Ghosh, Naik win Rally of Coimbatore with 20-sec `Grace Time’

Coimbatore, 28 June 2009: Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik of Red Rooster Racing won the Rally of Coimbatore, the season opener of the IMG-PSP Speed Indian National Rally Championship at the Windmill farms of Kethanoor, near here on Sunday.

The Kolkata-Mangalore duo were helped by a stewards’ decision late on Saturday night to push Saturday’s leaders Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajagopal to second place. Ghosh gained 20 precious seconds as stewards upheld his request for `grace time’ as he lost a lot of time after the duo were boxed down by a slower car during the Special Stage 8 on Saturday.

Now Rao and Rajagopal finished 14 seconds behind Ghosh. On Sunday morning, Ghosh steered his Cedia well and made up crucial time clocking an identical time in the final stage after he lost 19 seconds to Rao in the penultimate stage. The overnight lead of `grace time’ given to him, helped him clinch the issue.

However, Team MRF protested the 20-second `grace time’ given to Ghosh and if the Stewards uphold the protest, then it is likely that Rao might yet be declared champion again. Delhi’s Sandeep Sharma and co-driver Arjun Chopra of Team Thunderbolt finished third in a Maruti Gypsy.

Results (provisional): Overall: 1. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Red Rooster Racing, Cedia N+) (2:10:45); 2. Arjun Aroor Rao/ Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF, Cedia N+) (2:10:58); Sandeep 3. Sharma/ Arjun Chopra (Team Thunderbolt, Maruti Gypsy) (2:16:12).

2000cc Class (Cedia N+): Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik 1; Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish Rajagopal; 2. Arjun Balu/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF) (2:18:08).

1600cc (Maruti Baleno): 1. Vishal GA/ Robinson Rajkumar (2:21:58); 2. Sujay S/ Varun S (2:22:42); 3. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhatt (2:26:48).

1400cc (MPFI Esteem): 1. Bikku Babu/ Bonnie Thomas; 2. Amith Anand/ Prakash Rodrigues (2:20:23); 3. Francis Jose/ Manoj M (DDL Sports) (2:22:08),

Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): 1. Karna Kadur/ Somonnita Ghosh; 2. Venkatapathy/ Santosh Kumar S; 3. CG Balaram/ CG Raghuram (2:18:17).

Maruti Gypsy: 1. Sharma/ Chopra; 2. Khushwant Randhawa/ Harminder S Kaler (2:22:04); 3. Vijay Jose/ Pradeep Nagabhushan (2:36:16).