in the INRC 2 class.
He came up with an excellent drive to lead Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai) of ARKA Motorsports, albeit by just 4.7 seconds to set up a thrilling battle on Sunday when the remaining five Stages will be run.
Slotted in fourth place and 3.8 seconds behind Kadur was Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik), also in the XUV 500 while young Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival), piloting the VW Polo (INRC 3) was placed fifth overall.
Among the front-runners, Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) of Falcon Motorsports struggled with his VW Polo R2 after losing the third gear at the very first corner in the day’s first Stage, the SSS, and lost precious time to finish the day overall sixth.
Veteran Vicky Chandhok (Chandramouli), also in a VW Polo R2, ended up overall 11th after starting the day by topping the time sheets in the Super Special Stage, some three seconds ahead of Gill! The nimble R2, running on slicks, had the advantage on the bulkier XUV 500, but that should not take anything away from Chandhok’s competitiveness.
But as the day wore on, 61-year old Chandhok, returning to competitive rallying after a lapse of 18 years, dropped down the charts, but seemed pretty pleased with his performance.
“The R2 is an excellent vehicle, but needs to be driven hard. I pushed a bit, but had to remind myself that I was not here to prove a point to anybody. Overall, it’s been a fun day,” said Chandhok.
The extreme heat and humidity was among the topics of heated discussion in the garages and also those connected with the event. The weather conditions took a heavy toll on just about everyone and for sure, there will be no respite on the morrow!
Provisional classification (Leg 1):
Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) (44mins, 35.0 secs); 2. Younus Ilyas / Harish Kumar (Race Concepts, Mitsubishi Cedia) (45:39.5); 3. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (ARKA Motorsports, VW Polo) (45:44.2).
INRC-1: 1. Gill / Sherif; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) (45:48.0); 3. Arjun Rao / Satish Rajagopal (Falcon Motorsports, VW Polo R2) (45:56.7).
INRC-2: 1. Ilyas / Harish Kumar; 2. Kadur / Pai; 3. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (ARKA Motorsports, VW Polo) (46:57.7).
INRC-3: 1. Mascarenhas / Padival; 2. Aroor Vikram Rao / Somayya AG (Falcon Motorsports, VW Polo) (46:10.2); 3. Chetan Shivram / Rupesh Kholay (Team Akshara, VW Polo) (46:16.4).
FMSCI 2WD Cup: 1. Adith KC / Suraj K (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) (46:46.0); 2. Suraj Thomas / Sob George (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) (47:56.5); 3. Ravi MS / Priyamvada Saradhi (Pvt, Maruti Baleno) (50:48.4).
FMSCI 4WD Cup: 1. Nikhil J / Arjun Dheerendra (Pvt, Maruti Gypsy) (01:00:55.5).
